Classroom Chatter

Hello Foodie Friends!

Guess what time it is? I know, I know you weren’t ready to walk into stores yet and hear Jingle Bells and Frosty the Snowman and suddenly … here it is!

Personally I look forward to this time of year, the falling leaves, the promise of family and friends gathered together around a big turkey, a round of holiday drinks, or exchanging cookies and holiday breads.   It’s even almost time for my annual bake – fest.  Every year I test my arm muscle strength as I knead tons of dough for the 40+ loaves of homemade Romanian christmas bread. (It’s just like the Povitica you may have seen around town, or Polish Babka)  They are a bit of a workout but I ALWAYS get requests and I think that a homemade food gift really tells the other person that you care about them, that you put in the effort to give them something really special from your heart and your culture.

Here at The Culinary Center of Kansas City we do a great job at the holidays.  It’s already parties and tinsel galore around here, and we’ve got all sorts of classes gearing everyone up for the impending season!  This last Saturday I taught a fantastic group of folks an entire Thanksgiving Dinner for weight watchers  from salad to pie.  It was a blast!  On the 11th and 13th of next month  I’ll be back with Holiday Desserts  from cookies for your exchanges to a Banana’s Foster bread you can give away as gifts, to an AMAZING Light New York Cheesecake, and a Cranberry Caramel Apple Tart Tatin…. all for weight watchers.   I cannot wait!

Oh, but there is more holiday fun to be had! We’ve got Celia Shea in teaching us how to make cupcakes that look just like Holiday Ornaments on December 4th and 11th!

Don’t miss our famous Gingerbread House parties with the delightful Diana Cooper on December 5th, 12th, and 19th, now these are really special events where the whole family can make something wonderful and memorable together… that’s what it’s all about right?  Don’t forget about our Holly and Ivy Holiday Dinners with Chef Matt Chatfield’s amazing array of holiday goodness… and none of the cleanup of havin’ dinner at your house! (top that!)

There are so many great festive things going on over here make sure you don’t miss out on the holiday action!

Rachel Ciordas

Dean of Deliciousness

Classroom Chatter

I can still taste the smoke from the American Royal!!!

Three glorious days of smoking, grilling, and partying at the biggest BBQ bash in the world have given me a whole new perspective on BBQ…  The Midwest BBQ Institute here at The Culinary Center of Kansas City competed in the American Royal BBQ Contest for the very first time on October 1st – 3rd and I was lucky to be able to spend all weekend with the team!!!  It’s true one of the perks to this job is that I get to hang out with the very best BBQ’rs learn, cook, throw parties, and of course… I get to eat the BBQ!!!  We had a killer weekend, but here are the highlights!

On Friday we went to the contest first thing to pitch our tent, put up our pig chef poles (did you see that picture in the Kansas City Star folks???), and get dinner on the fire.  We also welcomed our BBQ Inner Sanctum … four awesome new friends who took the whole weekend as a class!  (Jealous? There’s always next year!)  We all got right to work for our Smokin’ Schoolhouse party… and a smokin’ party it was.  We had fantastic live music provided by none other than the Manager of Merriment herself Maria Dickson and her swingin’ jazz quartet, amazing Sister Mary’s Bloody Knuckle Cracker cocktails at the bar, and dancing and reveling shortly ensued.  The food, have I mentioned the food yet at the party? Well… let’s just say none of the other tents were sporting smoked brie en croute and chocolate chip cookies with bacon!

Now let’s talk about the contest, I’m not sure what I expected… but Saturday and Sunday were amazing!  Saturday morning when I came in, the team was already up, full of breakfast, and working on the competition sides and dessert.  Let me tell you Matt’s squash side dish was INCREDIBLE, and the beans? Well let’s just say I’d take Bruce’s classes just for that recipe alone!  The most exciting bit is the turn in though, a rush to the judges in the tiny time window allowed for turn in, hoping you don’t drop the box, hoping no one knocks you over, hoping the klutz gene stays dormant just for this one day… whew, all turned in without a hitch… that was a rush!

Saturday night was my favorite moment of the entire weekend… we all took an evening to relax. We lit candles, The Main Dish set a beautiful table and made her famous spinach salad, Chef Matt grilled up steaks the Flintstones could have been proud of, and we drained several bottles of very nice wine.  That moment where we all came together, looked around at all of our hard work, our new friends, our old friends, and just enjoyed the evening was the highlight for me.  Those moments are the reason I love cooking.

Sunday was the main event, the meats! Well let me tell you how much I did NOT know about competition BBQ.  The brisket the team turned out was unlike any brisket I’ve ever eaten… seriously, I almost didn’t believe it could possibly be the same cut of beef.  The ribs? Well, the taste of that rib lingered in my mouth for at least an hour… I avoided gum, I avoided getting a glass of water, it was THAT good.  I also watched the MBQI team work like a well oiled BBQ machine. Chef Richard is so very delicate in the kitchen, when he’s there in his element he’s something like a very fine pianist, the kind that makes you want to stare at his fingers in amazement while he plays.

