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Cooking Classes in Action

By on January 16, 2012 in Culinary Classes

Our cooking classes are on in Beachwood!  We’ve been throwing down in the kitchen with some incredible people.  I would like to thank each and every person who has attended classes here- your participation is appreciated more than you know!

So what’s it like to be in a cooking class at The Chubby Cook?  Delicious and fun!  Our classes start off with a quick introduction to the space and the materials we will be covering for the class.  Then we get right to the hands-on cooking experience- when  you leave our class you will have chopped, diced, stirred, shaken and sliced your way through delicious, easy to follow recipes.

Working through the recipe with Chef Lauren

Typically we try to make a recipe at the beginning of the class which we can nosh on while we’re cooking the other dishes.  The kitchen always smells fantastic and it is hard to make it to the end without a little nibble here and there!

Making Bacon Jalapeno Rellenos to nosh on during class!

Our hands-on classes are a ton of fun.  Everyone learns quick tips, time saving techniques and easy ways to make cooking at home more fun and filled with flavor.  Our Chefs and Chef’s Assistants are here to help throughout class- questions are always encouraged!

Easy to follow instruction from our Chefs- we make it fun and easy.

At the end of the class, we feast!  Your delicious culinary creations are plated and everyone can chow down.  It’s a fantastic way to spend an afternoon or an evening.  A great way to meet new people or to bring your friends!

For any questions, please call 216-342-4840 (Ask for Scott or Michele) or check out our Class Schedule!

You'll always leave having eaten a full, delicious meal we created together.

Fresh, fantastic ingredients... it's a feast for the eyes even before we begin cooking

Aprons, towels, recipes and everything needed for the class is provided- just bring yourself!

The reward: fantastic food and good friends!

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New Classes Added at The Chubby Cook

By on December 27, 2011 in Culinary Classes

Hope that you all had a very Happy Holiday!  Things at The Chubby Cook were as crazy as ever, but that’s a great thing!  We put out a ton of fantastic food all last week and over the weekend.  Today, we’re taking the day off for a much needed break, but will be back in the saddle tomorrow!

During the last several weeks, we’ve been hard at work adding new classes to the roster starting in January (View Calendar).  I have to tell you that I am really excited to be assisting in many of these classes.  Our new instructors have so much knowledge that it is truly an honor for me to be working with them.

So what’s on the decks?  It’s hard to choose a starting point, so I’ll just go through a couple that we have coming up.  The first that I want to introduce is the Old World Comfort Food (View Online) with Michele LaVecchia.  As many of you know, or may not know, Michele is the wizard in our kitchen who makes the bulk of our super tasty food going out on a daily basis.  When it comes to old world cooking, Michele’s is some of the best that I have ever tasted.  It’s made with love and you can just tell that it’s authentic.  You’ll also love this class because she is completely approachable and breaks things down easily so anybody can understand exactly what she is doing.  When you sign up for this class, you’re in for a real treat.

 

Stuffed Cabbage Rolls that melt in your mouth… yumm.

We also have an incredible series coming up with Janet Loftus, CSW of European Wine Imports.  We have been working to come up with some fantastic wines for you to taste with some incredible foods in our Wine Pairings 101 Class (View Online).  We will be creating some delicious appetizers in our kitchen for you to sample with the wines which Janet has chosen in this unique class.  Also on the calendar is our wine series classes called “Passport to Pleasure” (View Online) where we take a tour around the world the second Friday of every month.  If you are a wine lover like we are then these classes are right up your alley.  There are a ton more listed online to begin or enhance your wine education!  Janet is a gifted teacher with an incredible knowledge that she is ready to share with you.

Food and wine pairings can be incredible- join in on the experience!

Last up for this post, I am excited to talk about our class called We Love Bacon (View Online).  It’s all about bacon which is something that we sure love.  Aside from having a fun and delicious menu for the evening, we have partnered up with Train 4 Autism and are going to give back 50% of the price of admission for each person who signs up with the coupon code TRAIN4AUTISM1.  We are very excited to be working with this charity and hope that you will help raise some money for them by signing up for this class.  If you would like to apply the coupon to other classes, please don’t hesitate.  We are happy to apply this offer to any of our classes we have running currently.

Bacon Wrapped Chicken... This bacon class will be incredible!

Up later this week: Some more class updates and my 7 Hour Braised Lamb recipe.  Wow is that one good.

Enjoy the week everyone!

 

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Recreational Cooking School

By on December 10, 2011 in Culinary Classes

So it has been too long since my last post.  To be quite honest, it’s been ridiculously busy around here and I rarely have 2 minutes to rub together.  The good news in all of that is that life passes by at a nice clip, but the bad news is that I don’t get to do some of the things that I truly enjoy, like posting up on The Chubby Cook.  All that being said, hopefully you will find some of the information in this post worth reading again!

