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All posts tagged cooking classes

My year (and then some) in review!

A month or so ago, while a bear was stealing our delicious double-smoked bacon, my blog passed it’s one year blog-iversary! I’m very late in doing a recap. Please forgive me!

I guess if there is one thing you should know about me, I’m “chronologically challenged.” To any potential or current employers, of course, I’m only kidding. To the rest of you, I will be late for my own funeral. I think it’s genetic.

Moving on!

This year has been an amazing, wonderful, roller-coaster adventure ride! As I look through the pictures on my computer and the ones etched on my heart, I’m humbled at how richly I’ve been blessed. I have met many incredible people, taken a crazy number of cooking classes, and been fortunate enough to meet some amazing Chefs!

One of the biggest blessings from the last year is a great friendship with someone who goes along on foodie adventures, encourages every foodie whim, finds awesome opportunities and when we’re out, she never eats until I’ve taken pictures of her food. 🙂 Thanks Marie!
This is her, hiding behind a basket she won at the O.C. Chocolate Festival VIP party!
She is totally made of awesome sauce!

With over 30 cooking classes in the past 13 months, I have learned to make things like classic French Macarons (I never knew cookies could have “feet!”), risotto, rolled meatloaf, cake pops, doughnuts, pickles, frittatas, strawberry jam, potato wrapped fish, crepes, foccacia bread, Provençal chicken, grilled pizza dough, hand-made pasta and how to use chocolate in a variety of things! Like I need an excuse for that last one, right? HA! There were a couple of classes that were terrible, but in the end, they ALL taught me something. Even if that something was what NOT to do when I have my own cooking classes. 😉

Some of the best things I learned to make on my own this year, either through the internet, cookbook or a recipe from a Chef, have been vanilla extract, gallettes – both sweet and savory, bangers and mash, homemade chicken pot pie, pumpkin pie from real pumpkins, melted snowman cookies, root beer float cookies for ice cream sandwiches, chocolate dipped potato chip cookies, hot wings, cheesecake stuffed strawberries, spicy baked rigatoni, egg rolls, fish tacos, lemon curd, avocado fries, potato pancakes, seared scallops, jicima slaw, Julia’s beef bourgeon, quinoa salad and a copy cat version of Northwoods Inn Cabbage Salad. Yep, it’s been a delicious year!

I’ve followed a dozen Chefs around the Santa Monica Farmers Market through The Gourmandise School of Sweets and Savories – Follow That Chef series! They each imparted wisdom, great experiences and taught me how to make my own Ricotta cheese (Thank you Chef Jeremy!) how to make raw spring rolls (Thanks Kirsten Gum!) all about Lardoons (Thank you Linda Civitello!) how to make my own chorizo (Thank you Chef Paul Osher!) about fantastic Thai vegetarian dishes (Thank you Michael Natkin!) how to poach salmon in oil and make a plate look stunning (Thank you MasterChef Tracy Kontos!) different ways to enjoy heirloom tomatoes (Thank you Gwen Kenneally) not to be afraid of Kale Chips and beet salad (Thank you Suzanne Landry!) and so much more!!!

I’ve gotten autographed cookbooks from: Gwen Kenneally, Michael Natkin, Joy Wilson, Suzanne Landry, Warren Catterson, Laura Werlin, Tyler Florence, Mario Batali, and Guy Fieri! Even more exciting, I’ve met each of them, with the exception of Mario Batali, Tyler Florence and Warren Catterson. Warren and I are in the same food bloggers group on FB and we’ve chatted before, but, Mario and Tyler, if you want to meet for coffee somewhere, I’m Ok with that too! 😀

I’ve had fantastic “food experiences” this year! The IE food truck festival, the O.C. Chocolate Festival, LA Food and Wine (the first year), Brew ‘B’ Que on the Pier, The Share Our Strength Bake Sale, Taste of the Nation – Los Angeles, an audition for a TV show, LA Food and Wine (the sequel), just to name a few.

Most importantly this year, I’ve learned to be fearless in my own kitchen! I’ve developed a passion for trying different foods, cooking with fresh, natural ingredients and experiencing LIFE in each delicious moment.

