Chef Kevin's Cooking Classes: September 2016

Wednesday, September 28, 2016

End of Summer Desserts Project with Basil Ice Cream; Shakshuka; Cape May Dining; My Fall Cooking Classes with A.C.E.

Post Date : 28 September 2016

Basil Ice Cream

My basil plants did really well this year, so I decided to finish off my summer desserts project with Basil Ice Cream. I checked out 4 different recipes before deciding on the one from the New York Times Cooking page. The link to the recipe is below. It is a very straightforward recipe, basil, sugar, milk, cream, salt, and egg yolks. And it was excellent. By substituting Mint leaves for Basil, you can make a mint ice cream as well.

http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1016617-mint-or-basil-ice-cream

More on Shakshuka

http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1016617-mint-or-basil-ice-cream

Cape May Dining

We went to Cape May, New Jersey, for a week earlier in September and had a great meal at Godmother’s Restaurant. We have been going to Cape May for several years now and had passed the restaurant many times but never dined there. This year we decided to go, and were really glad we did. The food was excellent. Our main dishes were Rigatoni with Blackened Broccoli, Crab Ravioli in a Lemon Cream Sauce, and a Baked Salmon. And for dessert there was Chocolate Gelato with a Biscotti. Our only regret is that we had not gone there sooner.

Besides the great meal, another highlight of the trip was watching the full moon rise over the Atlantic from the beach, pictured above.

Reminder – Instagam

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Upcoming Classes

Here are my classes for the fall term. The Fall 2016 catalogue is now out. Note the 2 different locations for the What’s for Breakfast? Class.

October 15 and 22 – Saturday Morning – What’s for Breakfast? – Plum Center Session 1 and Lake Braddock Secondary School Session 2.

October 30 – Sunday Afternoon – Bistro Lunch – Plum Center

November 6, 13, 20 – Sunday Afternoons – Cooking Basics 101 – Plum Center

December 6, 13, 20 – Tuesday Evenings – Quick Weeknight Dinners – Plum Center

To register for this class, or any ACE cooking classes, please go to:

http://www.fcps.edu/is/ace/specialinterest.shtml and scroll down to the Culinary section

While there, be sure to check out the other culinary courses offered by ACE’s excellent chef instructors.

Till next time, keep cooking.

Contact Chef Kevin at: KJBrady@fcps.edu

Friday, September 2, 2016

Cannoli Ice Cream Sandwiches; Baby Spinach and Watermelon Salad; My Fall Classes start in October.

Post Date: 2 September 2016

Happy Labor Day. I hope everyone had a great summer and is ready for fall. I was away on a bicycling trip in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, so I have not been trying many new recipes lately. Picture above is from the Cheshire Trail in Keene, New Hampshire. But I have gotten back to my summer desserts project with Cannoli Ice Cream Sandwiches. I have also been making a new summer salad for our week night dinners. More on these below.

Cannoli Ice Cream Sandwiches

For the ice cream recipe, I followed, with some modifications, a recipe from Bruce Weinstein’s The Ultimate Ice Cream Book, my go-to volume for all matters ice cream. Like with regular Cannoli, the ice cream uses Ricotta Cheese. However, I replaced the anise seeds in the recipe with orange zest.

For the Cannoli shells, I used a recipe from Ursula Ferrigno’s book Flavors of Sicily, which I mentioned in a previous post. In her recipe the shells are baked instead of deep fried, then rolled around the cannoli tubes as soon as they come out of the oven. However, instead of rolling them, I just let them cool flat on a rack to make the “bread” for the ice cream sandwiches.

Baby Spinach and Watermelon Salad

This salad is my take on a dish from the SeaGrass Restaurant in Ocean Grove, New Jersey. It is a wonderful summer salad, refreshing and very easy to make, with Just a few ingredients – Baby Spinach, Watermelon Chunks, Almond Slivers, and Crumbled Feta Cheese, topped with Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar Glaze. Other greens may be substituted if you prefer.

My Fall 2016 Classes

My fall classes do not start until October 15, giving me plenty of time to decide on the recipes for the classes. First up is “What’s for Breakfast?” a two session Saturday morning class. One item I will definitely be including in this class is Brie and Blueberry French Toast. While staying with my good friends the Abusamras (Laurel, Ilse, and David) in New Hampshire on the bike trip, they made an Israeli breakfast dish called Shakshuka, a 1 skillet dish that includes tomatoes, eggs, onions, feta cheese and a variety of spices. It is an excellent breakfast dish. However, it takes almost an hour to prepare and cook, so rather than make it in class it will have to be one of the supplemental recipes I always give out to try at home. A Google search will give you several variations on this dish.