Cooking Class: Simple Cuts, Ample Flavors

January ninth has finally come and gone after waiting for many months for this day to come.  Nothing extremely monumental happened yesterday except for the fact that I signed up for a cooking class at the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts, and was excited to finally take it.  Not only was I participating but my mom, cousin, my cousins girlfriend, and two friends of mine were taking it with me.  I took this cooking class as an opportunity to get friends and family together to have a good time and learn some new techniques and skills in the kitchen.  Food, friends, family, and fun...is there really anything better?!

On the menu for the day...

• Crostini of mascarpone and goat cheese topped with homemade grape chutney
• Coquilles St. Jacques
• Beef Daube
• Standard pasta dough
• Celery root-potato gratin
• Osso buco alla milanese
• Spinach salad with red wine vinegrette
• Poached pears with pomegranate glaze and caramelized almonds and vanilla ice cream 

We all had such a great time and our instructor was super knowledgeable, friendly, and very helpful.  He was more than happy to teach us how to make the given recipes along with offering to help assists us with any kitchen or food questions that may have been plaguing us.

 The class was about four hours in duration but not all classes are this long.  I recommend going onto their website and looking to see if any classes appeal to your taste. It is fairly inexpensive, depending on what class you'd want to take, and it is a great time!

Cambridge School of Culinary Arts


I, of course, need to share a recipe with you all so I decided that I wanted to post the recipe for the Red Wine Vinaigrette dressing. You may be thinking...." Liz...you just took a cooking class and all you want to share if a dressing recipe?!!?"  Tooshay..but..this recipe is extremely simple, very delicious and will be easy to incorporate into your daily life.  Get rid of those bottled dressings and make your own!

Red Wine Vinaigrette Dressing
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
Kosher salt to taste
1/4 cup shallots, minced
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
Freshly ground black pepper to taste

In a small bowl, whisk together red wine vinegar, salt, shallots, and mustard.  Then slowly incorporate the olive oil while whisking well to combine.  Season with black pepper.

Once everyone was done making their dishes we all got to celebrate the completion of the class by feasting on everything we created.

I strongly recommend taking a cooking class, I can't wait for my next one!