As I was saying, we have been busy at The Chubby Cook!  After we closed our Take Out portion of the business in October, our Corporate Catering business has been taking off.  If you are one of our customers, thank you for supporting us- we appreciate it more than you know.  If you aren’t one of our customers and are in the Cleveland area, give us a try sometime- we’ve got really good food.  Enough of the gratuitous plug!

Through all the hard work I realized that I lost sight on just why I opened the Chubby Cook in the first place.  I wanted to share experiences, knowledge and fun in the kitchen with other people.  Now, we have had lots of talented chefs working with us so I am not saying that it hasn’t been happening on a small scale- but I wanted to share things on a much broader basis.  So, we set to work to accomplish just that: open up the cooking school.

Great news!  The doors to our recreational cooking school are opening in January.  We have a good start to our schedule of classes and are adding more each day.  We have classes that include vegan and vegetarian, basic skills to advanced classes as well as down home comfort foods.  If you don’t see a class that you would be interested in taking, post it up on our Facebook Page and I will work on getting it added to the schedule. Coming up we are going to be starting our couples and singles evenings- it’s going to be fun!

The most important thing is getting the word out about the school.  If you have friends or family that would be interested, please let them know about us!   We appreciate your help very much.  For this weekend, we are offering a 10% discount for all classes if you enter the coupon code LRN2COOK1.  This is good for Gift Certificates or any of our Scheduled Classes.

I’ll be posting up about the new classes we have coming online this week!

We will be cooking away at The Chubby Cook!

 

 

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Western Reserve School of Cooking: Foundations II

By on November 9, 2010 in Culinary Classes

It has been a couple weeks since the last day of my Foundations II class at the Western Reserve School of Cooking.  Since then, it has been a busy time in my culinary development.  A whirlwind culinary adventure through Europe has drawn me further into the clutches of this foodie world.  I can’t wait until Foundations III is here in May.

For this round of classes taught by Catherine St. John, the class size was particularly small.  I make a note of this simply because I believe that it made the experience that much better.  Originally we had a class size of five, which would have been a good number as well but one person came down with seasonal illness and another couldn’t fit it into their schedule as originally planned.  That left the class at three people which meant that each one of us was able to work through more dishes and have much more hands-on participation.  I thought it was excellent.

The concept behind the Foundations II course is to solidify the techniques learned in Foundations I, introduce some new techniques and most importantly, to be exposed to cooking styles and flavor profiles from around the globe.  We worked on cuisine from Italy, the Mediterranean, Asia, Latin America and on creole cooking from America.  It is really interesting to realize that although each cuisine is very different from the one another, the cooking techniques behind almost all of them are very similar.  The key to cooking well is to master the basic techniques.  Once that is accomplished the principals can be applied across the board.

Day one started out a little hectic… not nearly as much as the first day of Foundations I, but hectic nonetheless.  People needed to get reacquainted with the kitchen which always takes a little time and fumbling around.  Once our legs were under us, we were flying through the menu.  We knocked out an awesome roasted butternut squash soup with brown butter, capers and sage.   If you’ve never had a soup like this, give it a shot.  It’s great.  Along with the soup we made some fried risotto balls and a panzanella that was pretty good.  Everything just tasted so fresh.  In the afternoon, we made a veal ossobucco in vegetable sauce with some creamy polenta.  I’ve never made a polenta from scratch before, usually opting for the polenta that comes premade in the tubes.  This was some tasty polenta.  The ossobucco needed a little something that I just couldn’t put my finger on, but the marrow on a piece of crunchy French bread was delightful.

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup with Brown Butter, Capers and Sage. Photo by Scott Groth

One of the cool things about this class is the need to prep foods a day ahead in most cases.  This is an area in which I always fall short when I am cooking at home.  Typically I buy something that needs to be marinated overnight and wander into the kitchen a couple hours before dinner and have to come up with another meal because of the oversight.  Every afternoon we were preparing mise en place for the next day, which is a really good habit to start.  Take today for instance:  we were supposed to have roast chicken tonight, but I forgot to take them out of the freezer two days ago.  Instead, we’re going to have some of my Best Tailgating Chili that I defrosted but it is a bummer that I forgot my prep again.  Oh well- I have to come up with some type of system.

The second day was Mediterranean cooking.  It should have been called Greek day and was by far the best day of the series.  Part of Catherine’s training was in Greece and it shows with the incredible dishes that were prepared.  We started by making the Galaktoboureko which is a phyllo custard pie.  We moved into making some salads (one with small onions and a currant reduction and the other was a roasted pepper salad with kalamata olives and feta cheese).  We made a tsatsiki that was thicker and had more depth than any I have had in the Cleveland area.  After that we knocked out some roasted eggplant sandwiches.

