I've mentioned how excited I am about the CSA, right? And about the same time 365Nashville.com posted this! The University School of Nashville offers evening classes to support the school. There's all kinds of topics... gardening, photography, food and wine, self improvement, knitting... Emily and I took this AMAZING cooking class, "Cooking with Local Ingredients". SO MUCH FUN. I was pumped to try and learn to cook a little better to get ready for veggie season. Kevin Ramquist, head chef of F. Scott's was our instructor and we lucked out that it was a super small class, as half of it couldn't make the time (re-scheduling issues) so the three of us taking the class had almost one-on-one instruction by Kevin and F. Scott's pastry chef Paige.
The menu read like this:
Salad
Famer Dave's Baby Swiss Chard and Pea Tendrils,
Tennessee Buttermilk White Cheddar Dressing, Benton's
Bacon Lardons, Sunny Side Up Jolly Barnyard Egg
Entree
Roasted Emerald Glen Farms Chicken, Farmer Dave's
Sweet Potato and Gold Rush Apple Hash, Herbed Chicken
Jus, Sorrel Salad, Bonnie Blue Goat Cheese
Dessert
Olive and Sinclair Chocolate Tasting
And it was really incredible. I was in love. And if I'm going to convince Bill that cooking classes are money well spent (and FUN!) then I should put my newly learned skills to practice. With a few exceptions it went pretty well.
1) Cutting up a whole raw chicken. Gross. I HATE touching raw meat. Necessary evil for sweet Bill's dinner. I used this video to help me remember a little bit how to get it done:
Sparing you the gross details, it turned out just fine! Look! Chicken cut up and pretty!! and into the oven for 40 minutes at 400
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| On the shopping list: a decent size roasting pan Until then, the brownie pan. |
Chopped the sweet potatoes, apples, and onions and cooked them up for the hash. The sauce reduced but didn't get the saucy consistency that the one in class did. And I couldn't find Sorrel in the Kroger... So I went with some Arugula on sale. Still yummy... but I think Bill's going to let me stick some Sorrel in his garden box!
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| Turned out yummy! |
The chicken turned out PERFECT. I know it's silly, but it was a huge personal accomplishment to cut up and cook some excellent bird!
Side Note: After the cooking class, I've been SO anxious to try F. Scott's after our cooking class - plus the great reviews from Lannae. While Bill and I were doing some shopping in Green Hills and he suggested a spontaneous date night to F. Scott's while we were there. *He's so sweet* We had the greatest dinner... Crab au Gratin for a starter then I got the seared scallops with quinoa, acorn squash, and black garlic butter. Bill tried orange glazed duck breast,with herb dumplings, onions,and baby carrots, in broth. It was so really yummy and such a special treat.
