After our fantastic pasta-making class in Rome, we decided to give this foodie activity another go in Athens. While not the same lively experience, it was still a wonderful evening activity for the family. This is a perfect activity for families, especially with teenagers, to keep everyone moving, active, and ultimately fed.
Through AirBnB Experiences, we booked the class with Onion Athens, which offers a variety of cooking classes, wine tastings, market tours, and combinations of the three. Located in downtown Athens, the Onion Athens studio resembles someone’s apartment and makes you feel like being welcomed in someone’s home.
Related: Tips for First-Time Visitors Adventuring Through Athens
Setting the Table for a Greek Meal
Greeted by our local hosts, Mariefi and Anna, we quickly met the rest of our party — eight other tourists from the U.S., Egypt, Germany, and Switzerland. After a little time to meet and greet, Mariefi brought out our first Greek wine to sample with some already-prepared appetizers, ntakos.
With wine in hand, we were ready to begin cooking. The evening’s menu included:
- Ntakos (I think the smaller classes actually made the appetizers)
- Choriatiki (also known as Greek Salad)
- Moussaka
- Cheese Pies
- Melomakarona (Greek Christmas cookies)
Mariefi briefly explained a little about each dish and its relevance to the Greek dining table. Our main dish for the evening, Moussaka, is similar to lasagna, but without noodles (using eggplant instead) and with a creamy top. The perfect winter comfort food for our cold rainy evening. She explained that moussaka is what her mom always made, and it reminded her of home.
Because the eggplant needed to “sweat,” we started with that. Taking turns slicing, we then covered the eggplant in salt where it would sit for 30 minutes.
While waiting for our sweating squash, we started the salad. Slicing veggies is a nice icebreaker for cooking newbies. Nothing too complicated, but enough to get people warmed up. The salad ingredients — cucumbers, tomatoes, olives, peppers, onions, and feta — all looked incredibly fresh.
Related: Want an Authentic Italian Experience? Learn to Make Homemade Pasta in Rome
Learning How to Multitask in the Kitchen
Next up, dough for our cheese pies. Since the dough needed to rise (see the pun there…), we began mixing and kneading the simple flour combination.
As we let the dough sit, we returned to the moussaka. This was certainly a lesson for my own family on multitasking for a full meal. (Hoping this awareness soaks in.) Once the eggplant sweated out enough water, we readied it for cooking by squeezing out the water. Then, we took turns cooking the meat and making the bechamel sauce. This was eye-opening for my kids. They had never made a sauce like this, which is the foundation for my mac and cheese–maybe now they see why I only make it on special occasions. Once we completed all the layers to the moussaka, our hosts helped assemble the casserole.
Related: Taking a Peloponnese Day Trip from Athens
With the dough ready to go, we started our cheese pies. Already experts from rolling pasta from our cooking class in Rome, we were skilled to roll and stuff these delicious fried treats. The filling for the cheese pies was super simple–feta, egg, salt and pepper with a dash of fresh herbs so that only took a bit of time to make. By this time, we were all really hungry. As we filled the pies, Mariefi would drop them into the hot oil to quickly cook.
Everything was beautifully plated, and we joined the others guests at the table to visit. (Sadly, the few pictures we took of the table were on my daughter’s phone which was stolen a few days later.)
The experience is one I recommend, but in comparison with our pasta-making class in Frascati, Italy, it loses some points. The Italian class was half the price (40 euros per person instead of 80) and every single participant got to make his very own dish. With the Greek cooking class we worked communally, which was fine, but not quite as neat as rolling, cutting, and cooking your very own particular pasta noodles.
All photos ©Linda Kerr, TravelTeening
