If the thought of making dinner makes you cringe, then you might want to consider signing up for one of the Atlantic Superstore’s cooking classes.
“Our major goal is to take away the fear from food,” says Tom Filippou, the executive chef of the President’s Choice Cooking School and director of national programming.
A grocery store can be a daunting place to navigate, with its thousands of products all waiting to be utilized for the perfect meal.
“Our whole idea was taking that product and showing folks how to work with it,” says Filippou. “So if you’ve never bought a lobster before or you’ve never tried a flank steak, there’s your opportunity.”
“You spend two hours in a class, get to learn how to prepare and how to work with a product,” he adds. “You get to take recipes home and you get to try it at home.”
Filippou says one of the downsides in the past to taking the classes was that people had to sign up at the customer service desks in store. With the recently launched website, www.pccookingschool.ca, people can pre-register online.
“You can pick your store and if you know there’s a cooking school in that particular store, you can actually see what the offerings are,” says Filippou.
Upcoming offerings include 3 Seafood Sensations, Country Comfort Food and National Prime Rib Day.
For those thinking about Easter, there will be an upcoming class devoted to getting ready for the big feast. Chef Mandy Christmas will help students with meals such as carrot soup and roast pork with spring vegetables. For dessert, there’ll be a white chocolate mousse parfait with strawberries. This class will take place at the Atlantic Superstore on Joseph Howe Drive next Tuesday.
Currently, the site has listings for the next two months, but Filippou says they are working on having them for the next four months.
Classes aren’t just for adults either. There are also classes for kids and teens to help the next generation with their culinary skills.
“Folks don’t really have time to cook and to teach in the way it used to be in the olden days where grandma or mom used to have time to show you how to prepare something,” says Filippou.
“We’re kind of filling that void,” he adds.
