My friend, Courtney, and I went to a great cooking class last week. We’ve been to quite a few together…San Francisco, Laguna…but this one was different. The others we’ve been to, and maybe you’ve been to too, usually do a quick presentation on a variety of recipes and then each group or team gets assigned one of the dishes to make. It’s still very fun, but in this class we were given a quick presentation of three recipes and then the two of us were able to make all three recipes. It’s just great to get to do the step-by-step hands on kind of cooking to really get the feel of how long a recipe takes and how it can be adapted to your home cooking.
The facility at Eat Street is great! It’s in the up and coming area of Anaheim in the historic district near the hip new Anaheim Packing District/Packing House…I still have to make it over to that place. Highly acclaimed and accomplished Chef, Katie Averill has round tables set up, welcoming you to just sit and chat and enjoy some iced tea, water or a glass of wine as you wait for others to arrive. When everyone is assembled we moved over to the cooking/demonstration area. Chef Katie did a very quick overview of the recipes, the facilities, what was where and then let us have at it! She has multiple stations, workspaces, pans, bowls, etc.. lined up so you’re not all sharing the same oven or waiting endlessly for utensils to use. She specifically instructed us in the art of “mise en place“, French for “putting in place” but as she explained, basically means assembling all of your ingredients first so you’re not running back and forth from cutting board to fridge to pantry. I had learned this technique/philosophy at the cooking class I took on the Seine on a trip to Paris and it just makes cooking so much more enjoyable and organized. With bowls & pans at the ready and ingredients assembled we were ready to tackle the recipes. Here you go….
Deep-Fried Green Olives Stuffed with Sausage
sorry…we ate the finished product so fast that we forgot to take pics
Stuffing…
1/2 tsp. olive oil
1 garlic close, minced
1/8 onion, finely chopped (she showed us a technique that makes this so easy)
1/8 # sausage without casings (we had 2 breakfast size sausages)
1/2 tsp chopped Italian parsley
1/8 tsp fresh oregano, chopped
1/8 c panko bread crumbs
6 brine cured large green olives, pitted and sliced open (we just used our thumbs to open them up a bit)
1/3 c. all-purpose flour
1 large egg, beaten
1/4 c. panko bread crumbs
oil for frying
Place saute pan over medium hat and when it is hot add your olive oil. Add onion and sausage & cook until the sausage has almost browned, then add garlic (so garlic doesn’t cook too fast and become bitter.) Off the heat add the parsley, oregano and bread crumbs. Stuff the olives with the mixture, keeping them kind of tight.
Prepare 3 bowls with flour, egg and bread crumbs. Roll olives in flour, then egg, then bread crumbs. Deep fry the olives until the breading is lightly browned…1-2 minutes.
note: The olive taste over powered the sausage a bit, so we’d need to either stuff them more or come up with an alternative (small colorful peppers??) vessel for stuffing to really enjoy the sausage. But..they were really good@
Tahini-Marinated Chicken Skewers with Honey, Yogurt and Ginger Sauce
Marinade:
2 scallions chopped
1/2 TBS peeled, minced ginger
1 garlic clove
1 TBS Sesame tahini
1/4 c. plain yogurt
1/4 c. water
8 chicken tenders
1 TBS olive oil
s&p to taste
Dipping Sauce:
1 tsp olive oil
1/2 TBS peeled minced ginger
1/8 c. chopped scallions
1/6 c. honey
1/4 c. plain yogurt
To make the marinade blend all ingredients in a food processor or blender. Pour marinade over chicken and refrigerate for about 20 minutes or so while you make the sauce.
Heat olive oil, add ginger, scallions, and honey and cook 1 minute. Let cool slightly and add the yogurt. Set aside.
Pull the chicken out of the marinade and season with s&p a bit. Cook chicken for about 4 minutes per side until golden on both sides. Enjoy!
We also made a Pizzette Bianco…and I may share that recipe at a later date, but I’m a lazy pizza maker and just buy my dough for Pizza Mondays! They sure were good with the arugula salad on top.
I would really recommend Chef Katie’s Eat Street. It was fun & organized and we met some nice people who had already been to two of her classes. I’m going to go to the “Date Night in Paris” when I get that date someday!! …or, in the meantime, one of the “singles” classes!
(Recipes re-printed & shared with permission from Chef Katie)
You cannot direct the wind, but you can adjust the sails!
