New Thing #91 - Cooking Class

Month 3 - Learning

September 27, 2018 - Cooking Class

So, I've lived in StL for nearly 17 years, and I've never taken advantage of the variety of cooking classes it offers. There are quite a few, but this time I found a hands-on class at the Kitchen Conservatory. They offer about a billion different options from pizza and pasta to pastries, pumpkin pie and beyond. Joining is my friend, Sandi.

Nestled in Clayton.

Ready to get cookin'!

Since it's fall - despite StL's temperatures as of late telling us otherwise, I picked the "In the Autumn Orchard" class. Here's the lowdown on what we'd be tackling: "Before autumn turns to chilly nights, Robin Wheeler has gathered the bounty of rich fall ingredients for an enchanting experience for couples in the kitchen. This hands-on class will make a pear cider-bourbon cocktail shaken over ice with fresh ginger, brie bruschetta with plum-fig-apple compote, a trio of apples and spinach salad with blue cheese and toasted spiced walnuts and pomegranate vinaigrette, apple cider-glazed pork tenderloin medallions over sage and sweet potato gnocchi, roasted Brussels sprouts with crispy pancetta and plum glaze, plus an Asian pear-grape-plum galette with cinnamon whipped cream."

Get. In. My. Belly.

But, seriously though. How the heck are we going to make all of that in 2.5 hours?!

So, I have to admit that I was anticipating a class similar to that episode of Friends when Monica and Joey pass by a cooking class going on and Monica pretends she doesn't know how to cook. You know the one, where each couple has a little station and everyone cooks the same things at the same time? Yeah, this wasn't it.

I'm not necessarily complaining, but I set my expectations a bit too high. Or maybe not too high, but definitely skewed. Remember all that food I mentioned above? Yeah, we all made it at the same time, each person tackling a different task so we could have everything ready at the same time. While that was definitely more practical than what I was expecting, it was also more chaotic and less instructional.

I was hoping to learn new techniques (hello homemade sweet potato gnocchi), but it was difficult to concentrate on every single task, when you're trying not to burn the pork tenderloins or slice your hand open grating ginger on a dull zester. And we also wouldn't be learning by watching the instructor. She was there to give us tasks, watch over us to make sure we didn't lick any sharp objects and guide us along the way.

Okay, clearly, I didn't put much thought behind this, because I just picked a class and made assumptions. That being said, we still had a great time. And while I didn't make the gnocchi first hand, I caught bits and pieces of the process. So, if you're looking for a Friends-inspired cooking class, this wasn't it. But, if you want to make some food and have some fun, then sign up!

To start off with, each pair (did I mention this was a couple's course?) were given specific tasks to start our first courses or start prepping our second. A group was also specifically tasked with the entire dessert that would require making pie dough from scratch. Also missed that part. One pair cooked down the plug-fig-apple compote, another sliced the baguette for the bruschetta, another prepped the Brussels sprouts and made the spiced walnuts and pomegranate vinaigrette.

Sandi and I were tasked with making the rub for the pork tenderloin which consisted of some fresh rosemary, grated fresh ginger, orange zest, olive oil, minced garlic, and S&P: Sounds pretty simple, but I found the zester was rather dull and it took forever for us to actually grate the ginger and orange zest. The knives weren't particularly sharp either, so I really had to destroy the rosemary to chop it. I didn't realize until later there were other knives available to choose from, which we managed to snag later in the evening.

Our kitchen stations.

Sandi's cutting the ginger end off to start grating.

Just chopping rosemary...no big deal.

Mmmmm...pork rub.

Another pair cooking down the fruit & wine compote for the bruschetta.

Chopping Brussels sprouts and spicing some walnuts.

Heating the baguette.

This pair of ladies prepped and made the galette (a super fancy word for a pie made freeform without a pan.)

Once the rub was finished, we set that aside and prepped the spinach salad and sliced the apples. Waiting for another task, she had us start the Bourbon Pear Gingersnap Cocktail. We'd be taking a quick break shortly to try the bruschetta, salad and cocktails before continuing on with the main course.

Cocktails!

I mixed pear cider with bourbon, some fresh lemon juice and a few grates of ginger in the cocktail shaker and it promptly sealed shut on me. I poured out the first few cocktails, and it took 4 people to get the lid back off. For time sake, she suggested we just make a big bucket of it and then divvy it up.

Sounds easier said than done. We just had a big ol' tub of boozy gingersnaps to dole out. Needless to say, this cocktail was everywhere. From rogue lemon juice squirts to spilled cider, it was ridiculous. I'm not sure if the cocktail wasn't that great because I don't like bourbon or because we suck at being bartenders. I'll blame it on not liking to go heavy on the bourbon.

