Learn to Cook I: A One Week Lesson (see Learn to Cook II)

Pre-scheduled Week: 5 days: Next dates TBA. For other dates or to schedule one for your area please call 707.829.6707 or email Patty.

Learn to Cook Class 2006
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Special Offer for Knives!

Buy a knife from Sonoma Cutlery and get a huge discount. All students will be prepared to cook, learn and have fun! Students can pick up the knives while in class and make the check directly to Sonoma Cutlery.
View offer as PDF >

As it says this is a one week comprehensive class where you and your group will prepare sauces, stocks, soups, grains, beans, legumes, chicken, fish and meat dishes (if desired) breads, homemade pastas, vegetables through the seasons, fruits and much more. You will learn about the nutrients of what you prepare as well as menu planning.

Schedule and Program

Monday-Friday 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Monday:

Kitchen Basics: Proper measurements, sanitation, knife skills, herb and spice identification. Identification of flours, sugars and other basic pantry items. Learn about non-gluten flour mixes and how to incorporate various flours into your life.

Learn to prepare: Stocks, Soups and Sauces

Vegetable stock and chicken stock
Béchamel sauce with variations, hollandaise sauce, picatta sauce, brown butter
Minestrone soup, bouillabaisse, chicken soup with seasonal veggies and farro (may vary with the season)
Learn how to read a label, organize your pantry and alter a recipe to contain more healthful ingredients.

Tuesday: Grains, Beans and Legumes

Learn to prepare the basics of the following:

Rice- brown, basmati, Arborio, wild
Grains- millet, quinoa, amaranth, kasha, wheat berries, oats, barley, farro
Beans- pinto, cannellini, navy, adzuki, garbanzo, kidney
Legumes-lentils, split peas
You will also learn various dishes using the above, sometimes in combination.

As examples:

Leek and tomato quinoa
Wild rice and roasted red pepper pilaf
Risotto with saffron and peas
Sherried Black bean soup with cumin crème Fraiche

Wednesday: Vegetables and Fruits

Learn about seasonal vegetables and the parts of the vegetables-seeds, sprouts, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits, roots.

You will prepare a myriad of dishes using many different vegetables and fruits. You will also learn various knife cuts and cooking techniques.

Today we also learn about nuts, seeds and sprouts as well as salads and salad dressings.

We will prepare home-made pasta as well.

Thursday: Fish and meat dishes

You will learn various skills such as roasting, braising, sautéing, stuffing and poaching.

Examples of dishes prepared today:

Salmon en Papillote (or chicken or tofu)
Chicken breasts sautéed in olive oil and finished with mustard sauce
Flank steak stuffed with barley pilaf

Friday: Baking

Today we focus on baking and will prepare:

Blueberry-ginger muffins
Buckwheat Muffins
Home made pizza dough
Cinnamon rolls

During the course of the week, you will also learn about sea vegetables, fermented foods, basic nutrition and nutrients of many of the ingredients that we will be using. We will also touch on various drink including smoothies and therapeutic drinks, such as for fasting.

You will leave the week armed with wonderful recipes easily adaptable for every season and a basic knowledge of health-supporting foods.

Pricing:

$850.00 per person with a 7 person minimum. If I am traveling to teach this class, then students will pay my expenses as well.

For more Information or to request an appearance with
Patty James at your location:

Learn to Cook Testimonial

"Just wanted to write you a quick note to let you know how much we all loved the Summer Cooking Class. Everyone there was so nice. They were a really awesome group of people, and I think that's a good part of what made the class so great!

We really learned a lot. I'm so happy my mom liked it as she is a hard one to convince you have to eat right - meaning food with no preservatives, etc. At least this helped. Thanks for making the class such a wonderful experience. This is exactly what I was looking for. I didn't want something where everything was white flour and white sugar based. We are really going to use these receipes.

I hope you have another class next summer. Tell everyone we're jealous that they'll be taking part II in January."

Susan Arreola

Classes are now canceled and will be updated soon.

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