These are opportunities and things I NEVER would have imagined if I hadn’t started this blogging journey last year. Next year, I’ll be taking you along to more places, more classes and more events! I’m so excited about what the next few months have in store! I’m especially looking forward to many, many new foodie adventures and I hope you’ll be joining me for each of them!

P.S. Did I mention I met Guy Fieri…. TWICE! SQUEEEEE!!

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by My Imperfect Kitchen on September 16, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by My Imperfect Kitchen on September 16, 2012

https://myimperfectkitchen.wordpress.com/2012/09/16/my-year-and-then-some-in-review/

Cake Pops!


Groupon and Living Social can be a great thing. Through them, we’ve found some fun cooking/baking classes. Plus, you get to try something new for a discount price and who doesn’t love that?

Last night was a Groupon class on how to make cake pops! Held in a small local commercial rental kitchen (never knew there was such a thing!) I learned, like everything else in the culinary world, it takes PRACTICE to decorate a cake pop! This was the set up when we arrived.

Cooking stations for learning to make cake pops

There were eight of us in class and the first thing we did (after washing our hands, of course!) was to crumble the prepared cake at our stations.

Crumbled cake waiting to be made into pops!

We mixed in a small tablespoon of prepared cake frosting into the crumbs to give it some moisture and to act as a binder for the cake balls, then kneaded it like bread dough until everything held together. To create the balls, we took a pinch of the dough and began smashing it back and forth between our hands to get it soft like play-dough, then rolled them! It’s a lot like rolling meatballs. 🙂

There was a lot of discussion about different techniques to make cake pops. You can free roll the pops or use a pop pan. Some people refrigerate or freeze them before dipping, others (like us) just go for it!

To put the cake pop on the stick, we cupped a ball in the palm of our hand, dipped the end of the stick in a little bit of chocolate to help it stick to the cake mix, then gently pushed the stick through the ball. TADA!

We even learned how to make shaped cake pops! Though those are harder to get the stick in. You need a very steady hand.

After the balls were stuck (HAHA!) it was time to dip! There was white chocolate and milk chocolate available. The milk chocolate was much easier to use. We dipped the pops into the chocolate then held them up and tapped our hands to get the excess chocolate to drip off. This step takes patience!! When you think you’re finished, you’re not. The instructor shared a tip with us: if you get air bubbles in your chocolate, you can just pop them with a toothpick!

We each filled three little muffin liners with an assortment of decorations for our pops.

Here is how mine came out!


We learned a few basic decorating techniques – twirling and piping! For twirling, you raise a spoonful of chocolate and twirl the pop under the chocolate as it drips off the spoon. For the life of me, I could not get this technique down. Mine came out with thick lines instead of thin pretty ones.

Here is how it should look!

To pipe on your pop, we learned to cut a VERY SMALL corner of a plastic bag filled with icing and use it to put on the lines. Again, this takes practice and patience.

Those were obviously NOT mine! We had some talented people in class. Here are some of the cake pops the other students made.

Here is MY creation! I can’t help it, it makes me smile.

I have a new respect for cake pops. They are a time-consuming process! I never realized how much work goes into them until I tried it myself. I don’t know if I’ll make cake pops on a regular basis, but knowing how to do it is kinda cool!

Enjoy!!

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by My Imperfect Kitchen on June 16, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by My Imperfect Kitchen on June 16, 2012

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“The Brunch Class”

I love spending rainy days in the kitchen! Saturday, it was pouring rain and though the kitchen wasn’t mine, it was still fun! I attended “The Brunch Class” at The Gourmandise School of Sweets and Savories. We made Homemade Ricotta, a Broccoli Mushroom Cheddar Egg Bake, Homemade Lemon Curd, Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins, a Mediterranean Frittata and Fluffy Ricotta Pancakes!
Of course, it didn’t hurt that class started with a cup of coffee and a Mimosa (or two…)

I went to class alone but was paired up with a very nice woman named Javi! (Hi, Javi!) We started with the Ricotta because it takes the longest. I’ve made Ricotta before, but their recipe is different from mine. It was still easy and ours came out beautifully!

I love getting new variations of recipes!

