Cheapeats, Inc. Blog

Have you been searching for cooking classes, but are shocked by the price tag? Well don’t fret. Cheapeats is here to save the day and share a little secret. If you want to learn how to prepare Spanish dishes, check out Leti’s Catering.

Leti’s Catering is headed by Chef Leti Salama, a transplant from Spain. She not only caters events, but she offers cooking classes in New York City. I met her at one of her cooking classes that was held at The Old Bowery Station by Open House Gallery. I thought it was a fun thing to do and signed up.

When I got to the venue, I was handed an apron, a chef’s hat and grabbed a seat at one of the cooking tables. I should preface. that I attended the class by myself, because no one interested at the time. It wasn’t a problem at all. Everyone was friendly and introduced themselves. Once everyone had arrived, we were given our recipes and ingredients and the chopping and sauteing began. We were making Paella, gazpacho and chocolate cake. Yum!!!

As we began cooking, Leti and her team watched over us, to make sure we doing everything correctly. No fires here. As we cooked, we chatted and got to know each other. Turns out, I went to high school with one of the girls at the table. Small world.

As our Paella was cooking, we had a lesson in Spanish Wines from the “Wine Guy,” and got to sample delicious wines. Cooking and drinking? Could this night get any better?

Before long, we got taste the fruits of our labor. First up was the gazpacho and it was delicious. Light, fresh and SO easy to make. Thanks Gazpacho team. Then came the Paella. Our group prepared Seafood and the other group prepared Chicken, but we got to taste both. Outstanding!! But I think Team Seafood was better…Just saying. 2nd’s and 3rd’s was allowed, until the pans and plates were clean. And the wine bottles were emptied too.

Then came my favorite part….DESSERT. But not just any dessert….CHOCOLATE CAKE. I have to say, something that was so simple to make and baked in disposable tin pans, came out wonderful. Creamy, light, moist and DECADENT. The perfect ending to a perfect meal.

So how much did my fabulous night cost? Just $80. I met a fabulous group of people, stuffed and drank myself silly and had a fabulous time. And my friends that weren’t interested before, are now suddenly interested.

Happiness, $25 and under.

Tags: cheapeats, Cooking, Cooking Classes, Gazpacho, Paella, Rioja

This entry was posted by Rosemarie on Tuesday, November 26th, 2013 at 8:53 am and is filed under Events, Manhattan, Recipes, Spanish. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.