The French Steakhouse

Let's eat like we're in Italy, from the apps all the way through to a rich dessert! These dishes put you back in that Mediterranean mindset...even if you've never been there. Make and sit down to this warm, comforting Italian banquet of: fried zucchini with Parmesan; veal saltimbocca alla romana; spaghetti carbonara; cavolfiore alla napoletana (cauliflower with raisins and pine nuts).

For a flash course on all the basics you need to make a varied and impressive meal, look no further. With a professional chef, you'll gain the skills vital for moving through any simple menu with ease. You'll practice knife skills, roasting vegetables, cooking proteins with a pan sauce and a vinaigrette. Then you'll use what you learned as you make a menu of: popovers; sautéed chicken with classic pan sauce; roasted root vegetable salad with fresh herb dressing and garlic mashed potatoes.

This series covers all you need to know to create spectacular piped and hand-molded cake decorations. After completing the class, students will be able to design and create gorgeous cakes for friends and family. Courses in this series must be taken in sequence. Cake Decorating 1: Pastry bag and other decorating tool techniques; development of visual awareness and creativity in design; border design; decorative writing; pressure and control piping; chocolate molding; and making marzipan fruit.

The sauces you will learn to make in this class are not just for special-occasion dishes you'll prepare once a year. Relying on pantry ingredients and reflecting the contemporary cook's lifestyle, they are meant to easily take a grilled meat or poached fish from simple to superlative with a pan reduction, beurre blanc or a pesto. You will master these techniques by making sauteed steak with red wine reduction sauce; poached salmon with beurre blanc and pasta with pesto.