As the Ricotta was draining, we made the Broccoli Mushroom Cheddar Egg Bake. This is one of those dishes you can make the night before and let it sit overnight in the fridge. In the morning, pop it in a hot oven and an hour later you have breakfast!
We browned some onions and mushrooms in a small skillet…

Then we cut up these warm, amazing sourdough baguettes and spread them on a buttered baking dish. Thank goodness there was half a baguette left for of us to nibble as we were cooking! Mmmm… bread…

Next we beat eggs and milk together, then added onions and mushrooms, broccoli and cheddar cheese! We poured all of it over those wonderful bread chunks and it looked like this:

We wrapped everything in plastic and put it in the fridge for an hour so the bread had time to soak up all that eggy goodness!

The Lemon Curd to top our Ricotta pancakes was next! Lemon Curd has about a million different recipe variations! Seriously. Google it sometime and you’ll see. 🙂 This was a great version for pancakes. Very light and fluffy with a light tang from the lemon. Javi and I took turns whisking and this was the result!

Next up were the banana muffins! Now that I think about it, all these recipes would be perfect for my daughter. Everything is vegetarian friendly! We mixed bananas, sour cream and fresh vanilla in a food processor, then added eggs, lemon zest and pulsed it together. We added the typical dry ingredients and the most important ingredient – chocolate chips!

This is what it looked like when it was all together!

Into the baking cups! Can you see the flecks from the vanilla bean?

Delightful!

We took a break for a few minutes… What? Refresh my glass? If you insist.

We started the Mediterranean Frittata next. This was super cool! We roasted red peppers on the stove top!

After a few minutes they were blistered and toasty.

We put them in a plastic bag to steam while we chopped olives, zucchini, tomatoes and red onions.

We put it all together in a skillet to sauté, then we peeled and chopped the roasted red pepper and tossed that in too. We whisked eggs together, added feta, fresh basil, oregano and parmesan cheese.

While the frittatas were cooking, we made the last menu item – pancakes! We whipped egg whites until we had stiff peaks!

Then we folded the egg whites into the rest of the ingredients, including our beautiful ricotta from the beginning of class!

The pancakes were cooked on a hot, buttered griddle and topped with our lemon curd! I’ve never had ricotta pancakes before and these were fluffy with a rich, slightly nutty flavor from the cheese.

Everything came out of the oven and off the stove at the same time. You know what that means? Time to eat! A pancake with lemon curd…

Another muffin…

And a slice of our Mediterranean Frittata…

What a lovely (and delicious) way to spend a rainy morning! I know I’ll be trying these recipes with my family (and sharing with all of you) very soon!

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by My Imperfect Kitchen on March 18, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by My Imperfect Kitchen on March 18, 2012

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Risotto Class at Sur La Table!


My latest cooking class was at Sur La Table! I didn’t even know they had cooking classes until my niece told me she and my sister-in-law were taking a Gnocchi class. Well, you know me! I’m like the dog from the movie “Up!” Instead of “Squirrel?” my distraction is “New Cooking Class?” After going through Sur La Table’s calendar, I settled on Risotto.

Why Risotto? Well, several reasons really. I’ve only had it a few times and I’ve heard it is hard to make correctly. So many things can go wrong in the preparation. I’m always up for adding new skills to my kitchen, so that intrigued me. Also, it’s a very versatile dish. You can change the flavor profile with just a few ingredients. Plus it’s vegetarian friendly, and that means I can make it for my daughter!

The menu for class included: Wild Mushroom Risotto with White Truffle Oil, Pumpkin Risotto with Fried Sage Leaves and Chive Oil, Fennel and Sausage Risotto with Sun-Dried Tomato Jam and Balsamic Drizzle and Arugula Pesto Risotto with Shaved Pecorino Romano.

Let me tell you, everything you’ve heard about making risotto is true. You stir for a long time. You must use a wooden spoon. There are plenty of things that can go wrong that will change the flavor and ruin your dish! The good thing about taking a class is you get to see how everything goes together. Plus, Sur La Table gave us a great packet with all the recipes, basic terms and translations, Risotto rice 101, cooking tips and where to find additional resources! I love that!

Another very cool thing about taking classes in different places, is you pick up “extras.” Extra ideas, plating options, side dishes that work well with whatever you’re making and tips for changing the recipes. We fried sage leaves! That was interesting! We also made Sun-Dried Tomato Jam. I can see many different uses for that. That’s a keeper for more than just Risotto! My favorite “extra” in this class though was the Chive Oil!

