As my son and I pulled up to the curb outside a tidy ranch house in a sleepy Exton neighborhood, I had to double-check the address scribbled on my pad. Brendan suggested maybe we should call first. “No, this is it,” I assured him. We heard a dog bark and a man appeared in the bay window, peered out for a moment, and then came out with the little white dog.
“Welcome. Diane is inside. Go ahead in,” the man said.
We walked through the foyer and into the kitchen where Diane Mastroianni greeted us with a smile. Her kitchen counter had been laid out with the ingredients for a bountiful feast; two trays of stuffed grape leaves, a bowl of sliced up lamb, cans of chickpeas, and bottles of wine. The dining table had been raised and turned into an extension to the kitchen counter. Five bar stool seats were arranged so we could continually eat as we watched her prepare our next course.
What Diane planned for us was a sumptuous Lebanese meal. I asked how she came to open Diane’s Cooking Classes. “My mother was German and Italian and we were in the restaurant business since I was young.” She explained how as a kid they often visited her paternal grandparents, who were Lebanese, in their Brooklyn home, and they would sit down to huge family meals. When Diane grew up, she started her own restaurant in upstate New York. After taking time out to raise her two sons, she ran two local restaurants, New York City Sandwiches in West Chester and Cosimo in Frazer for several years. Once they were closed, she realized she missed cooking for people and wanted to bring something unique to the area.
Within moments, a young couple joined my son and I at the shared table. Dave Richardson and Shannon DeMichiel had read about the class in the newspaper and decided to give it a try. They were obviously adventurous foodies, naming several restaurants they’ve enjoyed in the area. Shannon had learned about cooking Lebanese meals from her own grandmother. Shannon joked that they “never have the same meal twice.”
Diane billed this as a cooking class, but on the night we dined there, it came across as a live stage version of a Food Network Cooking Show. We watched as Diane prepared each course and followed along with the handouts of each recipe she provided. We asked questions, we learned, and we ate the wonderful finished dishes.
First up, Diane made a creamy hummus from scratch. She mixed chick peas, garlic, tahini, lemon juice, parsley and olive oil in her blender while we cut the pita bread into triangles. She served the hummus next to a tray containing two cheeses – a string cheese and a Syrian cheese along with basturma – a cured beef.
As we dined on the hummus and cheeses, Diane molded falafals by hand and heated up the fry pan. She served two types of falafals because she wanted us to understand the difference. The first set of falafals were crisp and textured, though light and fluffy inside. The second batch was dense, appearing to be of a different consistency. We all agreed that while they were both good, the first batch was better. Diane explained these were the falafals made from scratch while the second was from a box mix.
Once we had our fill of falafals, Diane put us to work. She brought out one bowl with an array of sliced onions and colorful peppers and a second bowl of lamb and we skewered our own shish kabobs. Diane explained she likes to include small tomatoes but she wasn’t happy with the day’s selection in the market.
After skewering our kabobs, we took turns washing our hands in the sink as she drizzled olive oil over the skewers and fired them up on the grill, which sat right outside of the kitchen door. She also showed us she had prepared kibbies, a ground lamb and wheat mixture placed on a stick.
While the meat grilled, Diane served us the stuffed grape leaves she had prepared earlier in the day. The first plate of grape leaves was vegetarian style, filled with rice, and very mild. The second grape leaves were stuffed with diced up lamb and rice and covered with a mouthwatering tomato sauce; much spicier. We all jumped in an encouraged my son Brendan to try the grape leaves, and when he did, he was delighted at the ones stuffed with lamb.
When the kibbies were finished, we dined on these with our grape leaves. Shannon said, “I love the flavor of the kibbie, I’ve never had it like that.” David remarked, “It has a lot of flavor, but it’s mild.” Diane uncorked a Callabriga Alentejo red wine from Portugal and served us glasses full to have with our kabobs.
Diane unskewered the finished shish kabobs for us, and placed the lamb and vegetables in a large family style bowl that we passed around the table. The lamb paired very well with the wine.
Diane then went directly into making a spinach salad. I asked about the serving of salad after the main course and she explained this is the custom in Lebanese dining. The combination of olive oil and lemon juice with the spinach and sweet onions made this a refreshing salad to have after the main course.
As if this was not enough, she then prepared us a sublime “bread salad,” which consisted of diced up lamb and pita bread in a warm yogurt sauce. By this time, I felt stuffed as a grape leaf myself and had started eyeing up the baklava and cookies for dessert, which was an excellent finishing touch to a very fun and adventurous meal.
Diane’s Cooking Classes hosts dinners on a semi-regular basis. They generally run 2 ½ to 3 hours. In addition to her scheduled events, she is available to host private parties. She suggests calling or emailing her to discuss dates. Diane also is available for private cooking lessons. Her dining room table comfortably holds between four and eight people.
More information on Diane’s Cooking Classes may be found at dianescookingclasses.com.
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