Bachelorette Party Cooking Demo

 

 

Hey everybody!   Last week I had an opportunity to conduct a cooking demo for a bachelorette party.  One of the ladies was kind enough to share some pictures with me so I thought I would post and share a little about the party. The class was conducted at Cook’s Corner in Green Bay.  We do similar parties in our or other folks’ homes.   One of the first discussions we have when talking about doing a demo or class is the theme.  Sushi, french cooking, soups, homemade pasta, farm-to-fork cooking are some if the ideas we have done.  Our direction today was Fancy Tailgating.  My first thought was to show how I build a cheese and vegetable platter and we did a cheese-prosciutto-crab stuffed mini sweet pepper!

 

 

Here is the entire party including the Chef!  It was a really fun bunch….

 

especially once we got some wine in those glasses!

We talked about knife safety, cleaning and cutting vegetables, and working on balance of your presentation.

 

We used broccoli, cauliflower, radishes, cucumber, honey mangoes, red grapes, fresh baguettes, oil and balsamic, goat cheese, sharp cheddar, parmesan, some mango chutney, and drunken apples and dried cranberries.

 

 

We also played with some vegetable cutting tools.  A fun flower cutter and a carrot peeler that makes some great carrot ribbons that turn into flowers!

We don’t have a picture of the peppers but they were simple.  We cut some mini sweet peppers in half and cleaned them out.  Then blended cream cheese, cold pack cheddar, chopped prosciutto that had been sauteed with onion, garlic, and hazelnut liqueur, and imitation crab meat.  The result was a very smooth and tasty popper type creation without the jalapeno heat.

Thank you to all the women involved!  It was a ton of fun!

If you are interested in hosting a cooking class or demo, or require some catering/entertaining services please contact me at zen_of_cooking@yahoo.com.  Prices vary by service.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sushi Party!

Last night we had our friend, Elizabeth, over to celebrate her birthday.  I took the opportunity to roll some sushi and we thought it would be a great first post for Brand New Day!  Sushi is one of those meals that tends to intimidate folks, it is much easier than you think and a solid way to eat healthy.  There is basically three aspects of the prep, ingredient prep (cutting and such), making the rice, and constructing the rolls.  I’ll talk about each step and Amy took some great pictures throughout.

Ingredient Prep and Shopping list

• haddock 8oz
• tuna 80z
• crab meat, leg style 3oz
• english cucumber
• jalapeno
• bean sprouts
• stringless snap peas
• broccoli slaw
• sesame seeds
• wasabi powder or pre mixed paste
• short grain calrose or kokuho rice
• sushi nori, roasted seaweed sheets
• rice vinegar
• soy sauce
• cream cheese
• green onion
• sugar
• sriracha

1. The haddock and tuna were kept in the freezer for a couple hours to make them easier to cut.  Cut pieces pencil thin and keep as long as possible.
2. Peel the cucumber, cut in half, and remove seeds.  Cut to six inches long and pencil thin strips
3. Blend 1/4 cup cream cheese with 1T sriracha, a dash of soy, and a dash of rice wine vinegar.
4. Make a finger bowl with a cup or two of water and 2 T of vinegar.  This will be used to keep fingers and knife from sticking to rice.
5. Jalapeno and green onion should be sliced thin, lenghwise, and that sets us up for the next step

The next step is the rice.  Sushi is all about the rice so take some time and focus here.  Start with 2 cups of short grained rice and rinse it once.  Then add 3 cups of water and place over med high heat.  Assure your oven is preheating to 300 degrees.  Watch your rice, as it boils and you can see these little vents, cover it and throw it in the oven for 20 minutes.  After 20 minutes, you should have some nice fluffy rice.  Spread the rice on a sheet pan and sprinkle with 2T sugar and 2T rice wine vinegar and fold.  Cover with a light towel or cheese cloth to cool.

Finally, we are able to roll these bad boys!  While tough to explain we will do our best with pics and get you rolling your first sushi roll!

Lay your seaweed sheet shiny side down with the lines running perpendicular to your work space.  Wet hands in water/vinegar mixture and take about 3/4 cup of rice in your hand and spread it evenly from the bottom up leaving about 1.5-2 inches space on the top.  Then we start putting in our fillings, spread some cream cheese, add some fish, jalapeno, and cucumber.  And then roll it up.  Use your fingers and the mat to roll it up tight and smooth.

I generally cut each roll into 6-10 pieces depending on the size and event needs.  The flower that follows is my first attempt at a roll that is made of two smaller ones cut in half and wrapped again in a square shape. Kinda neat, eh?

Thanks for being part of our first post!  Let us know what you think!

Todd and Amy