Look at that gorgeous green color! It is simple to make too! Take a bunch of fresh chives and blanch them in boiling water for about 10 seconds. Scoop them out and immediately plunge them into ice water to stop the cooking. Remove them from the water and drain on paper towels. Squeeze out all the excess water and put the chives in a blender or food processor. Puree with 1/2 cup olive oil until smooth. Transfer the chive oil to a bowl and put in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours. Pour the oil through a fine-mesh sieve into a small bowl, pressing hard on the solids to release the flavor. Makes about 1/2 cup! The flavor is fresh and intense. It was so good!

Hmmm…I wonder if I can make Basil oil? That would be fantastic with a lemon garlic risotto and grilled vegetables!

I’ll be making Risotto this weekend, so I’ll share my recipes and tips with you in the next few posts. What’s your favorite way to make Risotto? Give me some ideas and share your own “extra” tips with me!

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by My Imperfect Kitchen on March 13, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by My Imperfect Kitchen on March 13, 2012

https://myimperfectkitchen.wordpress.com/2012/03/13/risotto-class-at-sur-la-table/

Cooking Class

Hi, friends!

Tonight I am heading out to another cooking class.  Another class?  Oh yes!  It’s food season at My Imperfect Kitchen! I had a class last week with Jyll Everman.  This week is GetCooking101.  Next week is a class with Amanda Cushman at one of her restaurants, October is the LA Food and Wine Festival (Grilled Cheese and Wine class at LA Live! SQUEEEE!), plus a Thanksgiving dinner class with one of my favorite local chef/caterers.  I missed this class last year and heard nothing but fantastic things!  I will be learning how to carve a turkey down to the bone!  So excited!!  November brings the OC Chocolate Festival (Yummm!) and a class on Holiday Appetizers.  Just wait.  The longer I have this blog, the more often you will be reading about cooking classes.  I can’t help myself.  I love learning about food and trying new things.  There are so many talented people willing to share their knowledge and I take advantage as often as my wallet will allow!

Dinner in class tonight is: Fresh Bread, Chicken Milanese with Escarole Salad and Pickled Red Onions, Risotto and Cheese Cake.

Sounds good, right?  I hope so!  This time it’s a “hands-on” class.  These are more my style than demonstration only.  It allows an opportunity to get the feel of things – with an expert right there!  Plus, I feel more comfortable when I try it at home because I’ve already done it.  Don’t get me wrong, the demonstration classes have their place too.  In those classes, I’m the geek scribbling furious notes so I remember what to do when I try the recipe later!  I’ve also picked up a few extra recipes that way.  Chefs occasionally share side dishes or a special drink they made to compliment dinner.  LOVE THAT!

Oops!  Sorry.  I got distracted from tonight’s menu.  Chicken Milanese will be yummy.  Let’s be honest though. I took this class is for one little word: Risotto. (Cheesecake was a close second, but I already have a delicious cheesecake recipe!) Risotto is new to me and something on my list of techniques to learn.  My family could very well be eating Risotto for the next three weeks if I am successful tonight. Shhhhh, don’t tell them.  Let them be surprised.

Of course there will be pictures and info coming later!  Have a delicious evening everyone!

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by My Imperfect Kitchen on September 20, 2011  •  Permalink
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Posted by My Imperfect Kitchen on September 20, 2011

https://myimperfectkitchen.wordpress.com/2011/09/20/cooking-class/

Don’t give up on me!

Hi everyone! Thanks for stopping by! Life is a little crazy here at My Imperfect Kitchen. We’re hosting a 50th birthday party next weekend and of course we’re trying to cram all the “cleaning and fixin’ up the place” into just a few days.  When next week is over, all my focus will be on getting some great recipes out to you. I have four cooking classes coming up over the next few months so there will be a lot to share.  Stay tuned! Wish us luck on the party too. We may need it! 😀

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by My Imperfect Kitchen on August 21, 2011  •  Permalink
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Posted by My Imperfect Kitchen on August 21, 2011

https://myimperfectkitchen.wordpress.com/2011/08/21/dont-give-up-on-me/