I’ve been big into mini adventures the last couple of years. You see, with a new baby and buying a house, travel funds have been pretty tight. So day trips have been an excellent excuse to have a bit of an adventure and try new things without committing to a big trip.
So naturally, when the babes at Virgin Experience Days reached out to give me an early Mothers Day gift – a cooking class experience – I jumped at the chance. I mean the experience itself looked cool, but it also meant a little break from mum life as Indi would spend the day with her grandparents! (Mum life is hard, guys.)
It was actually a class on Vietnamese Street Food at the Jamie Oliver Cookery School so I was really excited. We eat asian food quite a lot at home but very rarely Vietnamese so I was keen to learn some new recipes! Here’s how I got on.
Vietnamese Street Food Class at Jamie Oliver Cookery School
Our dreamy day off of parenting didn’t get the best start. I had decided to drive to the class location in Holloway, North London, mainly because I wanted to drive my new car. But I hadn’t factored in the time it would take to find a car parking spot in London! It meant we were a little late to the class, which I absolutely hate. Being late is my least favourite thing ever.
But luckily when we arrived, our host and teacher for the day, Francesco, was lovely and got us settled in quickly.
The Jamie Oliver Cookery School isn’t what I had pictured. It’s like an empty shop front that’s been converted into a very Instagrammable kitchen set-up. It had plenty of room for a large class of people cooking, but felt much more intimate than I had imagined. But I think that’s a good thing. You didn’t feel like you were being churned out by a big corporation, it was a cosy and friendly atmosphere, y’know?
Anyway, we started the class by sitting around the large table in the middle of the room where Francesco showed us how to make sticky pork balls with lots of fragrant Vietnamese flavours like lemongrass, garlic and chilli. He also demonstrated how to throw together a zingy Nuoc Cham dipping sauce made from fish sauce, rice vinegar, palm sugar, chilli and garlic.
Then it was our turn to make our own!
Each couple had their own station facing the outside of the room, with all of the ingredients laid out. (So cool, I felt like a TV chef!) And it was time to get chopping and grinding in the pestle and mortar. It was all very simple but I picked up a few tricks and tips from Francesco. I’d never been shown the part of the lemongrass you’re meant to use before, so that was pretty cool. And I didn’t know that you’re meant to make pork meatballs in the shape of an egg instead of a ball. It means the pork cooks all the way through without burning the outside. Game changer.
Then whilst our Nuoc Cham sauce was cooking away, we came back to the middle of the room to get our Pho on.
Francesco had been making the Pho broth in the middle of the room so it smelled amazing at this point! He showed us how to plate up a bowl of the Beef Pho and explained that you use raw slices of fillet steak in the bowl as it cooks as soon as you pour in the hot broth. It’s actually pretty cool to see as you notice how it immediately changes colour.
This was our starter so we got to tuck straight into the Beef Pho. And oh my god. It was insane. I’ve made Pho Bowls at home before but they were completely amateur and I had no idea what I was doing. This Pho was on the next level. So warming and delicious. I’m 100% making this at home!!
Next it was time to make some Prawn & Vegetable Summer Rolls. (They’re the Vietnamese version of spring rolls and are more fresh and salad-y than spring rolls.)
The same format applied. Francesco demonstrated what we had to do in the middle of the room, then we went away to our stations to do it for ourselves. Now, I don’t actually eat fish so I made my summer rolls veggie. But to be honest they mainly consist of noodles, carrot, cucumber, etc, anyway, so it was easy to make them vegetarian.
We cooked our pork balls at the same time so it would all be ready at once, and the Nuoc Cham sauce had been bubbling away for a while so it was good to go. Another tip I picked up here is that you cook the pork balls from a cold pan so that the fat renders properly. Top tip, ay?
Finally it was time to plate up – and doesn’t it look great?!
Well I can tell you it tasted as good as it looked. At the end of the class, we all sat round eating our creations and patting ourselves on the back for a job well done. Most of the people in our class were casually eating their lunches and socialising, but obvs me and Josh wolfed ours down in about 90 seconds. We can’t help it, we’re foodies. But honestly, the pork balls were top notch. I’m def making this one at home too.
Seriously, this class has made me a lot more confident to cook Vietnamese food at home. I think I’m a good cook in general so I just thought this day would be a fun experience, I wasn’t really expecting to get so much out of it. But I really learned a lot! I’m definitely keen to do more cooking classes like this in the future too as it was a lot of fun.
Ooh and a great part of the class is that they email you the recipe cards so the dishes are easy to recreate. You know last week I was talking about how I needed to find my signature dish, maybe this will help with that?!
Thanks to Virgin Experience Days for a lovely day out and thanks to our host Francesco for being a great teacher. Check out the Vietnamese Street Food class over here if you’re interested.
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