Once the first course was ready, we all sat down to taste our concoctions, and I was smitten with that brie bruschetta. While we didn't have enough time to truly simmer the fruit compote, it was delish mixed with the salty brie and crusty bread. I ate way too many slices. The salad and vinaigrette

were also quite tasty, though I did request that some of the spinach be left without the blue cheese. I feel like that is one of those foods that people either love or hate. Turns out I wasn't the only one who hated it because the uncovered portion of the salad was gone in record time.

This was AMAZING!! We had some extra walnuts left over from the salad, so she threw them on there. I could have eaten this entire plate.

Delicious salad (minus the blue cheese).

Not pictured: the extra slices of bruschetta I ate.

While we ate, our instructor gave us some information regarding the next steps for the main course. The gnocchi would take the longest, so she threw the majority of the couples on that. Sandi and I proceeded with the pork tenderloin since we had already made the rub.

Step 1: Rub the Pork

Step 2. Sear the pork. (In a really hot pan w/ olive oil.)

Step 3. Remove pork. Let it rest. (10-15 minutes while we start with the cooking liquid.)

In the meantime, here's what everyone else was working on.

Chopping fruit for the gallete (on the left), mashing sweet potatoes and grating cheese for the gnocchi (on the right).

Cooking the pancetta (oh yeah, we had to slice that earlier....that fat is really tough to cut with a dull knife. I don't recommend it.)

Step 4. Simmer apple cider, pork stock and a bay leaf. (We were supposed to cook this down and really reduce it to a thicker consistency, but time wasn't on our side. It was still pretty runny when we added the pork. Hey, the instructor told us to do so!)

Natural.

Born to cook pork medallions.

Finishing up the dough for the sweet potato gnocchi!

Step 5. Slice pork into medallions.

Step 6. Cook the medallions in the liquid.

They're getting ready to knead the gnocchi dough.

They're cooking the Brussels sprouts down and adding the pancetta.

Rollin' rollin' rollin'.

Step 7 & 8. Remove the pork once it's cooked and continue to simmer the liquid down. Sandi combined both of our pans to make a bit more room on the stove.

This damn butter...I'll get back to that shortly.

Gnocchi bits!

SO. MUCH. GNOCCHI.

Step 9. Remove sauce and strain. Once again, this was runnier that it should have been due to the time constraints and lack of enough stove space.

 Once our pork was done, we tented it with some foil to stay warm, and watched while everyone finished their dishes.

Boiling the gnocchi on the left and waiting to brown the butter on the right.

Galettes straight from the oven!

Our work here is done!

While we finished up our pork & the sauce, the bigger group finalized all the gnocchi and got to boiling. Unfortunately, we had a few pounds of gnocchi and only one pot of water had managed to come up to a boil. So that took forever to finish cooking. But that wasn't what we were waiting on. It was the damn butter. We waited for 20 minutes for that damn butter to brown before we could finally pour it over the gnocchi. Good grief, but that took too damn long.

I'm sounding a bit hangry...

SO MUCH GNOCCHI!

FINALLY POURING THE BUTTER ON!

Look at what I/we made!!

Drink up little piggies!

YUM

Our group.

We ran long on time. Actually, really long on time, being nearly 9pm when we sat down to eat. This was a bummer, not only because I was full from eating too many bruschettas, but it was too late for me to be chowing down on such rich food. We didn't get to take any leftovers home either, so I was bummed that it was so late to be eating.

The pork was phenomenal. So tender and bathed in the sauce (would love to try making it with the correct consistency next time). I didn't know what to expect with the sweet potato gnocchi. I'm not a big fan of plain sweet potatoes, but when you mash it, add some cheese and flour, cook and smother in butter, THEY'RE FREAKING DELICIOUS. This. THIS is what I wanted to take home. I should have brought a ziploc bag and smuggled some home. I definitely went overboard on eating these little delightful nuggets. Not sure I have the patience to make them at home, but I just might try it one day!

And the Brussels sprouts. Even simmered in a sweet jam, nestled under crispy bacon, I still couldn't do it. They're just way too bitter for me. I will happily oblige some sliced raw sprouts in a salad, but I just can't eat them cooked. But, if this is the only thing I didn't like today, I'm good with that.

At this point, I'm not sure how I hadn't curled up into a food coma in the corner. Every inch of my stomach was crammed and stretched with fall delights. Yet, dessert awaits. These ladies made this from scratch! I have to at least try it.

Holy. Crap. With the addition of the cinnamon whipped cream, THIS WAS SO GOOD. I'm not sure where I managed to store all of it, but I wedged it in there along with about 3 pounds of other food.

It was after 9 when we finally finished, so Sandi and I chose to hit the road. We got a 10% off coupon for anything in the store, but it was only good for that day, and I didn't have the energy to search the racks.

If my stomach could give a review, I'd say it would give two very hearty thumbs up. While I didn't like being left out of some of the tasks I would have liked to learn, I did enjoy the class and making our dinner. Next time, I hope it doesn't take 3 hours though. :)