Summer 2013 Cooking Classes

I'm teaching many classes this summer, including a couple new classes. One is a demo class featuring my favorite recipes from vacations (Recipe Redux: Road Trip Recollections on July 15), and another is a hands-on baking class where we'll make all fruit desserts (Fruit of the Bloom on August 1).

I'm also teaching a fun summer cocktail party, Cajun food and ciders, several Date Night and sushi classes, and a couple kids' classes.

Here is my schedule through September. Hope to see you there!

To register, call Kitchen Conservatory at 314-862-2665 or register online.




HEIR AND A PARENT: THE HUNGER GAMES - July 7 @ 1:00-3:30 (hands-on)

• Suzanne Collins’s popular book series is filled with vivid descriptions of food, especially the decadent meals eaten by the tributes in the Capital. Learn to prepare some of Katniss’s favorite foods, including District 11's crescent moon poppy seed rolls, Prim's goat cheese-basil bundles, The Capital's chicken in orange cream sauce with steamed rice, Cinna’s honey pudding and Mr. Mellark's sugar cookies. And may the odds be ever in your favor! This class is designed for children, at least 7 years of age, plus a parent. 

RECIPE REDUX: ROAD TRIP RECOLLECTIONS - July 15 @ 6:30-9:00 (demonstration)

• My road trips and vacations are often planned around food, and this menu is inspired by the best dishes from some of my favorite dinners out, including margarita scallop ceviche from Topolobampo in Chicago, cedar-roasted salmon with bacon and caramelized shallot marmalade inspired by Stone Soup Cottage in Cottleville, twice-baked baby potatoes with caviar from Tru in Chicago, plus dark chocolate gelato inspired by RM Seafood in Las Vegas.

DATE NIGHT FOR COUPLES: AN A-FARE TO REMEMBER - July 19 @ 6:30-9:00 (hands-on)

• We'll prepare grilled panzanella salad, rosemary fried chicken, mac-and-cheese with peas and bacon, ratatouille, plus caramel apple galette, with two remarkable beer pairings ideal for dinner and dessert.

SUSHI ROCK AND ROLL - July 25 @ 6:30-9:00 (hands-on)

• Enjoy salt-and-pepper edamame, then learn to prepare sticky sushi rice and make a variety of hand-formed nigiri, and rolled maki, including spicy tuna rolls, California rolls and Philadelphia rolls. Create lemongrass sorbet for a refreshing dessert. 

FRUIT OF THE BLOOM - August 1 @ 6:30-9:00 (hands-on)

• Juicy, chin-dripping fresh summer fruits and berries are the star of this class. Learn to create chocolate-raspberry Pavlova, homemade graham crackers for strawberry cheesecake ice cream sandwiches, mint julep peach cobbler, red wine-grape pie, plus limoncello pound cake. 

 DATE NIGHT FOR COUPLES: SUSHI U FOR TWO - August 4 @ 5:00-7:30 (hands-on)

• This class will create tempura-fried shrimp rolls, sesame tuna hand rolls, unagi smoked eel rolls, spicy scallop rolls, hot-smoked salmon rolls with mango and jalapeño, plus ginger-peach green tea ice cream - all served with cold beer. 

HEIR AND A PARENT: WIZARDS IN THE KITCHEN - August 25 @ 1:00-3:30 (hands-on)

• Attention all Muggles! Experience the world of Harry Potter and make magic in the kitchen as I help you prepare delightful dishes described throughout the J.K. Rowling series, including The Three Broomsticks' butterbeer, ham-and-cheese pasties from the Hogwarts house-elves, and Mrs. Weasley's potatoes with béchamel sauce. Before you apparate home, you'll make Aunt Petunia's individual berry-pudding trifles. This class is designed for children, at least 7 years of age, plus a parent. 

DATE NIGHT FOR COUPLES: COCKTAIL SHAKERS - August 31 @ 6:00-8:30 (hands-on)

• It's a summer cocktail party! We'll sip raspberry mojitos & summer shandy cocktails and dine on antipasto skewers with vodka-spiked tomatoes, grilled bacon-wrapped chorizo-cream cheese-stuffed jalapeños, mini lobster and shrimp rolls, Thai beef lettuce wraps, plus fresh fruit with salted caramel dipping sauce.

DATE NIGHT FOR COUPLES: SALSA SALSA DINE AND DANCE - September 7 @ 6:00-9:00 (hands-on)

• Grab your partner and join us for a unique experience of dancing and dining. The evening begins with a one-hour Latin salsa dance lesson with a dance instructor from COCA, that will spark your appetite for an incredible evening in the kitchen. Refresh your thirst with a mojito, as this hands-on class prepares fried corn tortilla chips with black bean dip, grilled shrimp quesadillas with smoked tomato salsa, roasted pork tenderloin with papaya-mango salsa and yellow Cuban rice, plus banana cream pie with chocolate crumb crust.

DATE NIGHT FOR COUPLES: THE HARD EDGE TO THE BIG EASY - September 21 @ 6:00-8:30 (hands-on)

• This hands-on class for couples is all about the Cajun cuisine of New Orleans and hard ciders! I've selected two ciders to pair with a menu of fried pickles, bacon-wrapped grilled jalapeños stuffed with chorizo, andouille-pork burgers, sweet potato fries, red beans and rice, plus white chocolate bread pudding with bourbon sauce.