Roasted Eggplant Sandwiches. Really tasty. Photo by Scott Groth

Wow, the second day is only halfway over.  We certainly didn’t leave class hungry that day!  Catherine showed us how to make Avgolemono soup which is a Chicken soup with egg and lemon sauce.  I put that as one of the best soups I have ever eaten.  Really light and full of flavor.  It is something that I’m going to make again sometime soon.  The second day was chock full of cool stuff.  We made some Garithes Youvetsi which are shrimp baked in a pot with feta.  Perfectly simple and delicious.  We also had an opportunity to fire off the leg of lamb we studded with garlic and marinated the day before on the grill at Downtown 140.  That lamb was awesome and the taste of the grill really made it a special dish.  One thing I was looking forward to was learning how to make my own pita bread, which we did as well.  Six months ago I never thought I’d be knocking out my own pita bread.  Very cool.

Perfectly grilled leg of lamb. Greek day was awesome. Photo by Scott Groth

Day three was Asian day.  I’m not a huge fan of cooking Asian style food, but walked into class knowing that it would be a great learning experience - which it was.  The day started off with some seafood and coconut soup (including shrimp, scallops, calamari and salmon in the soup) that tasted good.  We made some Hoisin chicken lettuce cups which were as good as the ones at PF Changs.  I can dig on a lettuce cup now and again.  The winner of the day was the Sashimi Spring Rolls.  Not only were these a learning experience to make, they tasted really incredible.  The picture doesn’t do them justice- they were just so good that it is hard to describe.  We made some Pad Thai Noodles and Moo Shu Pork, including the moo shu wrappers.  The wrappers are made two at a time- who knew?  We finished the day off with some cookie bowls with fresh fruit sorbet.  Very tasty day.

Sashimi Spring Rolls with Ginger Mustard Sauce. These kept springing into my mouth they were so good. Photo by Scott Groth

The fourth day definitely needed some good preparation.  It was Latin America day and we were preparing a Mole recipe from Rick Bayless, owner of the Frontera Grill.  The recipe is over two pages long, so having the correct mise en place was important.  The mole turned out really well- the subtle flavor of chocolate with the turkey was really delightful.  One of my favorites was the seafood, avocado and tomato ceviche.  I’ve had a lot of ceviche and this was fresh and had the flavor components that I really enjoy.  On the menu for the day was also a Pico de Gallo, a citrus and jicama salad and some tortilla soup.  All were delicious.  We made our own tortillas as well, which was pretty neat.  A couple looked more like the shape of Pennsylvania than a round tortilla, but they tasted good.  I went back for seconds on the Flan- it was really, really, really good.  But then again, I love flan.

Mmm... Flan. Love it! Photo by Scott Groth

We finished out the week with some Cajun and Creole cooking.  My friend Dan would have loved this day if he was there, which he wasn’t, so I enjoyed it for him.  Shrimp Etouffee is one of his favorites and we made a mean one with andouille sausage that kicked the flavor into high gear.  Also on the menu was some Dirty Rice then a lettuce wedge with Remoulade dressing, bacon and blue cheese (one of my favorites).  We knocked out a Creole Bouillabaisse with Rouille which is the first bouillabaisse I have ever made- I’ll make it again.  Very clean flavors.  At the end of the day, we decorated a sour cream based Chocolate Mocha Layer Cake which was decadent.

Moist, delicious chocolate cake. You know you want a piece. Photo by Scott Groth

What a whirlwind of a week.  For those of you in the Foundations I class with me, make sure that you pick this class up in April- it’s really an experience.  You’ll leave with such an increased knowledge base that it is truly remarkable.  You’ll also leave a couple pounds heavier, but I think it was worth it.  Great food and great times in the kitchen.

A big thank you to Ed and Michele for making the week go so well.  Another to Catherine for teaching us how to cook better and running the class with so few people- I appreciate it very much!  Check out more pictures from the class on The Chubby Cook Facebook page- while you’re there, become a fan!

The October 2010 Foundations II Graduating Class. From L to R: Scott Groth, Catherine St. John, Michele Goff and Ed Liszka.

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Western Reserve School of Cooking: Multi-Grain Bread Workshop with Kathy Lehr

By on October 23, 2010 in Culinary Classes

After taking two really good classes from Kathy Lehr at the Western Reserve School of cooking, I just had to sign up for the multi-grain class. Everything that she has taught so far has translated into direct and significant improvements in my bread and baking skill sets. It is very unusual for me to look forward to baking something, but I have to say that the French Bread is a delight, particularly now that I am getting the hang of cooking it. Let me explain.

