No matter how long you have been cooking, taking a cooking class is a fabulous idea. I always come away from cooking classes with a new recipe idea, a fun take on a new sauce, or a tip on how to more efficiently chop a vegetable. And I always leave with a smile on my face, a satiated appetite, and fond memories. Last week, I had the pleasure of sampling a number of
different cooking classes at various culinary arts schools in the greater Seattle area.
Below are some highlights from each class.
Whisk is a beautiful, airy, modern kitchen space located on
Main Street in Bellevue. Chef Barbara Sowatsky led me through classic knife techniques
including batonnet, julienne, dice, brunoise, oblique, bias, chiffonade, and mince
cuts. We first practiced on Play-Doh before we were entrusted to wield incredibly sharp chef's knives on round, wobbly, and oddly shaped veggies. We practiced each knife technique on a number of vegetables including peppers, carrots,
celery, tomatoes, and potatoes, all of which became part of a light and brothy vegetable
soup filled with all the lovely raw veggies we’d practiced chopping. The
kitchen was a big space with many stations, and it looks onto the vast
storefront where you can stock up on every kitchen gadget imaginable.
Located in the heart of Pike’s Place in the Memorial Building,
Atrium Kitchen is managed by Chef Traci Calderon of Succulent Catering &
Events. Chef Traci sees Atrium as not just a culinary school, but as a community
resource. On the first Wednesday of every month, Chef Traci hosts a community
meal, serving around 200 of the local homeless population, a gesture that stems
from her love of our community and of sharing food. The space is bright and
beautiful, filled with stainless steel surfaces, fresh cut flowers, and bright
windows that slide open on warm days. Chef Traci shared one of her family’s
favorite recipes—tamales. We made tamales three ways: vegan/vegetarian filled
with Anaheim peppers, Guajillo chicken stuffed, and sugary sweet cinnamon dessert
tamales. Though the process was complicated and labor intensive, Chef Traci
broke the steps down to manageable bits and the afternoon flew by as I rolled
one tamale after another.
Attached to the Redmond Avondale PCC grocery store is a vast
demonstration kitchen and classroom that you might miss if you are making a beeline
for the deli as I am known to do when shopping at PCC. The space features
double tall vaulted ceilings and a massive classroom that could easily seat
more than 20 students at a time. On the menu for this cooking class: Thai
spring rolls with soy ginger dipping sauce, vegetarian Tom Yum Gai soup, ginger
limeade, and bananas in coconut cream. Chefs Lee, Judy, and Holly led our class
through the rolling of spring rolls (not as easy as they look) and the chopping
of various ingredients for each dish. The trick to using rice paper wrappers is
to avoid soaking them for too long and to keep from overstuffing them with
filling, because they tend to tear apart more easily. The spring rolls were fun
to make and were easy enough once you got the hang of rolling them (ends in,
like a burrito!). I will definitely replicate the recipe at home, but next time
I’ll use homemade peanut sauce as an accompaniment.
Nestled in the heart of crossroads is a gem of a space that
you might miss if you don’t know to look for it. Sizzleworks Cooking School is
owned and operated by Chef Carol Dearth. Though Sizzleworks is a culinary
school that offers classes such as How to Boil Water, a cooking class for
beginners, and Cake Master Workshop, a class for experienced bakers,
Sizzleworks draws a large portion of its business from corporate and private
events. Chef Carol, a Master Chef who went to pastry school at Le Cordon Bleu,
and Chef Pam, a lifelong cook who specializes in dishes from the south, led the
class through the ins and outs of pastry dough. We hand rolled and folded
French Apple Gallettes which we topped with Salted Caramel Whip, and sampled
premade Caramelized Onion Gallettes. The versatile pie crust recipe we used as
a base for the gallettes will serve me well in a variety of baked goods—savory and
sweet—that I make at home.
