Would you like to be transformed and experience my Homefresh Experience Middle Eastern #Food Journey with this aromatic chicken today?
Apologies in advance if the photo “may” be visually disturbing for some, but hopefully I got your attention RIGHT AWAY! 
For those who wish a more stable view:
I AM E-X-C-I-T-E-D today courtesy of Homefresh Experience to be sharing this Flavours of the Middle East cooking class where our group got to recreate “exotic” dishes while learning skills, hints and tips, stories of travels, foods, and about Kings and Queens throughout the Middle East all thanks to our “wonderful guide and host” Chef Jean-Claude!
I am sure you enjoyed my previous Simply #French Homefresh Experience and were all salivating for Coq au Vin and like me via Chef Jean-Claude du Toulouse, was “inspired” with All you need is Soufflé!
Then there were these Three Cheese Cheese Pots as dessert for the #European Passion through Homefresh Experiences Smiles.
Which brings me to my Middle Eastern #Food Journey today!
What I love about these Homefresh Cooking Classes is that no prior knowledge or cooking skills is needed, the courses include all of the ingredients, the course is “more than economically” done.
And of course, the Homefresh cooking classes are about fun and meeting new strangers who become friends by the end of the night!
I am PASSIONATE about minimizing food wastage and Chef Jean-Claude provides “very helpful hints and tips” on how to use, re-use, store foods and how “some foods are even better the next day!”
For main course, we made a dish that represented clothes a king would wear! 
Chef Jean-Claude took us on a wonderful Middle Eastern #Food Journey where he shared “his secret” of the crown of the king; PRICELESS indeed!
Let me tell you, our group had a FANTASTIC feed!
Chef Jean-Claude demonstrated how to cook eggplant so it could be grilled.
Sharing his “cooking secrets”, the group was T-H-R-I-L-L-E-D!
Do YOU wish you were at this Middle Eastern #Food Journey with me?
Let’s see what else you too can experience and see!
Did you know the Egyptians created butter?
I have been to Egypt, have cruised the Nile and have experienced the channels under the houses where urns kept the butter cool surrounded by water! 
It is not “only” about the food, ingredients, and cooking, but for the group and me on the night, we felt like Kings and Queens with a Middle Eastern #Food Journey that lasted throughout the night!
If there is one piece of advice I can share about this Middle Eastern #Food Journey
Flavours of the Middle East cooking class, it is you needed to bring your appetite!
While the eggplant were under the griller, our group prepared Chef Jean-Claude’s “unique” tzatziki and Chef Jean-Claude demonstrated how to properly cut tomatoes and what to watch out for in the stem of the tomato!
Chef Jean-Claude shared his hints and tips on obtaining “the proper” balance between using creme fraiche and yogurt for the tzatziki.
Chef Jean-Claude shared how throughout the Middle East, emphasis is placed on “fresh food” dishes with mostly homegrown herbs and vegetables. (like the one’s Chef Jean-Claude shared from his home garden.)
Of course, garlic is a “must” and Chef Jean-Claude demonstrated how to make “the perfect garlic paste.”
Did I mention EVERYONE takes turns participating in this Middle Eastern #Food Journey cooking class?
This is NOT a “demonstration only” class and I think it is fun when the prep work is shared communally and at the end of the night EVERYONE can take pride in their work and enjoy what they too have “exotically” recreated!
Chef Jean-Claude explained about the spices of the Middle East as well as “the cape of the king” ingredients which would top our dome of our main course mountain.
Did you know using rosewater in desserts is an Egyptian tradition?
Now you do!
Before I get to dessert, there is a whole lot of eating to do!
FANG (one of my many food nicknames) was one happy FANG on the night!
Everyone had “chicken duty.” 
Some “peeled and picked” the chicken off the bone for our ABSOLUTELY wonderful (easy to do ) appetizer which consisted of chicken, paprika, a “specially balanced blend” yogurt sauce that we would be picking up in our “Middle Eastern proper hand” to enjoy!
Some prepared chicken for the main course.
This was topped with “a griller thriller” eggplant in a “specially prepared sauce” too!
Did I mention NOTHING gets wasted food wise?
Chef Jean-Claude shared the proper eating technique and which hand we all would use to eat.
FANG went back for seconds as these were “so yum!”
With appetizers done, eggplant grilled, chicken cooked, pine nuts and almonds aka “the crown” and rice prepared; it was “all in the ghee” Chef Jean-Claude shared with the group and me.
You “may” be familiar with the GreenPan fry pan used by Chef Jean-Claude tonight and previously in #European Passion with Homefresh Smiles.
The dish was then layered so it could oven bake to complete our dome/mountain; a dish fit for a King!
While our group had a little “baking time”, Chef Jean-Claude read to us from his Legendary Cuisine cookbook, sharing stories of powerful, influential women from his life and about the injustices towards women in some of the characters who are real people, but that Chef Jean-Claude has met “in his imagination.”
Chef Jean Claude “introduced” us to Mary-Lee aka Lady Freedom.
For my readers not familiar with Mary-Lee*, she was one of South Australia’s “suffragists” and was the chief organizer of a Petition to the Colony to allow women to vote; a FASCINATING and EXTRAORDINARY lady indeed!
Chef Jean-Claude (in his cookbook) has created a very special recipe as a tribute to Mary-Lee.
Legendary Cuisine is available worldwide via Amazon or if you are “lucky” enough to live in Adelaide, you can pop down to Homefresh Experience in Norwood.
Who’s getting hungry?
It might not “look” like the prettiest dish you have ever seen, but the dish was “surprisingly” a “light-eating” dish and was simply a delight!
I enjoyed each and every bite and with my eyes closed, it “transformed” me to my Middle Eastern #Food Journey Egyptian nights!
“What about dessert?”, I “hear” you say?
I can see you too are excited about my Homefresh Middle Eastern #Food Journey cooking class today!
In keeping with “the Egyptian tradition” of rosewater, our group experienced this “very light” creme dessert that was “silky smooth” to taste.
The slight after taste of the rosewater also allowed me to transform myself to a different Middle Eastern food place and time!
The dessert was “Chef Jean-Claude divine!”
What’s your favorite Middle Eastern dish?
Do you enjoy Middle Eastern foods?
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*Mary-Lee’s history shared via Adelaide Proformat — ancestral & local history researchers
Did you learn anything new today through experiencing my Homefresh Middle Eastern #Food Journey?