Sunday, June 15, 2008
Epicurian Experience Spring 2008
I had the pleasure of attending Chef Jane Bonafazzi's "Everyday International” Cooking Class this spring. What a delight! Many thanks to friends, Claire and Kathy, for the introduction and invitation to join the group.
By way of my personal culinary background, I do not cook. Never have. I also live by myself and don’t have a proper kitchen. As a result, I have mastered the fine art of eating out. I actually eat well, very simply and very efficiently. I rarely throw any food away. I am the leftover queen and depend a great deal on the salad bars at Savoy Truffles, Pierre LaFond and Lazy Acres.
To begin with, an adult education cooking class is a great bargain and welcome addition to my life in a beautiful but kitchen-less abode. Each of the 28 students pays $60 for a ten-week course. That translates to 10 generous and diverse dinners often with appetizers and always followed by a dessert. (One has to love love love SBCC’s highly subsidized non-credit continuing education program!) We pitched in and assisted Chef Jane, observing and participating in the complete arc of each meal—taking the various ingredients in their raw state through to the final preparation. We also pitched in and did the clean up. There was a lot of chopping, but NO shopping, NO deciding and NO foolish mistakes, with an expert in charge.
At first, I called it my “Dinner Party Class” just in case anyone dare get the impression I was actually learning how to cook. After a few weeks, it started to feel more like “Chopping Class”. In the end, I’ll remember it as a “Food and Cooking Appreciation” course, which is what I am most grateful for and signifies the value of this class, for me. Not knowing anything about cooking, I was most definitely on the periphery, my involvement prior to plating the food very low. Nevertheless, by candlelight I’d witness a complete meal sitting in front of me every Wednesday night around 8:45pm with a feeling of awe. How did something so complex actually come into being, week after delicious week? Never once was there ever a dip in quality or creativity or intricacy; consistency and follow through most definitely characterize our wonderful Chef Jane.
The class is titled “Everyday International” because every week featured cuisine from different nations around the world. Some of the highlights included chicken enchiladas alongside green rice and pinto beans; Spanish paella, eggplant moussaka, Vietnamese spring rolls and tofu coconut soup. Fresh seafood 'en papillote', spicy Moroccan lamb with preserved lemons, samosas with mint chutney, coconut chicken curry next to spiced saffron basmati rice topped with golden raisins and slivered almonds. Among the deserts were molten chocolate cake (each served in it’s own little ramekin), pineapple sorbet, cranberry orange walnut cake and ohhhhhh, the baklava. Sweet perfection!
My only personal experience outside of class with any of the recipes so far was guacamole. I was in charge of making it to accompany the catered Mexican food we served at my sister’s 40th birthday party in May. As I spooned out one unripe avocado after another into a giant stainless steel bowl, I was praying the additional ingredients of lime juice, cilantro, Serrano chile, onion and garlic would override the potentially tasteless (or God forbid, bitter) green mash. I guess it worked—how great to have a back-up, when I usually rely on the pure smoothness of ripe avocados mixed with lemon juice and a little bit of garlic.
Needless to say, I highly recommend anyone with any interest in cooking or food attend one of Jane’s classes. (Paule is another teacher who generously hosted an end of term party at her home in Montecito for both her classes and Jane’s). Yes, it does take patience, and if you don’t want to eat too much too late (or want to share with someone at home) I suggest you bring Tupperware. My only wish was that we could have spent more time enjoying the finished product. But the experience of working together was like the joy of a Thanksgiving feast with more diversity and a family of students. Many thanks to my classmate, Cat Vu, for taking the photos, which gave me the inspiration to share my personal experience. Happy Summer and Bon appetite!
By way of my personal culinary background, I do not cook. Never have. I also live by myself and don’t have a proper kitchen. As a result, I have mastered the fine art of eating out. I actually eat well, very simply and very efficiently. I rarely throw any food away. I am the leftover queen and depend a great deal on the salad bars at Savoy Truffles, Pierre LaFond and Lazy Acres.
To begin with, an adult education cooking class is a great bargain and welcome addition to my life in a beautiful but kitchen-less abode. Each of the 28 students pays $60 for a ten-week course. That translates to 10 generous and diverse dinners often with appetizers and always followed by a dessert. (One has to love love love SBCC’s highly subsidized non-credit continuing education program!) We pitched in and assisted Chef Jane, observing and participating in the complete arc of each meal—taking the various ingredients in their raw state through to the final preparation. We also pitched in and did the clean up. There was a lot of chopping, but NO shopping, NO deciding and NO foolish mistakes, with an expert in charge.
At first, I called it my “Dinner Party Class” just in case anyone dare get the impression I was actually learning how to cook. After a few weeks, it started to feel more like “Chopping Class”. In the end, I’ll remember it as a “Food and Cooking Appreciation” course, which is what I am most grateful for and signifies the value of this class, for me. Not knowing anything about cooking, I was most definitely on the periphery, my involvement prior to plating the food very low. Nevertheless, by candlelight I’d witness a complete meal sitting in front of me every Wednesday night around 8:45pm with a feeling of awe. How did something so complex actually come into being, week after delicious week? Never once was there ever a dip in quality or creativity or intricacy; consistency and follow through most definitely characterize our wonderful Chef Jane.
The class is titled “Everyday International” because every week featured cuisine from different nations around the world. Some of the highlights included chicken enchiladas alongside green rice and pinto beans; Spanish paella, eggplant moussaka, Vietnamese spring rolls and tofu coconut soup. Fresh seafood 'en papillote', spicy Moroccan lamb with preserved lemons, samosas with mint chutney, coconut chicken curry next to spiced saffron basmati rice topped with golden raisins and slivered almonds. Among the deserts were molten chocolate cake (each served in it’s own little ramekin), pineapple sorbet, cranberry orange walnut cake and ohhhhhh, the baklava. Sweet perfection!
My only personal experience outside of class with any of the recipes so far was guacamole. I was in charge of making it to accompany the catered Mexican food we served at my sister’s 40th birthday party in May. As I spooned out one unripe avocado after another into a giant stainless steel bowl, I was praying the additional ingredients of lime juice, cilantro, Serrano chile, onion and garlic would override the potentially tasteless (or God forbid, bitter) green mash. I guess it worked—how great to have a back-up, when I usually rely on the pure smoothness of ripe avocados mixed with lemon juice and a little bit of garlic.
Needless to say, I highly recommend anyone with any interest in cooking or food attend one of Jane’s classes. (Paule is another teacher who generously hosted an end of term party at her home in Montecito for both her classes and Jane’s). Yes, it does take patience, and if you don’t want to eat too much too late (or want to share with someone at home) I suggest you bring Tupperware. My only wish was that we could have spent more time enjoying the finished product. But the experience of working together was like the joy of a Thanksgiving feast with more diversity and a family of students. Many thanks to my classmate, Cat Vu, for taking the photos, which gave me the inspiration to share my personal experience. Happy Summer and Bon appetite!
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