My Inspired Home: Cooking Class: Seafood 101

In an effort to both further our attempts at a healthy lifestyle and find something new to do as a couple, Tony and I signed up for a one night cooking class: Seafood 101. The class was held at one of our local markets called Central Market. If you're in Texas I recommend that you find your local location. We don't eat a lot of fish in the Musick house, not because we don't like it, but because I'm not super confident in my ability to select and cook GOOD seafood, especially where we live. We are pretty much land locked and only have close access to gulf seafood, so much of what is purchased here has to be frozen and flown in, but there are places that you can buy really great seafood, such as Central Market. So we figured if there was a place to learn about and find the good stuff, it was here. So let's dig right in...

The first thing that we did was take a tour of their seafood market to learn more about selecting appropriate seafood for a particular season or recipe. All of the fish in their market is labeled with the location it was caught, so we also learned which fish were best from particular regions of the world. We also got some insider tips on how their particular market worked in regards to the safety and maintenance of their fish.

There were a couple of things that I really loved about this class in particular: (1) We used a couple of kinds of fish that I never even eaten, let alone prepared. (2) We used a different preparation method for 5 different dishes, so there was really got a broad spectrum of ways that fish can be cooked.

When you select a class, you can elect a hands on approach or just a demonstration. We went hands on so we could get up close and personal with the fish. They have you chop, taste, mix, even handle the cooking.

The first dish that we tackled was poached salmon. I have never had poached fish and I honestly wasn't too sure about it - I mean who wants fish that has been soaking in water? Lesson learned - It was delicious! We poached it in a broth of water, white wine, veggies and herbs and ate it over salad. The best part was the browned butter sauce that we made to go on top. SO GOOD!

Then it was on to the Tapas! We made Gambas al Ajillo (garlic shrimp tapas) and it was yummy! The shrimp are marinated in a garlic and herb mixture and then sauteed. We had them on simple sourdough slices, but I found them a but difficult to eat that way. In the future, I would probably do smaller baguette slices and one shrimp per slice, so it's more of a single bite situation.

While enjoying our Tapas, we assembled and started to grill halibut skewers. Tony got to man the grill pan on those (proud-wife brag: Tony is just awesome with a grill - he RARELY overcooks anything, it's impressive).

Tony did not disappoint grilling the halibut skewers - they were perfectly cooked (at least to a halibut neophyte such as myself).

Then it was on to our fourth preparation method: en papilotte (in parchment). This was Tony's favorite of the night. It was really cool that we each got to make ours the way that we preferred and then taste the specific one that we made (yes, that is my cursive chicken-scratch on each of our parchment pockets below). All of the other food was more of a collaborative effort, but we all got to make our own red snapper pockets with julienne veggies, fresh herbs and a little butter and olive oil. It was incredibly moist and flavorful, and (my favorite part) super-easy.

The last thing that we made was the crab cakes. They were really easy to pan fry - but they were definitely the least healthy thing on the plate. Below is a quick snap shot of the food that we ate seated (the skewers and the shrimp we ate as it finished cooking). (1) Classic Poached Salmon (2) Fish En Papillote (3) Crab Cakes with Zesty Tartar Sauce

Once we all finished eating, they handed out some amazing strawberry sorbet and lemon cookies that were pretty much the most awesome lemon cookies I've ever eaten.

All in all, we learned a ton! I did not share too many of the specifics that we learned because you really should go in and take a class for yourself. Even if you live outside of Texas and don't have a Central Market handy, there are a lot of other places that you can take a night with your significant other or a group of friends to bond over the experience of cooking and food. I included a couple of links to other cooking schools around the United States so you all could partake in the experience too! I hope you all have as much fun as we did, because we will definitely be back!