As Kathy told us, there’s a margin of error in all bread making. The starting point is mainly due to your oven. I have a pretty darn good oven which has been woefully underutilized since its installation about six years ago. At that time, it was top of the line with convection and a fancy display. I figured that my oven would cook at the temperature programmed because that is what it was made to do. I was wrong. The first loaves baked needed a ton of extra time to come to temperature and had to have the convection turned on to brown. Frustrating. The next batch I put my rack too low and my steam bath too high, so I had some damp feeling bread. Disappointing. The last batch was just right- rack in the middle, steam bath on the bottom and the temperature turned up 20 degrees higher than what the recipe calls for. They cooked in the right amount of time, browned incredibly and had a nice crunch. I gave the loaves to my friends from our Foundations 2 class and we used one loaf for our class that day. It was really pretty delicious. The post on Foundations 2 is coming up soon.

In the past, I’ve tried to cook multi-grain breads and they have come out dense, chewy and really not great tasting. I figured that it was the ingredients, so I even went so far as to grind my own. The result from that batch was really terrible, so I just gave up and bought my bread at Heinens, like everyone else that I know. After learning how to make the French Bread, I figured that Kathy would show me the way to good homemade multi-grain. She did.

Learning to slash the pan bread. Photo by Scott Groth

As with all her classes, this is a participation class. If you decide to sign up for one of these, it’s best not to wear dark colors. You’ll get flour all over everything: it is inevitable. I only give that point from experience since I wore dark jeans and a black golf shirt. It was only when I walked into the grocery to get some fresh yeast after class that I realized there were some white hand prints on my jeans and flour all over the front of my shirt. No sweat, but easy enough to avoid.

In this class you will be working mainly with the dough that Kathy has made prior to class since the ingredients need time to start working together and then need time to rest and rise. You’ll make your own dough too, but it is to be taken home to bake in your own oven. I like this setup so there isn’t a whole lot of time sitting around watching dough do its thing. I like hands-on and we worked with the ingredients really from the beginning all the way through the end of class.

All the breads made were great. You’ll learn about starters, different grains, flours and yeasts in this class. As with the French Bread class, slashing the bread is an important step. The good news is that my technique has improved greatly since my first class. Can’t wait for the week-long intensive class to continue to improve my skills. Kathy uses a straight razor for her slashing, but I find that a folding utility knife with a fresh blade works best for me. Be prepared to get your hands covered with dough, work out a little with Kathy’s power-kneading technique and test your dexterity by manipulating the dough into the shapes desired. We made some bread in pans, some rye bread boules as well as a multi-grain batard. All were really delicious.

Kathy Lehr teaching about breads. Photo by Scott Groth

The one thing that sticks out most in my mind as something that I didn’t know walking into this class relates to rye bread. I had no idea that the flour is actually pumpernickel and the coloring of the bread comes from molasses. Has nothing to do with the seeds. I thought that was really interesting. Plenty of other interesting stuff, but that one stands out to me.

The dough that I took home was multi-grain. The loaf turned out really well, but I forgot to take a picture of it. Instead, it ended up sliced in the toaster and then down the hatch with a little salted butter. It turned out really nicely though because I followed the easy directions on the recipe that was sent home with us. I had a great time in class and think that pretty much everyone else did as well.

Not sure when the next class will be with Kathy, but chances are good that I’ll be there. Hope to see you there too.

These are the breads we baked- don't they look great! Photo by Scott Groth

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Western Reserve School of Cooking: Pressure Cooking Workshop

By on October 20, 2010 in Culinary Classes

Pressure cooking is something that was just on the fringe of my cooking interest. Until I started to watch Top Chef and Iron Chef, the pressure cooker was just this piece of equipment that looked dangerous to use and typically overcooked food in my experience. I say that Top Chef and Iron Chef changed my outlook because it was confusing to me how they could braise a beef shortrib in under an hour when it takes me close to three hours to do it at home. The answer to that question, which surprised me, was that they are using a pressure cooker to achieve their results. The infusion of the steam pressure into the meat allows for the cooking time to be shortened by as much as 70 percent. That’s a lot of time.

The old pressure cookers look rickety, scary and require a lot of skill to use in my estimation. The ones that I have seen are made out of aluminum which I really prefer not to cook with. They make a lot of noise and spit steam out everywhere. Sometimes it reminds me of the furnace from A Christmas Story… not something I really ever wanted to deal with. But, to be a well rounded cook there can be no equipment that is unknown or off limits. My drive toward complete immersion in the kitchen necessitated learning how to use what I considered to be antiquated kitchen equipment.

Let me take a minute to expound a minute. About a month ago, an old friend of mine hit The Chubby Cook Facebook page and said that he was the proud new owner of a pressure cooker. He wanted to know if I had any recipes that he could try out. Typically I have something for just about any occasion, but on this one I had nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Who knew I would be stumped by a pressure cooker question?!? I checked on the schedule for the Western Reserve School of Cooking and saw that there was a class being offered by Gina DeRose on pressure cooking. Game on. No silly pressure cooker is going to get the better of me.

