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Jawad Supermarket is hosting free cooking classes every Tuesday with its brand ambassador, Alexandra Mariot, who is delighting crowds of food lovers with her authentic cooking techniques covering a host of cultural cuisines.
Her culinary creations were demonstrated recently for both the local media and honorary guests with a morning session on Italian cooking.
The class was attended by Romina Vecchi, the wife of the Italian Ambassador to Bahrain, Alberto, and she gave her seal of approval on the chef’s mastery of the cuisine. Mrs Vecchi said: “We do not use a lot of cream in our dishes and I was impressed that she kept to the traditional recipes.”
She added that she found that in Bahrain many cooks of Italian cuisine make the mistake of adding too much cream and sauce to dishes and that the pasta is often overcooked not ‘al dente’ which is the true style of Italy, cooked to be firm to the bite.
Mrs Vecchi described the Mozzarella di Bufala (Caprese Salad) presented at the demonstration as ‘perfect’.
Chef Alexander revealed that she had used Mozzarella di Bufala Campana found only on the island at Jawad Supermarkets which is produced in Italy by Allevatori Bufalini Casertani (ABC) and it made ‘all the difference’. The cheese comes from buffalo milk and has a distinctive taste, texture and colour.
The French culinary queen is a certified chef in a multitude of cuisines and her passion developed following a move to Indonesia. Her husband was away at work all day and she started to attend cooking classes at a prestigious institute, the cost covered as a gift from her mother, and she never looked back.
She said: “I knew it was a passion when I would be lost in cooking for two to three hours at a time in a kitchen in Jakarta with no air conditioning! I perfected Asian, Italian and Arabic cuisines stretching myself to learn new techniques of making bread and pasta all from scratch.”
Now a Bahraini resident of almost 16 years standing, she is passing on her cooking skills to shoppers. She wrote a cookbook that sold more than 900 copies and gave all the proceeds to good causes.
Her classes remain popular and her step into the catering business led to much acclaim, especially after launching her legendary ‘Alexandra M’ almond macaroons.
After meeting the Jawad family at an event staged by The Alliance Française of Bahrain she launched a series of cooking demonstrations to critical acclaim. As the brand ambassador of Jawad Supermarket, she holds classes every Tuesday from 10am to noon and from 6pm to 8pm at the dome off Budaiya Highway.
Every month a different theme is chosen and the cuisine of a particular country is placed under the spotlight, with a city or a region highlighted each week.
“We started with the UK, throwing the spotlight on England, Scotland and Wales and people were very happy,” said Alexandra. “For me it’s a great thing as I really enjoying doing this. Cooking is my passion and not just work.”
The classes are designed for all levels of skills and each week Alexandra shares three special recipes, for an appetiser, a main course and then a dessert with a different set for both morning and evening.
All dishes are cooked live in front of an audience with members offered the opportunity to taste each recipe as she shares her cooking tips. All the ingredients can be found in the supermarket.
After May’s Italian adventure, June will feature a Ramadan theme where she will give classes on Arabic food, teaching how to prepare various combinations of dishes. During Ramadan, there will be an additional class at 10pm.
The free classes are open for all with no advance booking required. There are also recipe cards available for customers to take home and in the coming months the supermarket will also broadcast videos of the earlier classes inside the stores.
* Call 17691010 or visit Jawad supermarket in Budaiya for more information.
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Mozzarella di Bufala
(Caprese salad – serves 4)
Ingredients:
• 4 pcs of buffalo mozzarella (250g each)
• 4 ripe tomatoes
• 100ml SASSO extra virgin olive oil
• Basil from BART
• 1 tbsp oregano
• Black pepper from BART
• Salt
Method:
• Pour the extra virgin olive oil in a small bowl, mix with salt and oregano, set aside to marinate.
• Meanwhile, wash and dry the tomatoes and cut each into five slices 0.5cm thick. Then drain the mozzarella and cut into slices 0.5cm thick.
• On each plate, add a slice of tomato and mozzarella and repeat in order to form a nice flower shape. Between each slice, run a teaspoon of sauce with oregano and fresh basil leaves. At last, poor some basil sauce oregano to decorate the plates, some basil leaves and season with a little olive oil over, then serve.
