A Taste of the Middle East: A Virtual Class

Of the many steakhouses in the U.S., few have a “signature dish.” Among those that do, their claims to fame range from sides and sweets to the steaks themselves. In this cooking class, you’ll prepare a multi-course meal of signature dishes from America’s most renowned steakhouses. Recipes include: chopped salad with hearts of palm, artichoke hearts, and blue cheese from Morton's in Chicago; skirt steak with red wine mojo and orange salsa from Chef Allen's in Aventura, Florida; German-style hash brown potatoes from Peter Luger in Brooklyn, New York; plus mushrooms and onions from Morton's.

There's nothing like handmade pasta's flavor and texture, and in this class, we'll have a blast leaning how to make fresh handmade pasta, stuffed pasta, perfect sauces and all the accompaniments! There's nothing like handmade pasta's flavor and texture. Together, we'll learn to make dough the Old World way, then how to shape, cut and stuff it. You and your partner will create a complete fresh Italian dinner of: pappardelle with Bolognese; burro e salvia (butternut squash ravioli with sage butter).

Working in teams of two, each student will finish and take home two of the following cakes: vanilla mocha latte with mocha ganache and espresso buttercream; triple chocolate cake with dark chocolate cake, white chocolate ganache, chocolate frosting; chocolate chip cookie dough with edible cookie dough filling and vanilla buttercream; Ferrero Rocher cake with praline ganache and feuilletine crunch and chocolate ganache frosting.

Ayurveda is the world's oldest form of natural healing and health. Its basic premise is that there exists an innate intelligence in our body and mind to be balanced and healthy. Ayurveda offers a knowledge of life with down-to-earth practices to keep this intelligence alive and well during our lifetime. In this two-day weekend workshop with culinary training, we will learn the fundamental principles of Ayurveda. You will learn about the doshas, the mahabhutas, prakriti - body type, the elements, what is health - balance and imbalance. We will learn the simple practices of Ayurveda to maintain health and live in rhythm with natural laws. We will learn about the six tastes of Ayurveda. We will learn how to correct imbalances in our digestion. On both days, we will be in the kitchen preparing food that balances us. We will create two complete meals, including Roasted Kabocha Squash Soup with Cranberries, Cilantro-Stuffed Paratha, Savory Autumn Vegetable-Paneer Tart, Braised Red Cabbage, Poha (steamed dry rice) with Curry Leaves, Rice Pudding, Orange-Fig Compote in Cardamom Syrup