I liked the menu offering in this participation class which is one of the reasons for going as well. Sometimes the four or five hours to make stock just isn’t available. The idea of being able to make homemade stock in an hour is very appealing to me. I liked the look of the barley risotto with asparagus and the concept of making bread pudding in a pressure cooker intrigued me to no end. The fact that Gina DeRose specializes in healthy cooking and has worked with some pretty big named people also had me looking forward to going to this class.

Gina DeRose demonstrating the proper use of a pressure cooker. Photo by Scott Groth

This workshop at the Western Reserve School of Cooking started off by everyone working on the mise en place for the recipes of the night. The real trick to the pressure cooker is simply getting your timing right. With the new pressure cookers out there (we were using the Fagor brand, which really works nicely) it’s easy to figure out. There’s a little yellow button that raises when the appropriate pressure has been reached. At that point, start timing. When you’re done cooking, flip the switch to release the pressure, wait a couple minutes and then check what you have cooked inside. It’s really easy.

The one issue we ran into during the class was timing for all the dishes. Pressure cookers don’t grow on trees last time I checked so we had to share three of them. With the stock cooking in one, the barley risotto in another and the last for the curried chicken soup, the people working on the pumpkin bread pudding were just hanging out for a while. They say that a watched pot never boils, but I say that watching a pressure cooker work isn’t exciting. The good news is that Gina was full of information and stories while we were waiting for the dishes to be completed.

Gina DeRose working on a dish and telling some stories. Photo by Scott Groth

The risotto was delicious. I wasn’t a huge fan of the coconut soup, but I attribute that more to the fact that in my Foundations classes I’ve set the bar pretty high when it comes to soups these days. Also, curry just isn’t a spice that makes a regular debut around my house. The pumpkin bread pudding was delightful. The flavor was spot on. This is a dessert recipe that will make my Fall rotation once I pick up a pressure cooker. That’s right, The Chubby Cook is sans pressure cooker to this day. The Holidays are around the corner, so I’m hoping that one will show up with my name on it.

Barley and asparagus risotto. Done in 11 minutes! Photo by Scott Groth

There are more pressure cooking classes coming up at the Western Reserve School of Cooking. I think that the next one is being taught by Sarah McNally whom I met the other day. The recipe for that night looks awesome: Chicken Basquaise with Artichokes, Risotto with Broccoli, Polenta and Cream Cheesecake with a fruit glaze. I’d love to be at this workshop, but I’ll be out of town that night. If any of you guys reading this take the class, be sure to e-mail me and let me know how it was. TheChubbyCook@Gmail.com

Pumpkin bread pudding. Wish this photo came out better- awesome taste! Photo by Scott Groth

The funny thing about pressure cooking is now watching The Next Iron Chef and seeing how many troubles they are having using this piece of equipment. It happened on the last season as well- I guess that it’s important to learn how to use as much kitchen equipment as possible!

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Western Reserve School of Cooking: French Bread Workshop

By on October 10, 2010 in Culinary Classes

Ahh… Bread. This versatile ingredient has played such a huge role in my life that it is really astounding when thinking about it. It has held the contents for countless sandwiches, been the delivery method for hundreds of different cheeses, dried meats and dips. Along the line it has even played a large role in salads, mainly as a crouton but sometimes as a main player in panzanella. For breakfast, it is incredible. French toast, regular toast, eggs in a hole or as part of an egg sandwich. There are sweet breads, sour breads, unleavened breads… really the list goes on forever. But one bread really stands out from the rest for me and for my family. It is French bread. It’s simple and delicious.

I have tried several times to make French bread in the past. The recipe I was following was authored by Daniel Leader in a book called Local Breads. For some reason, I could never once get the bread to come out right. The extent I was willing to go was far enough to order these stainless steel baguette makers online. All that helped with was making my cleanup more difficult. When the French Bread class came around at the Western Reserve School of Cooking, I knew that this was a class for me.

This the second class that I have attended which was led by Kathy Lehr. The first was the Easy as Pie workshop, where we learned how to make pie crust from scratch. Just like the pie class, I was impressed by Kathy’s knowledge. She makes everything look so effortless throughout the process. During the class, when some of the uncooked loaves were looking a little like they fell out of a Picasso painting she twisted and turned them into something really respectable looking. During class we were making French Batards. They are smaller than a Baguette by about half. They are easier to work with and require less slashing. We’ll get to the slashing in a minute.

French Baguette and French Batards from the workshop. Photo by Scott Groth

The French Bread class at WRSOC is a participation class. It has to be… there is too much technique that needs to be learned for it not to be. Just watching Kathy work through it would never have been enough to get the bread right. We started off with some dough that she had made the previous day. That’s right, French bread dough needs to have some time to rest in the refrigerator so some advanced planning is needed. We took the bread, learned how to knead it, fold it, smack it, manipulate it, roll it and slash it.

