Girl's Night Out: Fall Small Plates Cooking Class at Sur La Table

My friend Ali and I had an absolute blast at our cooking class Tuesday night! I didn't know exactly what to expect, since this was my first time doing this. Have you guys ever been to Sur La Table? It's like an even better, and more affordable (for some items) version of William Sonoma or Crate and Barrel. From what I remember from walking through those two stores, SLT had a lot more to choose from! They also have all sorts of cooking classes available besides the one we took. They have a Date Night class for you and you're man/woman, a class on macaroons, a gluten-free baking class, and a Cook With Mommy class for Halloween treats with your little one! I think they should have a cooking class for how to make homemade dog treats where we can bring our dogs, but that's just me.

We walked in, put on our aprons, and jumped right in! First, we prepared a marinade for our Moroccan Chicken skewers so we could let them soak in the flavor in the refrigerator during most of the class. It was so simple! We added cumin, coriander, cinnamon, turmeric, salt and pepper to a little bit of EVOO, covered the chicken breast pieces with it, put them in a freezer bag, and placed them in the fridge for an hour or so. Then, grill em up!

Next, we made these Zuccinni Fritters with Lemon Basil dipping sauce. We grated the zucchini in a cheese grater, then added a shallot, lemon zest, an egg, baking powder, flour, and a few other things.

The dipping sauce had sour cream, lemon juice, shallots, and fresh basil, among other things.

I'm glad they had chairs in the back of the class. Standing for just the short time I did to cook almost did me in for the night.

We deep fried them in class, but at home I would lightly sear them on both sides in EVOO and pop them in the oven for a bit to make them healthier. I would also use reduced fat sour cream in the dipping sauce. I was a huge fan of these!! I ate too many actually....I think I need to start swimming again when I get home....

The next item on the menu was a Butternut Squash and Stilton Cheese tart. I've never made anything like this before, so I learned a lot. We made the dough from scratch. Holy mother of butter!

The key to this dough is for the wet ingredients (butter, water) to be cold. This helps to keep the dough from sticking to the counter and allows for it to be rolled thin and stay in one piece.

We sautéed butternut squash and onion in EVOO, added the herbs which included fresh thyme, then placed the filling in the center of the dough.

We then "creatively" folded the dough up around the filling to prepare it for baking, and painted on an egg wash to make it turn crisp and golden. Into the oven it went!

The last thing we made was the White Bean and Pancetta bruschetta. We combined the ingredients in a bowl, then seared the chopped pancetta until crispy.

Then we put the bean mixture on pieces of toasted baguette, and topped with the pancetta and freshly chopped parsley.

Last but not least, we grilled the chicken skewers that had been marinating, and watched the chef make the pesto dipping sauce. He made it with fresh parsley and mint.

The final plating looked like this:

My favorite thing we made by far was the tart. I've never made one, and was just so pleasantly surprised at how well the ingredients mesh together. Apparently, Stilton cheese is around $25 per pound. I'm not sure I'll be buying it very often, but you know me, I just might for a special occasion :-). As soon as it came out of the oven, we just put the cheese all over the top, and it was perfect!

Seriously, if you guys like to cook at all and have a Sur La Table near you, you have to check out one of their classes! There are two locations in Scottsdale and one in Chandler, so I am hoping at least one of them offers classes. Leigh, the awesome girl that helped me out with purchasing my stuff after class, gave me this:

Since I blog about the recipes I make, I am in the "business". How cool is that!? I have people tell me all the time that they want me to be their personal chef. If there is anyone out there that can afford to pay me what I get paid as a pharmacy manager, consider me yours lol! Any takers?? Yeah, I didn't think so!

Have any of you taken a cooking class before? Tell me about it!

Which recipe looks most desirable to you that you would actually make? I can do a more in-depth post on it if I get enough requests. Just comment below!

I am on the plane getting ready to land and change planes in Atlanta on my way to Louisville right now. I can't wait to see all of you at Harvest Homecoming!!

Happy Trails!

Stacey

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