Are you drooling yet? Don’t worry, we’ve got tons of MBQI classes coming up soon you can get in on and I know one thing is for sure… get ready because we’re going back to the American Royal next year!

Smokalicious!

Rachel Ciordas

“Dean of Deliciousness”

Manager of Culinary Curriculum

Classroom Chatter

from Dean of Deliciousness, Rachel

‘m back in town and after a lovely vacation full of mountains, exotic tastes, and homey hospitality and I’ve finally recovered from jetlagged and jumped back into the full swing of things at The Culinary Center of Kansas City!  We’re full of awesome happenings as usual including teaching my very first class on Fabulous Crockpot Meals for weight watchers on next Sunday September 26th from 5pm-8pm. I’m SO excited it’s going to be fantastic!

But… the real excitement over here is about the American Royal… as many people know we have an AMAZING Midwest BBQ Institute here, and for the very first time we are competing in the American Royal BBQ Competition!!!! And of course we can’t just compete… we’re entering with a team of Chef Richard McPeake, Chef Matt Chatfield, and Bruce Campbell…. a former American Royal winner leading us and all three culinary rockstars!!! This is a recipe for a stellar performance and a great weekend!  Don’t worry, we won’t leave you out!! We’re having a Smokin’ Schoolhouse Party on Friday night Oct 1st to kick off the festivities, with incredible BBQ, a make your own rub station, boasting, tomfoolery… it will be a smokin’ good time!

A few lucky people will also get the chance to spend the WHOLE WEEKEND with Richard, Matt, and Bruce learning all the tips and tricks of the competition BBQ’r as part of the Inner Sanctum! Where else could you get the chance to get one on one BBQ attention from such a team?  We’ve still got a couple of spots left so head over to our website to register for the Inner Sanctum AND the Smokin’ Schoolhouse Party…. I’ll see you at the Royal!

Smokalicious!

Rachel Ciordas
Dean of Deliciousness

Classroom Chatter

This weekend I gave out over 500 recipes to people in the Overland Park Farmers Market!!! Whew!  Everyone stopped, chatted with me, and wanted to talk about their experiences at The Culinary Center of Kansas City.  People told me stories about the great classes they’ve taken, our wonderful instructors, the team builders their company hosted here, and the holiday parties.  What I heard the most was: “I’ve wanted to come and check out your place for years but I haven’t gotten over there yet.”

Well guess what friends? It’s your lucky week! This Friday August 6th from 6pm-9pm you can come on over for a dinner soiree like no other!  It’s the Downtown Dinner Club!

That’s right, no need to plan ahead, just walk in the doors from 6pm-9pm on Friday August 6th.  We’ll have turned one of our teaching kitchens into a fabulous lounge complete with complementary bar bites from the chef and live music with the stylings of pianist Daniel Lappin. Then move on to our larger teaching kitchen and enjoy a three course Chef’s Choice menu before strolling through quaint and historic Downtown Overland Park.  The shops will be open and you can stop in.  We’ll even be giving away $10 gift certificates for classes at The Culinary Center of Kansas City for visiting downtown shops and filling out our “Downtown Clocktower Cards.”

It’s a fun foodie night out, a great way to check out The Culinary Center of Kansas City and a chance to eat Chef Matt’s AMAZING food for only $25!

Rachel Ciordas

Classroom Chatter

The Classroom Chatter has been all kid’s voices this week! I know I’ve talked about it before but this summer  with The Junior Chefs Academy has been a blast!!! We’ve had 4 Junior Chefs classes this week alone! Our 9-14 year old friends made Mexican food twice, decorated cakes and baked pies.  This summer they’ve been to the farmer’s market and haggled for their own fruits and veggies, learned about pizza, eggs, chicken, and some have even come in to cook with yours truly at the Overland Park farmer’s market!

These kids are so hungry (pardon the pun) for cooking knowledge! They ask questions about their food.  They wonder why things are made they way they are, and they’re eager to get in and try it themselves.  They’re also not afraid to fail.  They follow Julia Child’s sensibility of cooking with courage! So what if you break the egg yolk… make an omelet! So what if your pie looks funny, everyone will think you meant it to look that way.

Every time I see the light of realization in one of their eyes, or when one is excited to tell me what recipe they made at home last week it makes me glad I do what I do for a living.  That sense of wonder and reckless abandon is something we could all learn from…especially adults! Why not try that new recipe, that exotic ingredient, that weird vegetable, it will probably be great, if not, you’ll know at least one thing not to do again!

Rachel Ciordas

“Dean of Deliciousness”

Manager of Culinary Curriculum

Classroom Chatter

by Dean of Deliciousness Rachel

The Art Market is Here!

