cooking class: taste of Andalusia

This is proving to be a mighty busy week. We kicked it off (after a full Monday back at work) with a cooking class featuring dishes from the Andalusia region of Spain. Brian Tolbert of the Dulce Plate did the cooking, we did lots of chopping and running around with plates.

To keep the guests from expiring from hunger right off the bat, Brian started with some fairly simple mussels cooked in a vegetable and wine broth. They were good, of course (fresh mussels, duh), but I would have liked a slightly heavier broth and a lot of bread to sop it up. Fortunately, there was more food coming…

The second course was quite solid: piquillo peppers stuffed with a mixture of yellowfin tuna and bechamel sauce, then dredged in egg and seasoned flour and fried in olive oil. Wowzers, these were good. I could eat a couple of these for a meal.

cooking class: sweet and savory bites

A number of years ago, J worked for a summer as a delivery driver for a wonderful local bakery called La Vie En Rose. It meant that he had to leave for work at 1 am, which wasn’t so great; on the other hand, we ate a lot of really great bread that summer. The owner of the bakery occasionally gives cooking classes at Gretchens, and we finally got around to volunteering for one of these, which featured both sweet and savory bites and appetizers.

The philosophy of the class seemed to be, “life is short, eat dessert first.” So the first course included a puff pastry “daisy” filled with lemon cream, plus a fried wonton full of chocolate and banana. I particularly liked the daisy, because I am a sucker for lemon curd in most circumstances.

a few Washington wines

There was a nice little wine tasting at Gretchens last week, led by Noble Wines rep Renee Stark and featuring wines from Washington State. It was nice and relaxing for us (the kitchen help), since there were only two food platings and most of the cooking was either done ahead or very simple. Some of the wine highlights:

Novelty Hill Sauvignon Blanc 2005: Very drinkable, with good body. Not terribly acidic, but pleasant with the food.

Whidbey Island Lemberger 2006: I find straight Lembergers to be a bit one-dimensional, with very little body to the wine, but this had a nice flavor. Might be a good summer red, since it had a very clean finish.

Tamarack Cellars Merlot 2005: The star of the show. I’m not generally a big merlot drinker, but this was astonishing.

Bergevin Lane Calico Red 2005: A soft, rich, comfortable red blend from Walla Walla. Nice.

cooking class: tapas & paella

Another cooking class at Gretchens, this time focusing on one dish: paella! Knut Christiansen of Paellaworks catering brought his big pan and lots of good stuff to put in it, and Randy Finley of Mount Baker Vineyards brought wine to go along with it all. Paella is something Knut does especially well, even when he’s making it up as he goes along, so it was great fun to watch it all come together. And even more fun to eat it at the end.

Paella takes a while to cook, of course, so to keep people occupied and happy Knut put together some tapas to pass out. One was a leaf of Swiss chard wrapped around a tasty filling of cheese and sausage, paired with a salad of shredded asparagus, olives, chard stems and a tangy tangerine and cinnamon dressing. Everyone ate those immediately, so after that he toasted some crostini in the paella pan, I rubbed it with raw garlic and he swiped a bit of tomato sauce across it. Simple but good. We ate the tapas with two white wines, a blend called Rosetta Blanc and a Viognier (Mount Baker makes a really nice vio).

cooking class: polenta three ways

Last week we helped out at a great cooking class: Casey Schanen from Nell Thorn restaurant did the cooking and Renee Stark of Noble Wines brought the wine. The theme was polenta in different preparations, which sounds like it would be repetitive, but in fact it was fabulous. Not a surprise, of course - Casey’s cooking is always fabulous.

We didn’t start out with polenta immediately. Casey likes to bring an assortment of nibbles with him, so we assembled a bunch of plates for the guests with marinated olives, cheesy wafers, Nell Thorn sourdough bread and butter. I think putting out the nibbles is a great idea, it keeps the guests from getting antsy while the first course is being demonstrated (the classes start at 6:30 and sometimes no food gets served until 7:30).

tasting Oregon wines

We had our first class of the new season at Gretchens, a tasting of wines from the Willamette and Rogue Valleys of Oregon. It’s been a long time since the last one - it felt good to be back volunteering in the demo kitchen. The class was full, which was great - the tastings don’t always get as good a response as the cooking classes, which is always a shame. But this was a good one, and Tom the wine rep outdid himself as usual.

The lineup was unusual in that there were as many whites as reds. I’ve recently been feeling more interested in whites, so that was cool with me. The wines we tasted (with some of my notes that I scribbled down) were:

• Willakenzie Estate Vineyards Willamette Pinot Blanc: very acidic, clean tasting.
• Ponzi Estate Vineyards Willamette Pinot Gris: bright but a little creamy, holds up to spicy food very well.
• Kings Ridge Willamette Riesling: very good, not very sweet. A little creamy with a definite floral note.
• Rex Hill Vineyards Oregon Pinot Noir: nice pinot, excellent with smoked blue cheese
• Hinman Vineyards Rogue Valley Red Blend: nice big tannic red, great with steak.
• Silvan Ridge Rogue Valley Reserve Syrah: round and fruity, very straightforward and tasty.

To go along with the wines, we did three plates of appetizers.

Cooking class: French Canadian Christmas

Why do we do this to ourselves? We go straight from work, spend two hours chopping, two hours plating and serving, another hour cleaning up, and constant dishwashing throughout. Then we go home and collapse on the couch for an hour because we’re too wound up to sleep, but we still have to get up at 5 the next morning. Hmmm….

 Because we get to help cook things like this?

cooking class: shellfish and wine

Last Thursday at Gretchens we volunteered for a class focusing on shellfish paired with wine. The food was prepared by Knut Christiansen, the wine was provided by Randy Finley, owner of Mount Baker Vineyards. We were there for five hours and I think I’ve eaten enough butter sauce to last me for a week or two, but it was a fun class.

Randy brought a good assortment of wines. We had the choice to begin with a sip of viognier or reserve merlot - both were excellent. Then he poured a rosé which was interestingly substantial, with almost an oaky quality. It went with the first shellfish course, which was:

Wine tasting: California central coast

Last week we helped out with a wine tasting that featured moderately priced wines from California’s central coast region, chosen by Tom Saunderson of Young’s Columbia. As usual, it was a great selection - there really was something for everyone.

Wine tasting: Spanish value wines

Another class at Gretchens, this time a wine tasting featuring Spanish value wines brought by Gary Morris from Unique Wine Company. We were volunteer help in the kitchen this time, but we made sure we got to taste everything! Susan, the class coordinator, made up three courses to go with the six featured wines: an antipasto plate with olives, salami, Tuscan white beans with garlic, a piece of toasted baguette, and a parmesan crisp, an oven beef stew (fantastic) with Caesar salad and another parmesan crisp, and gorgonzola cheesecake crusted with pecans and served with crackers and grapes.