Cass and I attended the Lush Lebanese Cookery Cooking Class at Victors Food. The cooking class was inspiring and chefs extremely passionate, making was obvious they live and breathe food!

The menu included Baked Salmon Lebanese Style, Kafta, Fattoush, Baba Ghanouj, and Tabbouleh.

One of the chefs was known as the Goddess of Love in the industry and her enthusiasm for food had everyone in the class eager to get started. I learnt the importance of preparation, especially with Lebanese food which involves a lot of fresh ingredients.

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When making the Tabbouleh it’s vital to taste the dish while it’s being made to pick up the lemon flavour in the Tabbouleh, and to add salt and season well.  It was almost as good as my grandmothers Tabbouleh.

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The Kafta fiddly to make.  First you combine the minced meat with the garlic, parsley and onions. Then the fun part of trying to get the meat to stay on the skewer…let’s just say the ones in the photo were not our first attempt. Tip: soak the skewers in water before use as this helps the meat stay on.  

After all the hard work, we enjoyed a glass of wine and ate everything we made. For me the best dish of the day was the Baba Ghanouj, especially discovering the difference that grilling the eggplant on the BBQ makes to taste.

Overall great day and great food.

 

Here are two recipes we’re sharing from the course, you may want to try:

Kafta

INGREDIENTS

DIRECTIONS

  1. Combine all ingredients in large bowl and using your hands knead the mixture until smooth.
  2. Dampen your hands with water and shape the mixture around skewers.
  3. BBQ until golden brown and cooked through about 5-8 minutes.
  4. To serve, split and open flat bread and fill with tabouleh or salad. Top with kafta, close over the bread and use that to hold the kafta while you remove the skewer. Use torn pieces of bread to pick up some of the kafta and tabouleh or salad.

 

Baba Ghanouj

INGREDIENTS

DIRECTIONS

  1. Roast whole eggplants over open flame, turning till skins are evenly toasted and eggplant is soft. Set aside and cool.
  2. Peel the eggplants and drain for 15 minutes.
  3. Place eggplants in a food processor with tahini, lemon, garlic, 3 tablespoons of the oil and salt and process until well combined and creamy. Adjust salt, lemon and oil as necessary.
  4. Place mixture in a serving bowl, making a well in the centre just deep enough for the oil to be poured in. Then pour in the oil.
  5. Sprinkle paprika, parsley and tomato on top.

Serves 8-10 as a mezze

 

For more course details from the Victors Food, visit their website: https://www.victorsfood.com.au/

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