Each step in making the bread is a process. I learned how to knead bread like I have never done before. Typically it is rolled with the palm and folded back on itself on the counter. Kathy’s method is much more aggressive. Pick up the bread, slam it on the counter and roll it away like a jelly roll. Repeat about a hundred times. She showed us how to use our legs during the lifting part because let me tell you, it does a number on the lower back. After we beat the dough into submission, we sectioned it off into three equal parts and moved to the next step.

Kneading the dough into submission. This is hands on participation. Photo by Scott Groth

We fold the bread. You can feel the bread gaining tightness and some elasticity during this process. Then give it a quick smack. Next, we manipulate it by rolling the dough over our thumbs and pull the dough out to the sides. It sounds tricky because it is.  This thumb roll thing takes some time to get used to the motion.  Then you roll it out with your hands to give the roll that classic French Batard look. The part that I thought would be easy is the slashing. With a straight razor, the dough is cut from one side to the other. Take it from me, it’s hard and takes practice.

Working on our slashing technique. Photo by Scott Groth

Okay, so I just made all this sound really difficult. It is the first time, but it definitely gets easier as you make more and the end product is so tasty that it is worth the hassle. In class we baked the loaves on natural tile in the oven. At home, I cooked mine on the pizza stone. One trick is to add steam to the oven to get that crunchy crust that is so characteristic of French bread. Holy cow, this bread was good. Browned so nicely with a hearty, thick crust that is full of flavor.

One of the coolest parts of class happened when we took the bread out of the ovens. It was sitting on the cooling racks and started to make this crackling noise. To me, it was totally unexpected. Kathy simply said “You’d be making noise too if you just got out of a 485 degree oven.” It was the crust actually starting to crack it was so crunchy. When I made my loaves at home, when they were finished I brought the cooling rack over near Caroline so she could hear. When it happened, she had a smile from ear to ear. It’s a really cool sound.

Kathy Lehr showing us the proper rolling technique. Photo by Scott Groth

Now that I know how to make the bread, my freezer will soon be filled with the loaves. Kathy let us in on a secret when you make your own bread: write down the temperature you cooked the bread on the package before you freeze it. Then when you reheat it, set the oven to that temperature for deliciously crusty, fresh tasting bread. Hopefully at some point soon we will have all the French bread that we need and I won’t have to continue buying crappy local baguette that looks like Wonderbread wrapped in an anemic crust.

The day after our class, the dough that we made was baked off in the oven and turned out pretty good. I e-mailed Kathy a picture of some nicely browned bread with awful slashing. She was supportive in her e-mail and let me know how to correct it next time. Next time will be a little better than this time, that’s for sure. In any event, the bread was awesome. A big thank you to Kathy for showing me how to finally make the bread that had frustrated me so many times in the past.

Check it out- it’s brown and delicious looking!

Not too bad, right? French bread made in my house. Awesome. Photo by Scott Groth

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Western Reserve School of Cooking: Crêpe Workshop

By on October 6, 2010 in Culinary Classes

In this post, the word crêpe is used 44 times.  You have been warned.  Crêpe.  That’s 45 times… just because.

Crêpes are tasty and good to eat.  That’s what I knew about crêpes prior to the workshop put on by the Western Reserve School of Cooking.  I like sweet crêpes with butter and sugar or with just sugar alone.  I like crêpes with chocolate and strawberries or a little bit of Nutella.  Savory crêpes are pretty good as well.  Ham and cheese with a light smear of bistro sauce is a great lunch in my book.  The problem with the crêpe is that it is hard to find in Cleveland… so it is hard to scratch the itch, if you know what I mean.  With that in mind, I figure the best way to solve a problem like this is to attack it head on: take a class on how to do it.  So, that’s how I found myself at the crêpe workshop.

Before we get into the class, a quick tip of the hat needs to be given to the grumpy Crêpe Dude at the West Side Market.  Each and every time we are at the Market we get crêpes from this guy.  Despite the fact that it seems as though he would rather be anywhere else other than standing there making crêpes, they taste pretty damn good and are absolutely huge.  No matter how long the line is, he doesn’t rush the process and you can rest assured that when the crêpe is delivered it will be piping hot and delicious.  Smile Crêpe Dude, you’re making crêpes.

Crepe Dude at West Side Market. Photo by Scott Groth

This was my first workshop taught by Mary Ann Napolitano.  She is a graduate of the Western Reserve School of Cooking, which I think is great to begin with.  She explained to all of us that she was an elementary school teacher for many years as well.  I don’t recollect how she got involved with making crêpes, but Mary Ann can make a mean crêpe.  Our workshop was made up primarily of people who have a good grip on the basics of cooking, so her informative and supportive teaching style made everyone feel comfortable.

