Over the weekend I took an Effortless Entertaining cooking class at Sur La Table and it was so much fun! If you’re not familiar, Sur La Table offers a plethora of cooking classes throughout the week, and the options change both monthly and seasonally. With the holidays being upon us, I thought that it would be cool to learn some new recipes (while also being shown the proper way to cut and prepare certain foods so that I don’t hurt myself in the kitchen, haha), and this was the perfect class to do that.

Our menu for the day:

• Baked Brie En Croute with Apricot Jam
• Hearty Winter Green and Fennel Salad with Parmesan and White Balsamic Vinaigrette
• Herb Crusted Pork Loin with Apple Cider Mustard Sauce
• Maple Crème Brûlée with Eggland’s Best Eggs

The purpose of these classes is to teach families across the country how to make delicious meals with better-for-you-ingredients at home. I’ve never done a full on cooking class like this, and while I was initially intimidated when I arrived (my Sister-In-Law Monica joined me), that all went out of the window once our instructor began. Chef Aaron made sure to explain to us prep procedures, how to hold our knives (if you ever find yourself “sawing” while cutting, you need a better knife!), and gave hands on help if we ever found ourselves confused.

Chef Aaron took his time going through the steps while managing to keep us on track with cooking. We were newbies, but there were other people in the class that you could tell were really experienced in the kitchen, so it was fun to watch everyone interact and have fun while preparing their dishes.

Prepping our tenderloin before it goes into the oven.

All of the ingredients that we used were really fresh, so it smelled AH-MAZING! We all keep spices at home, but my main takeaway from the class is if you can get fresh herbs, use them! The recipes were relatively easy to follow, and the ingredient list was made up of herbs, meats, produce and cheeses that you might already have at home or can find at your local grocery store (no specialty shop needed).

 Making the chutney for our baked brie. This would also be delicious in oatmeal. 

Words cannot explain how yummy this is. If you love cheese you will LOVE this!

I love a fresh salad, and while this one was simple and had very few ingredients, the flavors make a serious impact when they all come together.

The longest amount of prep went to our Pork Tenderloin, so while we waited for it to cook those last few minutes, we chatted with each other and went through the store; because we all prepared the same dish, the items were all mixed together so you weren’t sure if you were eating your own food or what someone else prepared (though I was able to pick out our tenderloin because we were given some extra mustard for our coating and it was the “special kind” lol).

Voila!

Everything tasted delicious! We picked up so many seasoning tips throughout the class, and they can actually be used on different types of food. We were also given the recipes to what we made so that we can recreate our meal at home. I’m so glad that we were able to take this class and we’re already planning to take another one in the future!

Interested in taking a cooking class with Sur La Table? Click here to see their monthly calendar (just enter your zip code to find a location near you). They also offer private class options as well in the event you want to do something extra special with your family or friends!

Sur La Table
The Shops of Saddle Creek
7509 Poplar Avenue Suite 106
Germantown, TN 38138
901-758-3691