I must admit that we here at The Culinary Center of Kansas City are just looking for a reason to throw a party, so I was thrilled when all of the downtown  Overland Park small businesses decided to get together to throw one! We’re calling it the “Friday Night Art Market.” Every third friday of the month you get to come to Downtown Overland Park, the Kansas City area’s secret art and foodie mecca, and spend all evening checking out art galleries, seeing great cooking demonstrations, perusing unique shops and in general a lovely evening.

Tomorrow July 16th is an Art Market fiesta at The Culinary Center of Kansas City!!! Come down and see us, bring a date! The infamous Vicky (of Vicky’s famous tamales and enchilada casserole) will be hosting cooking demonstrations in our Santa Fe kitchen, we’ll have frosty margaritas for sale, some of our famous Dinners on Demand to taste and we’ll even let you buy some too!

We’ll crank up the A/C and have a cool refreshing drink ready for you!  6pm-9pm  Downtown Overland Park

Dean of Deliciousness tells us how to grill fruit

Grill side Chatter

I spent last Saturday morning at the Overland Park Farmer’s Market (as usual) braving the freak early morning heat to cook in the open air and meet some great market goers who stop by to chat with me.  This week people came in droves.  Why might you ask would they take a break from their sleepy shopping to talk to me? It’s the smell.  This week I grilled peaches and the scent of sweet fruitiness caramelizing on a grill was too much to resist. (OK, in all seriousness I knew it would be, I can’t resist it either!) Lots of people stopped by to check out what was going on, and to ask me “You can grill peaches? Really?” The answer is yes, you really can, and not only that, you should.

I’m glad we’re all kissing goodbye the idea that a grill can only be used for overdone burgers and boring hotdogs (you know how we feel about hotdogs around here… have you read the Main Dish’s last blog?)  Everybody is getting brave grilling their salads, appetizers, veggies and even fruit!  Grilled fruit recipes are popping up everywhere, just this weekend there was a planked cheese and grilled grape recipe in the Kansas City Star and our own Bruce Campbell makes a mean rum soaked grilled pineapple in his classes!

Fruit is the perfect grill fodder, it’s mainly sugars and water so a grilled peach or plum will caramelize quickly and become juicy and “bursty” (I think I should trademark that word!) making it the perfect easy (and healthy) dessert.  My advice however is not to try this with the overly ripe “eat it now or it will turn to mush” fruit, but with a barely ripe or just a bit firm piece.  An over the hill peach will quickly dissinigrate and then you’ll think I was crazy for suggesting this fruit grilling adventure in the first place!

All you need is: fruit, oil or nonstick spray, and a grill.

Cut your larger fruit like peaches, plums, apples, bananas (leave the skin on!), oranges in half, really big fruit like melons and pineapple in slices

Coat the fruit with a bit of oil or nonstick spray (never ever spray the grill, assuming that is that you like your eyebrows where they are!)

Grill until fruit is softened and juicy

It’s that simple!

If you’ve got berries or other small fruits a grill basket (usually sold for grilling fish) will keep them from falling through the grates, or you can even wrap them in foil like little berry packets!  Now that you’ve got the basics, you start mixing things up… what about throwing some rum and brown sugar on that pineapple before grilling… sort of a pineapple upside down with no cake? You could also grill a couple of bananas throw all of it on some vanilla ice cream and call it your grilled banana split.  Your family will think you’re a genius and you won’t have even broken a sweat.  Or you could grill those juicy blueberries you bought at the farmer’s market in a foil packet with a sprinkle of cinnamon and a drop of honey, and make a grilled parfait with vanilla yogurt and granola or crumbled cookies.  It’s the same effect as taking an everyday boring old apple and baking it with brown sugar  and cinnamon in the fall, instant yumminess only vaguely reminiscent of it’s initial form.  BUT… you don’t want to heat up your house with an oven do you? No way, so throw those fruits on the grill instead for a fantastic dessert with little fuss, very few ingredients, and minimal impact on your waistline. No excuses about marshmallows being the only appropriate open fire dessert, think outside the graham cracker and grill a little fruit instead!

Classroom Chatter

by our Dean of Deliciousness, Rachel

It’s almost new season finally!  Summer is unofficially starting this weekend and it really feels like it! My chef coat is starting to get a little sticky when I’m demonstrating at the Farmer’s Market on Saturday mornings…. eww.  I’ll take that over chilly rainy wind any day though.  The weather is new, the heat is on and we have a ton of new things happening as well!

Chef Matt had his very first “Executive Chef’s Private Table” class on Saturday.  I can hardly describe how thrilled all the students were, and how much I would have loved to be in their seat! (Note to self: Go to the next one!!!)  Picture this, an amazing 5 course meal, prepared tableside with the chef demonstrating everything along the way, and creating incredible dishes using things like Foie Gras, Kumquats, and Vanilla Poached Lobster and wine pairings for every course.  Wow! Top that for a date!

