It was my grandson’s suggestion. We should go to a cooking class together sometime, he said. Being a indulgent grandmother, I quickly agreed and told him to select a class he preferred from the many offered by Kitchen Conservatory. He picked “Fish and Seafood” taught by Chef Kirk Warner.
It was an excellent choice. Warner is a renown chef and a knowledgeable and relaxed instructor. When the sauce “broke,” that he was preparing for the aioli, he took it in stride, walked over to the frig and grabbed a jar of Hellman’s and proceeded with the recipe. That’s my kind of cook.
Our congenial class got a lot of hands-on experience, that included creating three different fish stocks, several sauces, and a number of dishes using the fish purchased that morning at Bob’s Seafood. We worked with tuna, scallops, shrimp, salmon, haddock, clams, lobster, swordfish, halibut, grouper, and sea bass.
We learned how to prevent a lobster from crawling out of the boiling pot and how to use a rolling pin to remove every last bit of delicious meat from the smallest claws. And how to make a compound butter, the mixture of butter and herbs used on fish, steaks, vegetables and in sauces.
Here’s a slideshow of our fish and seafood adventure at Kitchen Conservatory.
Here’s a mouth watering sample of several of the dishes we prepared and enjoyed. I’m already eyeing several other Kitchen Conservatory classes being offered this spring. Take a look at the available classes here.
