Date Night
A couple weeks ago I took a cooking class at the local Market Street grocery. It was entitled "Date Night Food". Now I *thought* it was all about how to make tasty romantic dishes you would serve to your loved ones on, well, Date Night. It quickly appeared that it was actually a Date Night with you and your loved one to go out and cook. I took it with some friends of mine, a couple, so I consoled myself with knowing people in the class. Nevermind that the receptionist called to let me know I wasn't the only "dateless" one in the class that night...
I usually take hands-on classes because most of the demonstration classes drone on into a list of a recipe and the steps to assemble it. I can do that on my own! But this was a hands-on, and it caught my eye because one of the dishes was gnocchi, and I LOVE gnocchi, but have never made it myself. The rest of the dishes that evening were roasted asparagus, quinoa pilaf, roast duck breast, and a souffle for dessert. Wasn't too thrilled with the duck breast, but I sure as hadn't ever made that myself so what the hey?
I picked an assembly station for a dish that was foreign to me - the quinoa pilaf. Step one involved rendering a lot of bacon in a hot pan. Step two was adding butter. So as people came over to inquire about my process I got to say "well it was fat...then we added some more fat..." It really did look like a LOT of fat for that dish, but it came out really nicely. It made a heck of a lot of pilaf so per serving there was probably not a lot of fat content. Still, if I made it at home I'd pour most of the fat off after rendering, or skip the bacon altogether, or go for turkey bacon. There were onions, and chicken broth, and spices and what not, and the quinoa gets almost translucent when done.
Everybody got a turn at making the gnocchi. The chef/instructor had already riced the potatoes, but unfortunately, they were still warm. The gnocchi were very soft and soaked up a lot of flour and were hard to handle. Would have been much better if they had been able to cool. Still, they cooked up very nicely, quite light. The sauce was really good, mainly because it had a lot of cream. But it didn't make you feel heavy at all. Most of that I'm sure was due to the small portion we got, but hey, I'm not saying eat creamy pasta sauces every day. I'll definitely try this recipe out, but I need to get a ricer or food mill first. You can't mash up the potatoes or they'll be too gummy. You need something to break them up and keep it light.
Roasted asparagus...well I make that at home all the time. I don't really remember the salad either. I actually ate a lot of my duck breast. The fat rendered nicely and it didn't taste at all gamey.
I don't remember much about the souffle either, except that it was tasty and gone in a flash. The strawberry sauce was really good, basically just strawberries cooked down with some sugar and strained.
I don't know that I'll take another class there. There were too many dishes to prepare in such a short time and too many people for my taste. There was a lot of standing around. I much prefer the Sur la Table classes I've taken with fewer students. Specifically, knife skills and the pasta class were TREMENDOUS. I've made so much fresh pasta since then.
I usually take hands-on classes because most of the demonstration classes drone on into a list of a recipe and the steps to assemble it. I can do that on my own! But this was a hands-on, and it caught my eye because one of the dishes was gnocchi, and I LOVE gnocchi, but have never made it myself. The rest of the dishes that evening were roasted asparagus, quinoa pilaf, roast duck breast, and a souffle for dessert. Wasn't too thrilled with the duck breast, but I sure as hadn't ever made that myself so what the hey?
I picked an assembly station for a dish that was foreign to me - the quinoa pilaf. Step one involved rendering a lot of bacon in a hot pan. Step two was adding butter. So as people came over to inquire about my process I got to say "well it was fat...then we added some more fat..." It really did look like a LOT of fat for that dish, but it came out really nicely. It made a heck of a lot of pilaf so per serving there was probably not a lot of fat content. Still, if I made it at home I'd pour most of the fat off after rendering, or skip the bacon altogether, or go for turkey bacon. There were onions, and chicken broth, and spices and what not, and the quinoa gets almost translucent when done.
Everybody got a turn at making the gnocchi. The chef/instructor had already riced the potatoes, but unfortunately, they were still warm. The gnocchi were very soft and soaked up a lot of flour and were hard to handle. Would have been much better if they had been able to cool. Still, they cooked up very nicely, quite light. The sauce was really good, mainly because it had a lot of cream. But it didn't make you feel heavy at all. Most of that I'm sure was due to the small portion we got, but hey, I'm not saying eat creamy pasta sauces every day. I'll definitely try this recipe out, but I need to get a ricer or food mill first. You can't mash up the potatoes or they'll be too gummy. You need something to break them up and keep it light.
Roasted asparagus...well I make that at home all the time. I don't really remember the salad either. I actually ate a lot of my duck breast. The fat rendered nicely and it didn't taste at all gamey.
I don't remember much about the souffle either, except that it was tasty and gone in a flash. The strawberry sauce was really good, basically just strawberries cooked down with some sugar and strained.
I don't know that I'll take another class there. There were too many dishes to prepare in such a short time and too many people for my taste. There was a lot of standing around. I much prefer the Sur la Table classes I've taken with fewer students. Specifically, knife skills and the pasta class were TREMENDOUS. I've made so much fresh pasta since then.
Labels: review
posted by suburban housefrau at 9:58 AM
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