Roman's Birthday - Incredible French Cooking Class with Chef Jim Davis
The girls and I took our very first cooking class a few months ago for Roman’s birthday (November 27). I’m obviously a little late posting this… And the thing is, I’ve had it written up and ready to go for quite some time now, but I just never got around to posting it. Anyway, here it is: Roman’s Birthday Cooking Class!
* * * * *
We told Roman to be ready at
The “restaurant” was located in a quiet little community center amongst a wooded area in Olney. It was so exclusive that it contained only 9 people that night. We even had pr
ime seats close to the kitchen, so close that we could have cooked our own meals ourselves if we wanted to—in fact, we did.
“Surprise, Roman!”
Actually the girls and I didn’t take Roman out to dinner this year. Instead, we decided to take her to a cooking class for her birthday.
Chef Jim Davis was our instructor for the evening. That night, he introduced us to an incredible French menu in which we would be preparing ourselves.
The carte du jour consisted of:
Garlic, Leek and Turnip Flan
Mushroom Crusted White Fish
Ravigote Sauce
Pear and Walnut Tarte Tatin
Doesn’t that sound simply divine? It was. Although I must say, this menu is definitely not for people who are watching their calories.
Kim: “4,165 calories in the Ravigote sauce?? Is that even allowed?”
Chef Davis: “Yes, this menu is by no means low-fat…”
Roman: “At least it has 1 gram of carb.”
So if you’re on Atkins, the Ravigote sauce is fine. Actually, after taking a second look at the nutritional content of the rest of the items, it appears that the entire menu is relatively low-carb. So that’s a plus for all the carb-watchers.
We were divided into groups of threes. Each group worked together to pr
epare the menu. Roman, Katherine and I were together, and Kim was grouped with a couple of others in the class.
The three of us took turns doing the different steps. Since i
t was Roman’s birthday, however, we gave her most of the fun stuff, like stirring the ingredients together and cracking the eggs. After a couple of hours, our dishes were starting to come together nicely.
The class was fun. The dishes were simple, but elegant, and easy enough to prepare at home. Our food came out a bit too salty, so we’ll probably add less salt
if we try to make it again.
I thought Chef Davis was a knowledgeable and gregarious teacher. He provided basic instructions and helpful tips (such as how to hold a knife when you’re cutting). Toward the end of the class, while we were waiting for some of dishes to come out of the oven, the Che
f gave a brief discussion on food and wine pairing, and talked a little about his life.
We ended our cooking class with the delectable Tarte Tatin, delicious
Happy Birthday Roman!! Only 352 more days until your next birthday!! :-)
cooking classes, French food, Tasting Journal Recipes, Tasting Journal
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