Participation is the name of the game for this workshop.  If you plan on attending, you need to bring a crêpe pan.  If you’re like me, this is one piece of kitchen equipment which is probably not lodged somewhere in a cabinet.  A quick streak of panic set in as I was leaving five minutes late to get to class without a crêpe pan.  The good news is that I found a faster way to get to Hudson, managed to pick up a pan on my way and got to the workshop ten minutes early.  Stupid panic.

Working through the recipes. Photo by Scott Groth

In this workshop you will learn how to make a proper crêpe batter, including the temperature for all of the ingredients to play nicely together.  We worked through savory appetizers with shrimp and herbs.  We baked off a whole slew of Florentine crêpes with ricotta and spinach.  One crêpe that I really didn’t like so much was the Pesto and Cheese.  I found the garlic to be absolutely overpowering.  Mary Ann gave me a couple good suggestions to knock the edge off the garlic which I appreciated.  My favorite savory crêpe for the evening was the Apple Spiced Chicken.  Although our chicken was chunked a little too large, the flavor was really good and it isn’t something I would normally have put in a crêpe.

Enjoying the raspberry pear crepe. Photo by Scott Groth

The only sweet crêpe we made was made with caramelized pear and cognac.  Anything caramelized is delicious in my book.  Mary Ann added in some raspberry filling to the pears and they turned out fantastic.  The flavor was spot on and with some of the fresh whipped cream it was an eating experience.

This week I’ll be making a stack of crêpes, some for immediate consumption and a bunch to freeze.  Caroline loves a good crêpe with just a touch of sugar, so that’s what she’ll be getting.  For me, I want to experiment a little bit.  I’ve been thinking about making a gâteau de crêpes with chocolate ganache and crème anglaise- maybe about 20 crêpes stacked up.  I want to use a biscuit cutter and punch down through the layers to make 4 or 5 individual servings.  Then top each stack with some fresh chocolate mint whipped cream. Would a drizzle of raspberry coulis be over the top?

A picture of deliciousness. Pear raspberry crepe. Photo by Scott Groth

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Western Reserve School of Cooking: Basic Tech 1 Series

By on October 2, 2010 in Culinary Classes

The Basic Tech series at the Western Reserve School of Cooking is an overview of a lot of the skills and techniques needed to maneuver your way through a kitchen. For example, if you are not sure how to properly peel and dice an onion, you will walk away with that knowledge, not to mention other skills like learning the basics of the pressure cooker. Basic knife skills are covered as well as very base foundation for techniques that can be used time and again in the kitchen as you gain knowledge. This is an excellent format to ask as many questions as possible, particularly if you are not comfortable in the kitchen.

This series is taught by Catherine St. John and I think that she does a pretty good job of it. Throughout the class, she is typically cooking at least three or four different components at any given time and is being peppered by questions as she works through the material. I like that she will intentionally foul up a recipe (always telling us she is going to do it beforehand) and then show the technique used to salvage the meal. On occasion, something may actually go wrong with a dish and she walks through all the steps to bring it back. I learned quite a bit through these demonstrations.

Keep in mind that these are demonstration classes. This means that the food is being prepared for you, not by you. Most of the techniques and skills are reviewed in depth during the Foundations classes. If you have taken those classes, this is a great opportunity to review in a less frenetic environment. If you haven’t taken those classes, you can learn a lot by watching. I’m more of a hands on person, but this allows me to think about what can be done to a recipe to change it to my style or taste preference. I enjoy the time in class and the people I have met.

Taking notes in a demonstration class. Photo by Scott Groth

The first class in the series is certainly the most ambitious. In this class you will learn how to butterfly a chicken and roast it over root vegetables with lemon. I never knew how to butterfly a chicken and now can do it whenever- it’s pretty easy to do. You learn how to make an easy bruschetta and how to properly dress a salad. The basics of emulsification are covered when the vinaigrette is made. Finally, you get a good demonstration on a bain marie and how to brulee a creme brulee. Throughout the class I picked up about ten or fifteen quick tips and tricks to make kitchen life easier. Most of these I have added to my daily skill set through practice and review of the material.

I will have to make up the second class as it was our anniversary that night. We hit up XO Steakhouse (which is great if you haven’t been there- be sure to get the fish taco’s… awesome) and headed to the Crosby, Stills and Nash concert. Although it would have been good to go to class, we had one hell of an evening on the town.

Back to reality. Class three is all about soups. This was the one class that if you have been in the Foundations classes previously feels just a bit too close to home for me. Throughout the Foundations class, we made at least one soup per day. In this class you bust through five different soups. They are all different than what was covered in Foundations, but some were pretty close. If you haven’t been through the week long class or it has been a while, there is some great technique covered in this class. My favorite for the night was the butternut squash soup with apples. The close second was the Spicy Sausage Soup with Fresh Veggies. They were all pretty good though.

