I’m one of those oddball " foodies" that hates to cook, but loves to
eat! Seriously! My kitchen is pretty sparsely stocked and I could go 4
months without stocking my refrigerator. Sometimes I consider using my
oven to store winter sweaters or shoes. It's pretty bad, but c'est la
vie.
I love the science of
food. I love to challenge my
palate! So for a forever kitchen-dodger
like myself, it’s extraordinary when a chef can get me fired up about cooking
anything and Chef Karen Akunowicz did just that!
Sure, of course she had a bit of help from the beautiful, attractive
splashes of red, green, and yellow veggies, herbs, and fruit, but her
personality was just as bright!
I would imagine that learning to prepare Asian dishes, for any run-of- the- mill
Westerner, can be a bit intimidating, but when you deconstruct the dishes to
their core, you realize there is a sweet simplicity behind the coalescing ingredients to create bold
flavors.
Before class began, attendees were greeted by Scott, who was a wonderful host. A continental breakfast of pastries from Flour Bakery+Cafe (of course ;0), coffee, and jasmine tea was served.
Karen prides herself for teaching dishes that are not time-consuming and labor-intensive...dishes that can actually be made at home.
Sexy summer salads easily incorporate meats left over after a summer grilling party mixed with fun seasonal vegetables and herbs found at your local farmer's market.
These salads can be made with items found in your kitchen, allowing you to improvise rather than follow a recipe to a 't'.
One thing I’m sure the cooks in the room appreciated was Chef Karen sharing insight on how
to improvise with kitchen tools readily available in your home versus buying all the fancy bells and whistles. Even I felt as if my sparse kitchen was stocked enough to make the salads featured during class.
The two featured salads:
1. Green Papaya Slaw
2. Tiger's Tears Salad
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| Mise en place |
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| Thai bird chilies |
Green Papaya Slaw
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| Chef Karen presenting a green papaya |
First we learned to make Nuoc Cham, a Vietnamese dipping sauce made with fish
sauce, sugar, lime juice, chili and garlic.
Chef Karen's fish sauce of choice:
The unripened green papaya was grated on a mandolin, garlic minced, peanuts and chilies chopped, and cilantro stemmed.
We then poured the Nuoc Cham over grated papaya and pound it in bowl to infuse the flavors.
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| Getting my papaya pounding on! ;0) |
Nuoc Cham is also common in Thai dishes…Chef Karen says she loves it on everything!
The flavor was sweet and salty with a very perspicuous, pungent aroma.
The final product:
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| Green papaya slaw |
I loved the round, full flavor with the acidity lent by the lime, sweetness of the sugar, heat from the Thai chilis, herbal note from the cilantro, and the crunch of the papaya and peanuts!
Chef Karen discussed how to jazz up the slaw with items such as green mango or watermelon radish.
Tiger's Tears Salad...
...so spicy it can make a tiger cry.
Chef Karen used a flank steak, but also recommends substituting with a skirt, hanger, or flatiron steak, cooked medium rare and sliced thin.
She described the dish as "an herb salad with steak". This truly was not an exaggeration! The steak slices were tossed in with fresh, raw red and yellow bell pepper, Thai basil, and mint.
The steak was chilled overnight in the refrigerator with M+C's house made curry paste. The recipe was shared with all attendees. Later, during the tour of the Asian market, Chef Karen showed us a good quality bottled curry paste that would be a great substitute.
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| Tiger's Tears Salad |
This beautiful, bright salad was finished with a sprinkling of toasted pounded rice (khao koor) which added a lovely textural contrast to the trio of leafy herbs and the crisp bell peppers.
Classes are offered throughout the year per season. Past classes include kimchi, dumplings, etc.
The next installment will begin again in the Fall. Sign up for the newsletter to remain in the know!
Classes fill up rapidly!
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Class was followed by a trip to the neighborhood Asian market and dim sum!
Dim Sum
Sharing dim sum with the class attendees was the perfect way to end the afternoon at M+C!
We feasted on quite a spread!
We started with house made sweet potato chips served with a roasted garlic dip followed by kimchi (daikon, carrot, cabbage, and chilis)
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| Kimchi |
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| Pork steamed bun with a dollop of congee in the background |
The steamed bun was delicious; filled with tender braised pork and topped with daikon and lettuce, it definitely requires seconds!
My favorite dish of the afternoon was the Taiwanese-style cool dan dan noodles with Sambal sauce. The sauce was was spicy and creamy, so flavorful and rich. It was perfect!
The fried calamari was good. Very fresh.
The fried turnip balls over curry sauce were amazing as were the pork & chives dumplings served with a ginger miso sauce and the lemony chicken dumplings with their bright yet earthy flavor.
I thought the miso butter glazed roasted carrots were the best carrots I've ever tasted and the grilled asparagus was tender and smoky!
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| Miso glazed carrots |
Another highlight of lunch was the Indonesian fried rice with fried onion, scallions, chili paste, pineapple, and a farm egg. Not only was it a beautiful presentation, but brilliant on the palate.
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| Indonesian fried rice |
I would love to attend another cooking class with the talented Chef Karen Akunowicz. It truly was an amazing experience!
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