I cannot believe I have let almost five days go by without sharing an update about my cooking class! Seriously ... #epicfail from a blogging standpoint. Anyways, to the point.
Monday I took a demonstration class at a placed called Kitchen Window. It was called: Autumn Vegetarian Comfort Foods and the chef/instructor was Anna Dvorak.Anna is a big advocate for healthy living. I had heard about her classes through one of my friends who had taken a class and gave strong reviews. After they talked about Anna and her general views on healthy eating, I explored her website and signed up for her newsletter. So I was thrilled when I found out she had some classes available this fall and this one happened to be gluten-free cooking. So, I signed myself up.
Basically, I was getting a five-course meal, but with an education. Pretty novel and if you like to know about what you eat or what you should eat ... it's a great idea. The class started with a balsamic roasted pear salad. She provided some tips on how to make salads delightful without ever needing dressing. These were changes I've already implemented in my eating routine, but it was nice to know my food choice was being reinforced.
Next up was a lovely minestrone soup -- perhaps my favorite course of the evening. It had delicious fall vegetables, a wonderfully glorious stock (home made of course) and a brilliant kale pesto garnish. It was so good. I could have just eaten five bowls of the soup and lived a very content evening.
Third course was a gnocchi with a mushroom sauce. I loved listening to her talk about the mushrooms, and she showed us a few different varieties I'd never seen before. She also told us that you can boil gnocchi or pan fry it if it doesn't turn out the way you want. It was fun to watch gnocchi being made, and I'd love to show D how she did it (he's made a pretty good gnocchi on his own, but now I know which type of gluten-free flour he should use.)
The next course was a pot pie. Anna shared with us a basic gluten-free pie crust. So simple and easy, and you can use it for sweet or savory dishes. The pot pie was full of delicious flavor, bright herbs and lots of vegetables. However, this was the one dish from a timing perspective that was a little off and I think may have thrown Anna a little bit. She handled it gracefully, and we all devoured our piping hot individual pies.
The class ended with a rustic apple tart. And inspired me to make a pumpkin pie this weekend. It was a no-sugar apple tart (she uses maple sugar, never refined sugar) and it had just enough sweetness to round out the meal.
The class didn't end until about 10 p.m., so it was a four hour meal and lesson. A bit long for me since I usually go to bed at 10, but I really enjoyed it. Since I went solo, I befriended another solo attendee and enjoyed a glass of Pinot with the class. I will definitely repeat this experience again ... but maybe next time I'll bring D!
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