Two weeks ago I took a cooking class at Sur La Table in Palo Alto. My mom had given me a gift certificate for my birthday, and I finally signed up for the class called "Updated Steakhouse Favorites". I feel fairly comfortable cooking most things except for meat. I'm always worried about how it's cooked and whether or not it's done - so taking a class on cooking steak appealed to me! The menu for the class included:
- Vodka-poached shrimp cocktail with bloody mary sauce
- Pancetta, chive, and cheddar gratin
- Pan-seared strip steak with cabernet-shiitake sauce
- Espresso-caramel creme brulee
YUM! Everything was so delicious. Even the shrimp was decent, and I don't really like shrimp. I could eat the potato dish all day every day, and the steak wasn't even that hard to make! The class was group oriented so we all sort of split up and worked on different things at the same time. I focused on the gratin, the bloody mary sauce, and I got to be in charge of searing the steaks. I learned that you want to pat the steaks dry and season them very well before cooking them on high heat in an oiled pan. And, you only want to cook them until they are browned and don't stick to the pan anymore. Then, you finish them off in the oven until they're cooked the way you want them! The creme brulee was also delicious, but probably a little involved for an every day dessert. Plus I don't have a hand held blow torch (which are awesome by the way). I'll stick with cookies and cakes for now!
If there are any potential visitors out there, I'm going to go ahead and promise to make you a nice home cooked meal with my new found cooking skills when you come! AND, we can now have more than one guest over because we finally got a new dining room table and chairs! It's beautiful :) The only problem is..we're sort of afraid to use it. It looks so pretty and perfect that I don't want to risk scratching it or spilling something on it! We're going to invest in some new table linens to help protect it, and eventually will just have to get over it. Here she is:
I was a little busy this week because I had to stay up in Santa Rosa all week for work, so now we just have a few days to get ready for Thanksgiving and our Michigan v. Ohio State game watching party! We're planning on making a green bean casserole, a few pies, and some snacks to have during the Lions game. We also need to start thinking about getting a Christmas tree. The holidays will be here before we know it!
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