Chef Kevin's Cooking Classes: May 2017

Thursday, May 25, 2017

Upcoming A.C.E. Classes – Jumbo Shells and Beach House Brunch v2.0; Cape May Eateries; Moroccan Shakshuka

Post Date: 25 May 2017

ACE Class - Jumbo Shells

This one session class meets on Wednesday evening, May 31, at 6:30 PM at the Plum Center in Springfield. We will start off by making a quick Marinara Sauce and cooking the jumbo shells. We will then prepare 3 different fillings for our shells, one with Ground Beef; one with Ricotta, Mozzarella, and Parmesan Cheeses; and one with a vegetable Medley of Yellow Squash, Zucchini, Red Onion, and Italian seasonings. After stuffing the shells, we will bake them before enjoying.

ACE Class – Beach House Brunch v2.0

This one session class meets on Saturday morning, June 3, at 10:00 AM at the Plum Center in Springfield. The summer 2015 iteration of this course sold out, so I decided to run an updated version this year. We will be starting out with a Strawberry Marscapone Basil cup, a recipe a friend of mine recently brought back from a trip to Italy. The featured items will be a Sausage Frittata and Shakshula, a popular North African and Israeli breakfast dish which can really be part of any meal.

Eating in Cape May, New Jersey

This past weekend my wife Teresa and I went to Cape May and ate at a couple of our favorite places – the Sea Salt Restaurant in the Ocean Club Hotel for breakfast and the Blue Pig in the Congress Hall Hotel for dinner. As I wrote about these in an earlier post about a Cape May visit, this time I would like to focus on a couple of “joints” which we also frequent and enjoy.

For a quick breakfast we go to the Bagel Time Café at the corner of Stockton and Beach Avenues, on the ground floor of the Hotel Macomber. They feature a wide variety of breakfast items at a good price, with inside and outside seating. We save the Sea Salt for breakfast on our last morning and eat here other days.

For any years our first night tradition has been to have pizza at Brothers II in West Cape May, and the corner of Broadway and Sunset Boulevard. This place is the epitome of a pizza joint. It offers eat in, take out, and delivery, but liquor license, like many places in Cape May. The pizza is delicious and the ambience is what you would expect.

Shakshuka on Steroids – Moroccan Style

In the New York Times Food section of May 24 there is an article and recipe on Moroccan Shakshuka which is different from other versions I have made and read about. Since I have been writing about Shakshuka and it is on the menu for next week’s brunch class, I thought I would share the link here. This version takes 2 hours to make and uses beef and lamb in addition to the usual vegetables and eggs.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/22/dining/chef-mourad-lahlou-shakshuka.html?ref=todayspaper&_r=0

Reminder – Instagam

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Upcoming Classes

Here are my classes for the spring term. Summer catalogue is now out.

May 31 – Wednesday Evening – Stuffed Jumbo Sells – Plum Center

June 3 – Saturday Morning – Beach House Brunch v2.0 – Plum Center

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

http://www.fcps.edu/is/ace/

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

Tuesday, May 2, 2017

Cooking Basics 101 concludes; Upcoming ACE class – An Introduction to Middle Eastern Cooking

Post Date: 2 May 2017

Cooking Basics 101 Concludes

The third and final session of this class met last Saturday morning. Pictured above are the dishes made by one of the teams – Orange Couscous Salad; Salisbury Steak and Onions; Roasted Carrots with Lemon and Thyme; and Mini Lemon Olive Oil Pound Cakes.

There are 2 more iterations of the class on the summer schedule. The first one meets on Saturdays July 15, 22, and 29 at the Plum Center in Springfield. The second one, targeted to young adults, meets on three consecutive evenings in August, Wednesday the 2^nd, Thursday the 3^rd, and Friday the 4^th. The target audience for this class is recent high school and college graduates as well as those still in college, giving them confidence in the kitchen and allowing them to break free of the cycle of microwave and prepackaged meals.

ACE Class – An Introduction to Middle Eastern Cooking

This one session class meets on Thursday evening May 4^th at 6:30 at the Plum Center in Springfield. In this class we will be making Hummus, a Tomato Coriander Salad (pictured above), Lebanese Shortbread Cookies, and Shakshuka, a tomato based Israeli breakfast dish. In addition, recipes will be give out for students to try at home, which will include Tabbouleh and an Arabian Spice Mix.