Slow roasted tomatoes simmering in a sauce. Photo by Scott Groth

The final class is all about pasta. Although no homemade pasta is reviewed in this class, it works out really well without. After this class I have changed up how I cook my store bought pasta and have updated my pantry to include the staples for a quick and delicious marinara sauce. Each dish that was made and served was really quite good. The method for creating them was all pretty straightforward and I think that everyone walked away with a new recipe they want to try out on family and friends. The funny thing to me is that my favorite dish didn’t have any pasta in it at all. The Classic Caesar Salad was far and away my favorite of the night. It was worth the price of admission just to watch and learn how that dressing was made. With everything that I have learned here, I put this recipe in my top 5 from the Western Reserve School of Cooking. Kinda funny that I thought that after the class it would be a bolognese burning a hole through my head with ideas when instead it was a salad dressing. Really tasty.

Catherine St. John demonstrating spaghetti bolognaise. Photo by Scott Groth

If all four classes are attended, you get a certificate of completion. As you know, I didn’t get mine because I missed one class that will be made up in February 2011. I like that you get something to take home to show progress to the family. Alas, mine will simply have to wait until next year. Sigh. All told, after you complete the series you have so much more than a certificate. You should leave with a basic understanding of the principles and techniques needed to move cooking to the next level. That and a huge stack of recipes that are really tasty.

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Western Reserve School of Cooking: Easy as Pie Workshop

By on September 30, 2010 in Culinary Classes

In my experience, making pie is not all that easy.  Store bought crust stinks, but it is a huge time saver and nobody will know the difference- right?  Wrong.  People do know the difference.  Store bought crust is thin, dense and lacking in flavor.  Homemade crust is light, airy and adds to the pie eating experience.  I never really thought that I would be in a pie making workshop.  Truth be told, my friend Norm was taking it and asked if I would be there.  What the heck, who doesn’t like pie.  Game on.

This was the first workshop class that I had attended at the Western Reserve School of Cooking.  It was offered in mid-September and was taught by Kathy Lehr.  Like I said before, I never really thought that I was a big pie guy.  Don’t get me wrong, pie is great. Some pie is delicious but I never really thought that making pie would be all that interesting. What I learned is that there is an art to making a good pie. It’s not terribly difficult, but certainly requires honing the technique to get the crust right and put the whole thing together. Once you know how to make a pie, the possibilities are almost endless as to what can go inside.

There are no pictures from this class simply because my phone was in my car rather than in my pocket where it belongs. This would have been a great class to take a bunch of pictures, however, because pie is comforting to eat and to look at. A perfectly browned pie is also really easy to take a picture of. All around, I chalk it up to a missed opportunity.  When I make the next one at home, I’ll be sure to get some shots posted up.

Kathy Lehr is a great teacher. It’s clear that she knows her stuff when it comes to making bread and pies. I’m sure that she knows a whole heck of a lot more and wouldn’t want to be pigeon holed into simply pies and breads, but the impression I took away is that these areas are her specialty.  Among others, she has been trained by Danielle Forrestier, who was Julia Child’s bread consultant, and she also went through Western Reserve School of Cooking when it was run by Zona Spray.  Very cool.  She is an expert at artisanal bread and can whip up a mean pie. There’s a good article from the Beacon Journal about her cooking in her big wood-fired bread oven that she built in her backyard.  Another great skill set in her arsenal.

For the class you needed to bring a rolling pin, plastic scraper and a pie dish.  You get to take home a pie that you make in class.  Who doesn’t want to take home some fresh baked pie?  This is a participation class, so you get to work on the technique first hand, which suits me just fine.  We learned about how to make a proper dough for the crust, then how to roll it out correctly and lastly how to get it into the pie pan without tearing it.  The way I was doing it before this class was somewhat right, but, as usual, I simply made the process more difficult than was necessary.  Kathy made what used to be a hard task really easy to achieve.

We made our own apple filling with some heirloom apples from Stan Hywet Hall in Akron.  Toss that into the pie shell and cover with some dough lattice work.  I’ve never woven dough before and it’s pretty neat.  The pie looks like it jumped straight out of Little House on the Praire or something.  We worked through a lemon curd and some shortbread crusts as well.  All told, I walked out with a greater understanding of how to make a good pie crust and the working knowledge of how to bake it properly.

The one downside was that my take-home pie didn’t get enough heat on it before the end of class.  It looked pretty good, but when I got home it was raw in the middle.  Although a little disappointed, it gives me a great excuse to make another one soon.  Apple season is just getting under way, so it is the perfect opportunity to give the skills a little workout.  If anybody is interested in some really tasty pie in the Cleveland area, lemme know and I’ll bake one up for you.  There are more classes coming up taught by Kathy Lehr- if you’re at all interested in learning how to make bread or improve your technique, I know that this is a great person to learn from.

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