Happy New Year 2018; Some Holiday Menus; Next A.C.E. Classes - Classic Italian Sauces and Japanese Cooing in your American Kitchen; Pollo alla Calabrrese;ibollita

Post Date: 17 January 2018

Happy New Year 2018

 

Welcome to the first edition of my blog for 2018.  I hope everyone had a great holiday season.  I have included here the menus I prepared for Christmas Dinner and for a party I hosted on New Year’s Day.  I have also been busy running through the recipes for my Classic Italian Sauces class which stats this Saturday, January 20.

Holiday Menus

 

For Christmas, the main dish was Roast Beef with Stout Mustard Jus along with 5 Spice Shrimp and Broccoli with Rigatoni.  Starters were Potato Vegetable Soup and Orange Couscous Salad.  Sides were Onion Roasted Potatoes and Green Beans with Mustard Sauce.  Desserts were various Christmas cookies brought by my sisters-in-law, a batch of Pizzelles (pictured below) I had made, and Meringues which my wife Teresa had made with the liquid you drain from a can of chickpeas.

 

 

For my traditional New Year’s Day open house I featured a sweet Chili, Chicken Spezzatino (an Italian Chicken Stew), Tilapia Italiana, Chicken Teriyaki, and Angel Hair Pasta with a no cook Checca Sauce.  There were accompanied by Roasted Carrots with Lemon and thyme and Asparagus with Mustard Sauce.  Starters were a Provençale Salad and a Chickpea Salad.  For sweets, we had Tiramisu, Brutti Ma Buoni (Ugly but Good) cookies, and Pizzelles, and a ton of cookies left from Christmas.

 

 

My Next ACE Class – Classic Italian Sauces

 

 

My next class, Classic Italian Sauces, class meets on Saturday mornings January 20 and 27 at the Plum Center in Springfield. 

 

In this class we will be making no cook sauces, meatless sauces, and those with meat, some familiar and some maybe not so much.  In our first session we will be making Checca, a no cook sauce (pictured above); Puttanesca Sauce, and an Alfredo Sauce which we will enjoy with some fettuccine I made for the class.

 

 

ACE Class - Japanese Cooking in Your American Kitchen

 

 

This 2 session class meets on Wednesday evenings February 7 and 14 at the Plum Center in Springfield.  Final menus are still being put together, but will most likely include a Teriyaki (pictured above) with sauce we will make in class, a Japanese Beef Curry, Hibachi Rice, and Yakitori.

 

ACE Class – Soup and Stew for a Snowy Day - Ribollita

 

 

 

This class is an updated version of a class I gave a while ago.  It meets on Saturdays February 17 and 24 at the Plum Center in Springfield.  One of the dishes to be featured is Ribollita (pictured above), a Tuscan Bean, Bread, and Vegetable Stew, akin to Minestrone.  For the broth you can use chicken or, to make it vegetarian, vegetable broth.  We will also be making Zuppa di Vedure, a creamy potato based soup (despite the verdure in the title). 

 Pollo alla Calabrese (Calabrian Chicken with Potatoes and Vegetables)

 

This recipe is from Prevention Magazine’s cookbook Mediterranean Table.  Since it is part of a cookbook individual recipes are not available for download, but I have included below a link to the book on Amazon in case you are interested.  

Although the recipe involves a bit of chopping up front, there are so many vegetables there is no need to prepare a side dish, and it all goes on one tray in the oven.  Although the recipe specifies which vegetables to use, you can substitute whatever you have in your fridge.  The chicken is prepped with a dry rub of salt, oregano, paprika (I used smoked paprika), and red pepper flakes, which you can adjust according to your taste for heat.  It was a great dinner for a cold winter night. 

https://www.amazon.com/Prevention-Mediterranean-Table-Vibrant-Lifelong/dp/1635650224

 

Reminder – Instagam

Follow me on Instagram at #senseichef.  I look forward to your comments on my posts, culinary and otherwise.

 

Upcoming Classes

Here is my schedule for the winter term.

 

January 20 and 27 – Saturday Morning – Classic Italian Sauces – Plum Center

 

February 7 and 14 – Wednesday Evening – Japanese Cooking in an American Kitchen – Plum Center

 

February 17 and 24 – Saturday Morning - Soup and Stew for a Snowy Day – Plum Center.

 

March 3, 9, and 23 – Friday Evening – Cooing Basics 101 – 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