It was a small class (intentionally intimate) and the students had such amazing things to say about their experiences!  One said “Chef Matt was over-the-top fabulous! I loved his easy going manner and the tips he shared as he moved along the demonstrations. He had a nice rapport with us and created an atmosphere were I was comfortable asking questions.” another said “In the weeks between signing up and showing up, I fretted about having committed to the event — it seemed so indulgent and decadent; I came close to cancelling more than once. But now I know it was money well spent. I learned SO much; ate incredible food; had a wonderful experience — all of it priceless!” Well, that about sums it up now doesn’t it!

Now for other new things, people have been signing up for so many classes this summer that we’ve had to schedule a slew of new ones! I wasn’t sure if you were all aware of all the great new opportunities to break away from the pool for a few minutes and head to the kitchen but here they are!

• We’ve just added another Master Class with Sara Moulton on June 4th… this is a rare opportunity to hang out with a celebrity chef!
• On the heels of Sara we’ve added a Cupcakes class on June 10th with baker extraordinaire Diana Cooper (nothing is cuter than cupcakes right?).
• June 23rd brings another Ravioli and Filled Pasta class with Chef Cody Hogan, I love pasta’s in the summer time, quick easy and no heating up the house with the oven!
• On to July 6th and I have convinced Lon Lane to come back and give us another session of his wildly popular and very well received Upscale Breakfast and Brunch class!
• Chef TJ Stack has graciously agreed to teach a second session of his “Sensational Salads” class on July 11th, Awesome summer food!
• Executive Chef Matt Chatfield preserves all of your garden and farmer’s market goodies in a second session of Preserving Nature’s Bounty on July 14th
• Lon Lane gives us even MORE show stopping Hors D’Oeuvres on August 3rd
• Cody Hogan returns on August 10th for another Über Extreme Pizza class and on August 17th for another Introduction to Fresh Pasta for all of you interested in rolling dough!

Whew, looks like I’m splitting my time between the pool and the kitchen this summer, and so are a lot of you!

Classroom Chatter

What a weekend! We smoked, we grilled, we compared butts, and in general welcomed summer with a puff of smoke!

The first annual Festival of Smoke on Saturday was a great success and we had such a great time BBQ’n with all of you! The whole Culinary Center of Kansas City crew was here and  threw a smokin’ party.   I have to hand it to Larry our BBQ Dude… he really knows his ‘que!

Our Chef Matt Chatfield, Chef Richard McPeake, Food & Beverage Guy Bruce Campbell,  BBQ Dude Larry Hadley, and Neil Spector (who brought a giant pink pig with him) kept everyone captivated in front of the building with amazing BBQ demonstrations for everything from ribs and chicken to salmon and drunk pineapple.  Chef Greg Oliver was AMAZING showing us how it’s done with a Knife Skills demonstrations inside!

Did you miss the Festival of Smoke? Never fear, it will be back in just a year! In the mean time get smokin’ with The Culinary Center of Kansas City’s Midwest BBQ Institute!

Smoking 101: The “Art of Smokology” 5/16

Join competition champion and accomplished chef, Richard McPeake (a/k/a Educator of “Que”), as he shares his extensive experience in this power-packed 4-hour class that covers all the basics from fuel types to meat selection; “smoke rings” to dry rubs!

Grilling 101: The Thrill of Grilling on 6/13

One of the most popular classes in our Midwest Barbecue Institute Program! We leave no briquette unturned when it comes to home grilling: gas vs. charcoal; proper fire temps; marinating; choosing the right meats and fish; plank grilling.

BBQ’n With Booze on 6/18

Bruce Campbell teaches us barbecue recipes utilizing beer, liquor and wine

Salad of Grilled Peaches with Crispy Prosciutto and Honey Balsamic Vinaigrette

Ingredients

2 Tb balsamic vinegar
2  tablespoons  honey
3  peaches, pitted and cut into 6 wedges
Cooking spray
1  tablespoon  extra virgin olive oil
1/8  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
Dash of kosher salt
10  ounces of  mixed salad greens (spicy ones like arugula are nice)
2 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto, cut into strips
2  tablespoons  crumbled goat cheese (optional)

Preparation

Crisp prosciutto in a nonstick pan over medium heat.  Prepare grill to high heat.  Place peach wedges on grill rack coated with cooking spray; grill 30 seconds on each side or until grill marks appear but peaches are still firm. Remove from grill; set aside.

Combine oil, vinegar, honey, pepper, and salt in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add salad greens, tossing gently to coat. Arrange lettuce mixture on a platter. Top with peach wedges and prosciutto. Sprinkle with cheese (optional).  6 servings