My colleague PW and I were invited by our colleague CW to attend a "cooking party" featuring a 4-course Italian meal with wine (!!!). Now, I'm not a "cooking person" (am an "eating person" haha) but after checking out the website of Cookyn With Mervyn and seeing how many past participants had their DSLR slung around their neck as they cooked, I was intrigued. Excellent photog opportunity! :)
The session was held at 270 Thomson Road, Novena Gardens (at the office space above the restaurant - Peach Garden).
Meet Mervyn - "The Food Explorer"
Meet Amanda - "Hostess Extraordinaire"
They are a perfect example of an extraordinary husband & wife team :)
And us - "The Chef Wannabes"
Mervyn's cooking philosophy is to use the best ingredients possible in terms of freshness and quality.
Large portabello mushroom and freshly grated parmesan for the Mushroom and Truffle Risotto.
Tip: Mervyn advised to not wash mushrooms but to instead wipe clean with kitchen paper towel. As mushrooms will absorb water, the taste will be different when you cook them (I think!)
Live littleneck clams from New Zealand for the Vongole.
According to Amanda, this was chosen as the flesh to shell ratio is good.
Freshly diced strawberries for the Strawberry Panna Cotta.
Handmade "meatballs on steroid" for the Italian Meatball Casserole with Fresh Mozzarella. They were the size of tennis balls!
Freshly chopped garlic
(I only put this here because PW and I were in charge of the garlic haha!)
This was the recommended brand for tomato puree. Not too sweet.
A device to ground pepper. Fully motorised with light. Cool stuff.
Herbs and wine. We had wine from start till end. Seriously.
As there was only one main working station, we had to gather round and take turns to handle different tasks such as chopping of herbs, stirring of risotto, frying of foods, handling the clams etc. This arrangement suited me fine as it allowed me to take pictures without worrying that I'm lagging or that my food is burning!
Not everyone gets to play with the cool device hor!
And the end results!
Vongole - The soup was flavourful and the clams sweet. Yummy.
Risotto - This was very fragrant (with truffle puree and porcini) and tasty. Though the rice tasted 3/4 cooked and I would have preferred it to be softer.
Panna Cotta - The panna cotta was premade as it required 3-4 hours to set. The largely milky sweet base topped with sugared pureed fresh strawberries and drizzled with Balsamic sauce (awesome stuff), this dessert was a sweet & sour comfort food.
Meatball casserole - I didn't try this as it was beef meatballs. :( But according to the rest, it was yummy!
The session was around 4 hours and very well-paced. Much of the usual stress of cooking was taken away as it was more of a cooking observation and handling relatively simple tasks. What I found useful were the tips that Mervyn would dish out along the way. Of course, the 4 bottles of wine that came as part of the session helped. :) For a group of 12 and above, the usual fee is around s$80 per pax. For a session of this length with good food, good company and good hosting, I would say it is worth an experience. Try it!
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