June 2007

Suddenly, it's summer—not necessarily the weather, but the activity level. There's so much going on, it's tough to find a moment to write a newsletter. This one is late, brief, and missing a few of the items I intended to add, but I wanted to get it to you, so that I can entice you with the stellar classes we are offering all summer.

Classes

My own summer session, the 6-week Basic Cooking Summer Supper Club offered through Piedmont Adult School, is filling fast. There are still spots left, but just a few. In this class we take the wonderful assortment of ingredients available in the summer, and transform them into fabulous dinners. You learn techniques, first and foremost—things that you can use again and again, that help you understand any recipe you try. You also come away with six meals worth of excellent, clearly written recipes, and a lot of new friends—this class is called a ‘supper club' because we try to keep a congenial, relaxed atmosphere where students can interact over a good meal and a glass of wine after working together to do the prep and cooking. The other thing about this class is it's accessibility financially. The state kicks in average daily attendance money, since it's a ‘basic' class; so you get all the instruction and food for a bargain price. This summer the six classes, including full dinners, will be $260—in the fall session, the price will rise a bit to compensate for rising food costs.

Knife Sharpening is being offered June 18th, and I highly recommend this class. It rated a feature page with photos in San Francisco Magazine this month, as part of a round-up of great classes to take. Eric Weiss, master sharpener, will show you how to keep your knives in tip-top shape, and you also get a sharpening stone and oil as part of the deal. There are still a few spots left, but don't delay—sign up today.

Two Chefs, Five Days, Countless Secrets, the wonderful series of Current Trends & Classical Culinary Techniques, and Global Cuisine classes offered by Linda Carucci and Cindy Race, are still almost all available for registration. Last month's newsletter (in the archives in "what's new", as are each past issue and all the recipes of the month) featured a long description of these classes and why you should indeed consider a cooking vacation this summer—one or two packed weeks of study with two master chefs. Each class is offered several times, and you can also sign up for single days if you like.

Rosetta Costantino's Italian cooking classes were also featured in the SF Magazine article, and she has added several new classes to the calendar in July and August. Her wonderful Southern Italian and Sicilian classes have developed a strong following, and sell out fast. A new class this summer will teach you how to make many different kinds of hand-shaped pasta, and sauces to go with each. Check the calendar for upcoming listings.

New Teacher

Disclaimer: this is only a tease, the classes have not yet been scheduled—but they will be, so check the website calendar frequently, if you've always wanted to learn to bake like a pastry chef. Francisco "Cisco" Machado came to Paulding & Company with solid culinary credentials and has been training with me to run his own classes and groups for the last year. As a restaurant chef and as a pastry chef, Cisco has held senior positions at the Four Seasons Hotel and with chefs Thomas Keller and Mario Batali, and won the Bay Area regional James Beard competition with one of his sweet creations. Cisco was born in the Dominican Republic, raised in New York City, and lives here with his wife and children. He runs a catering company, 9 Catering, and also bakes wedding cakes almost every weekend. Very popular with our team building group members, Cisco will soon be announcing some stand-alone pastry classes, beginning in July.

News

"The Rat" is coming—Ratatouille, the movie, debuts June 29th! As I've mentioned before, and as you can see from the wonderful Disney/Pixar video link on my home page, I've worked extensively with the animators for this exciting animated feature. I wrote a little feature for the Emeryville News tying the movie to the dish it's named for, and will include the recipe as our Recipe of the Month for June.

Farmers Market

What can I say about the market right now, other than go early, and try not to buy more than you can eat…everything is wonderful right now. It's a stellar cherry season, the Blenheim apricots, always the best, are in … peaches, nectarines, berries of all sorts are sweet and wonderful. Summer vegetables are showing up, the first tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, as well as great greens, green beans, asparagus, artichokes, sweet corn and baby summer squash. Check my website's recipe archives (also in "what's new") for the Hungarian style stuffed peppers recipe I added last summer. Go to the Grand Lake market, get the peppers, and also a pound of the wonderful Prather Ranch ground pork for the stuffing. It's what I'm making for dinner tonight.

Happy cooking and dining to all of you—get that barbecue cranking, and enjoy the long days!