After work today, I headed over to the Columbia City Farmers Market for a class put on through Culinary Communion. A couple friends had taken a Charcuterie class there a few weeks prior, and had good things to say about Chef Claycamp as an instructor.
Squash Blossom
My class was on the topic of eating locally. We met at the Farmers Market, where Chef Claycamp gave a little introduction to the 14 students, then let us know we'd be walking around together and picking out things to cook with. Although he had already scoped out the market ahead of time, and led us to specific places, he was truly open to any ingredients we might want to cook with. He just said to call out anything that sounded interesting or that we wanted to learn more about, and he'd buy some to take back to the kitchen with us (within reason). We spent about an hour at the market, selecting fava beans, squash blossoms, berries, cheeses, potatoes, tomatoes, a variety of braising greens, and all sorts of other items. Then we all headed back to our cars and met back up at Culinary Communion on Beacon Hill.
Cheese Curds
Once we were all there, and all the ingredients made their way to the house (a basket full of ingredients was inadvertently left behind, but was recovered), we all did a little brainstorming about the ingredients and what we might do with them. Again, it was a chance for everyone to shout out ideas, or express interest in working with specific ingredients. Chef Claycamp wrote down a list of dishes that we came up with, offering suggestions himself, then he divided us into teams of two to work on specific dishes.
Fava Bean Soup and crostini
I was paired with a great guy who had taken classes at the school before, to work on stuffed squash blossoms. Although we'd both eaten them before, neither of us had worked with them, so it was a fun challenge. The Chef gave us a verbal list of ingredients and instructions, made sure everyone had a place to work and knew where to get things in the kitchen, and then we all got to work.
Spanish Tortilla
We chopped up lamb confit, mixed it with goat cheese, and then added some fresh rosemary, thyme, chives, sage, and lavendar from the garden out front. (Can't get any more local than that!) We added in an egg, then took small balls of the mixture and stuffed them in the blossoms. Once stuffed, we created a batter with flour, salt, and sparkling water, battered up the stuffed (and some unstuffed) blossoms, and friend them in hot oil.
Radish Butter
While we were doing this, other groups were making salads, desserts, other appetizers, and entrees. Periodically, as specific groups were coming up on interesting points in their food preparation, Chef Gabe called all our attention over and walked everyone through how to do that task.
Stuffed Round Zucchini
Once we were all finished, we sat down at the table, had some tasting portions of wine, and enjoyed each other's company.
Braised Greens with Carmelized Apples
For me, the 'shout out your ideas' model wasn't totally effective, because I was new to the school and tend to get shy in those situations. Beyond just second guessing my own ideas, I find it hard to compete with boisterous people. There were a couple folks in the class who seemed like regulars, and weren't shy at all about giving ideas about many of the ingredients. At times it felt like it didn't offer others to speak up, which I found frustrating.
Butter Lettuce Salad and Tomatoes
Without actually making a dish, it's hard to really learn how to make it, so each team really learned how to make one thing. But I think Chef Claycamp's methods are good - and I definitely learned a lot of tips during his instructional moments. He was a great instructor, who let us experiment and make mistakes. He was incredibly approachable and easy to learn from, and I would definitely take a class from him again - particularly something on French cooking, as he seems very partial to Provence. He even followed up afterwards with a personal email, which I thought was very classy.
Braised Greens with Hazelnuts
Oh - and we were told by many people that our Squash blossoms were their favorite item, though the lamb confit probably had a lot to do with that.
Berries with Honey Goat Yogurt Foam
Clafouti
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