Greek Cooking Classes

Greek food is one of the magnets drawing visitors to Greece due to an increased awareness of the benefits of the Mediterranean diet, and Greek cuisine is at the center of this healthy lifestyle. Foreign guests, regardless of their homeland cuisine, want to learn the secrets of preparing a traditional Greek meal and incorporate these ingredients and recipes into their daily eating habits at home.

A basic tenet of Greek cuisine is that food should be served as close to its natural state as possible.  Raw ingredients are delicious in their natural state —from garden to grove to field to sea.  Greeks honor the integrity of those raw ingredients and thus Greek cooking is essentially a simple cuisine.  You will not find complicated sauces like French chefs concoct or difficult techniques like soufflés.  The typical Greek housewife cooks, roasts, pan fries (not deep fried), grills or boils foods.    The single most precious ingredient in Greek cooking is olive oil.  It is to Greeks what chili peppers are to Mexicans or curry to Indian cuisine.

Athens Cooking Class

You are invited to a unique cooking school that excels in gastronomic activities for foodies who love cooking and are eager to explore Greek cuisine.  This is an active participation class in a school with double kitchens.  You wear your own apron, use the cooking equipment and prepare the ingredients for each dish.   A qualified chef guides you step by step, explaining the procedures for every recipe, sharing nutritional information, and giving you the recipes to try on our own at home.  The best part is eating the fruits of your labor.   Menu varieties

• Summer Menu, 3 hour class, prepare Greek salad, tomatos stuffed with rice (yemista) or mousaka, revani dessert.
• Meat Menu, 3 hour class, prepare Greek salad, tzatziki, home made souvlaki, galaktompoureko dessert
• Traditional Menu, 4 hour class, prepare dakos salad, moussaka, and baklava dessert
• Fish Menu, 5 hour class, prepare Greek salad, spinach pie, cuttlefish with spinach, revani dessert
• Greek Menu, 5 hour class, prepare Greek salad, fava and smoked eggplant dip, souvlaki with homemade pita bread, baklava dessert

Participants:   Minimum 10 persons, Maximum 30 persons.   If less than 10 persons or more than 30 persons, additional fees apply.  Group classes for children only and their guardians for children ages 6 and above.

Inclusions:    Chef, full kitchen, lunch or dinner, recipes to take home, transfers to and from your Athens hotel and the school

Aegina Island Cooking Class

This cooking class — lunch only — starts with a sea transfer from Piraeus port, Gate E8, in a high speed boat, 1.15 hours, to Aegina Island.  Immediately upon landing, your chef leads you to the local outdoor market to shop for your ingredients.  The chef shows students how to pick the freshest foods for the meal you will prepare, targetting the organic grown produce.

The venue for the class is a private villa with a little swimming pool and an outdoor kitchen big enough that you won’t need to say “too many cooks in the kitchen.”    You can either defer to the chef to choose the menu in its entirety or several days in advance you may plan a menu of the Greek foods you want to learn to make.

A typical cooking class includes learning to prepare the dishes in the cook’s traditional family way as inherited from her grandmothers and their grandmothers.  Your class includes making several appetizers, a salad, a fish or meat or vegetarian entree and dessert.   Wine and beverages included in the meal.  Below are sample of Greek meze or appetizer specialties you can learn to make:

• Tzatziki – garlicky cucumber yogurt dip
• Cretan Dakos –  barley rusks smothered in fresh diced tomatoes and feta cheese
• Taramosalata – fish roe dip
• Tirokafteri  – spicy cheese dip
• Dolmades – Ssuffed grape leaves
• Melitzanosalata – eggplant dip
• Piperia – stuffed green peppers with feta cheese

Participants:   Minimum 4 persons, Maximum 15 persons.   If less than 4 persons, additional fees apply.  No limit on age of participants.

Inclusions:    Chef, full kitchen, lunch only, recipes to take home, transfers to and from your Athens hotel to Piraeus port and the Aegina villa

Timing:   Departure time from Piraeus port depends on boat schedule, but typically a morning departure takes place at 08:30 or 09:00.   Takes 1:15 hours to reach Aegina.  Departures from Aegina depend on what time your group prefers to leave the island.  Boats tend to run every hour in high season.