Knife Wielding Dominion

This summer we've been focusing on knife skills in our cooking classes, trying to offer students knife wielding dominion in the kitchen. Our August class focused on basic knife skills, where students learned how to cut, chop, julienne, chiffonade, and brunoise with the best of them. Each recipe built on a skill we learned in the previous recipe….we made roasted potatoes, chicken picatta, ratatouille, a chopped salad, then made strawberry fans to go with our frozen caramel-vanilla bean whipped cream dessert.

Below is Rachel's recipe for the ultimate chopped salad - not only does it taste delicious and look pretty, but it's also the ultimate way to practice all your knife skills. As for the dessert recipe...when you don’t have an ice cream freezer or churner, have no fear! You can whip cream and then freeze it, as we are doing in this recipe. It is delicious when it is icy cold but not quite set. Serve it with fruit, or strawberry fans if you fancy. And if you missed our August class, there's still time to sign up for our September 14th class, where our chefs will show you the art and science of home meat butchery. Give us a call at 658-8900 to sign up.

Chiffonade & Chopped Salad

Serves 10

6 hand fulls of romaine lettuce, chiffonade

½ of an onion or red onion, finely sliced (fine julienne)

3 large tomatoes, diamond cut

4 green onions, bias cut

3 avocados, cut in quarters and fan cut

1/2 cup kalamata olives, finely sliced

1 handful of basil, chiffonade

2 red bell peppers, fillet and then brunoise

1 large carrot, fine julienne

1 cup croutons

¼ cup preserved meyer lemon vinaigrette

In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients, toss to coat in dressing. Enjoy!

Frozen Caramel-Vanilla Bean Whipped Cream

Serves about 10

½ cup sugar

1 vanilla bean

3 cups heavy whipping cream

¾ cup caramel sauce, thin

5 cups strawberries, washed and dried

Cut the vanilla bean in half length-wise, and using the back of your knife or the back of your fingernail, scrape the vanilla seeds into the sugar. Squeeze the vanilla beans into the sugar, being sure to evenly distribute the seeds throughout the sugar.

Put the vanilla sugar and the heavy cream into the bowl of an electric mixer, and beat on medium-high speed until the cream is as soft peaks.

Add the caramel sauce in a thin stream, and continue to beat the cream until it reaches stiff peaks. Transfer to a freezer, safe bowl (or keep it in that one), and freeze for about 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile, brunoise half of the strawberries, and the other strawberries make into fans (or just slice them if you like). To serve, scoop ice cream into 10 bowls, sprinkle with the brunoise strawberries, and place a strawberry fan on top of each scoop of cream.

Pan Seared Steak with Cherry Port Sauce

This delicious recipe, from our Cooking with Fortified Wines class, serves 6.

Steak

Drizzle of blended olive oil (extra virgin will smoke really bad!)
Six 6oz steaks, room temperature
Salt & Pepper to taste

Heat your oven to 500 degrees. Put an iron pan in the oven until it is good and hot. Season the steaks with salt & pepper. Pull the pan from the oven, and put it on the stove on high flame. Drizzle with oil. Immediately put the steaks, a few at a time, in the pan. Cook for about 1 minute, then turn over and cook another 30 seconds. Put the pan in the oven, and cook for about 2-3 minutes more. Let the steaks rest for at least 5 minutes before serving, drizzled with Cherry Port Sauce.

Cherry Port Sauce

Makes about 2 cups

Drizzle of olive oil

¼ cup minced shallots

A couple sprigs of thyme

1 cup pitted cherries – believe it or not, frozen are ok

2 cups ruby port

Salt & black pepper to taste

2 tbs Beurre manie

Put the steak-free pan on the stove over medium heat, and add a little olive oil if needed. Add the shallots, and scrape the pan with a metal spatula or flat-bottomed wooden spatula. Sauté the shallots until translucent.

Add the thyme and cherries. Add the port, and stir. Continue to cook over medium high until the port is reduced by half. Season with salt and black pepper. Add the beurre manie, and stir until the sauce is thick. Enjoy.

Beurre Manie

Don't be afraid, this is so easy! Combine equal parts soft butter and flour, and knead between your fingers. Add this to sauces to provide a rich flavor and to thicken them – lump free!

Pappa al Pomodoro

If you haven't had a chance to attend one of our cooking classes yet, you may not know that in addition to being a great chef, Rachel is also quite the dynamic teacher. Check her out at our most recent class, Italian Al Fresco, preparing this delicious tomato soup. Rachel first had it in a small restaurant beneath a little hotel in Sienna, and it blew her mind! It is intensely flavored, yet so incredibly simple; and a great way to use all your garden-grown tomatoes and basil.


Serves 8

About 1 1/2 pounds ripe cherry tomatoes
4 cloves garlic, finely sliced
A large bunches of basil, picked and stems finely chopped - separated
Sea salt & freshly ground pepper
38 oz good quality plum tomatoes
About 1 pounds good quality stale bread
The best extra virgin olive oil you can find (we’re using Ojai Olive Oil)
8 eggs

1. Prick the cherry tomatoes and toss them with two of the sliced clove of garlic and a quarter of the basil leaves. Drizzle with EVOO, sprinkle with salt and pepper, put them in a roasting pan, and cook at 3500F for about 15-20 minutes.

2. Heat a couple table spoons of oil in a pot, and add the remaining garlic and the basil stems. Stir gently and fry for a moment until softened. Add the canned tomatoes, then fill the cans with water and add that. Break the tomatoes up with a spoon, bring to a boil, and simmer for 15 minutes.

3. Tear the bread up into thumb sized pieces, and add them to the pan. Mix well and season to taste. Tear the basil leaves and let the soup sit over low heat for about 10-15 minutes. By this time, the roasted tomatoes will be done. Pour the tomatoes and all the juice from the pan into the soup. Add about 6 tablespoons of olive oil, and stir.

4. In another skillet, heat a little more olive oil over medium heat. Add the eggs, cooking 3 or 4 at a time, until they are just over easy – the whites will be set, and the yolk should be runny. Cook the rest of the eggs while you plate the soup. Place an egg in each bowl, and ladle a bit of soup on top. Garnish with basil and another drizzle of olive oil. Repeat with the remaining eggs, and serve.