Cancun Cooking Class And Yucatecan Easter Feast

We're back from a week in Cancun, where we quite unexpectedly took a cooking class, and which turned out to be one of the true highlights of the trip! It also came at a very good time, since Easter was the day after we landed. What a great opportunity to test our new skills!

First, the class:
When we arrived my family had already been there for a week and mentioned that a cooking class had been added to the many excursions on offer. I was torn. We were on vacation and who willingly takes classes when they could be laying on the beach? However, I also love a cooking class. It had been described to us as "all day," furthering my skepticism. When we saw a brochure we learned that it was taught by a chef in her home and it looked very laid back, plus it featured tequila! What did we have to lose besides a little sun time? We were in!

We were taken by shuttle to a gorgeous home in downtown Cancun, headquarters of Can Cook In Cancun and Chef Claudia, our teacher, and greeted with a beautiful continental breakfast and Mexican coffee on the patio.

There were too many wonderful aspects of the day to list them all, but we learned to make many dishes, which you'll see replicated for Easter below, met some lovely people, and developed a further appreciation of Mexican food culture. And it was wonderful to eat such a fabulous meal in an elegantly casual home setting. I'd do it again in a heartbeat!

Making salsas with Chef Claudia

Salsas! I love the habanero one, on the right.

Easter Dinner:

I think we did pretty darned well on our first Yucatecan dinner at home, thanks to Chef Claudia's teaching! I made Mexican Rice, Nopales Salad, Xnipec Salsa (VERY hot, which we love, but most people would be crying from the heat), Sweet Pickled Onions and Pibil Sauce. Paul smoked the ham on the grill with the Pibil sauce I'd made and we served sauce on the side, too. It was delicious! 

Dinner is served!

A little appetizer - it's always the right time for guacamole!

I'm so glad we decided to take the class. I'll be serving these dishes for years, although I'll make a milder salsa for company! If you'll be in the Cancun area and are interested in the class, click here to learn more!