Cooking for Foodies, Day One

The Menu:

Walnut Goat Chesse Crositinis with Fig Relish

New York Strip Steak

Port Wine Reduction

Roasted Garlic Cream Spinach

Chocolate Framboise Cupcakes with Rasberry Filling, Dipped in Ganache

Some of you have asked what the class would consist of. I didn't have many answers before the class started, but now I can tell you all about it! Hopefully some of you who were reluctant to sign up this time will take the next one!

We got to the school. Wandered around for 10 minutes on campus looking for a janitor (or anyone really) to assist us in finding the class. Met Ernesto who kindly directed us towards the home ec building. Found classroom, walked in and lamented poor intructions with fellow students. Met Chef Jen - our instructor and self proclaimed Foodie. She explained that she got the idea for the class when one student in a previous class asked why she didn't teach an advanced cooking class for people who actually know their way around a kitchen. So she came up with this class - Cooking for Foodies. Like cooking for dumbies but the opposite. This made me laugh because I thought I was taking a class to learn how to cook for foodies. I didnt realize I was the actual foodie. Of course, I had just shot two shots of whiskey before class so that may not seem as funny to you as it did to me.

 

Each of us then received a copy of the night's menu and we reviewed the recipes/techniques as a class. Chef Jen instructed us to divide ourselves into groups of 5/6. Each group was to assemble the entire menu for themselves. After we got into our groups we put on our adorable aprons (which we thoughtfully brought with us from home), divided the recipes, and got to work. With the help of Chef Jen, we collaborated our cooking/timing so that all of our food was hot and ready to eat at the same time. When everything was done cooking she gave us a lesson on how to "plate" the food and then we got to eat! Besides a little trouble with the steaks (apparently even Chef Jen couldn't tell when the steak was done), our food was amazing. It seriously tasted like something out of a 5 star restaurant. The whiskey made me forget my camera and my phone so unfortunately the only pictures I have to share with you are from amanda's phone but I'll share them anyway.