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Susan’s Cooking School is now accepting registration for cooking classes in our Winter-Spring 2010 term. Please check our website for a complete schedule and registration information. Here’s a little preview of what we’ll be preparing in our first class of the season.

Our Soup Sandwich and Cookie Class was great fun on Tuesday evening, November 3! We made Leek and Potato Soup along with Cat’s Tongues cookies and Grilled Portabella Mushroom/Roasted Red Pepper Sandwiches.

I have uploaded pictures showing the difference between cookies baked on parchment paper vs. in a greased pan. Also shown are the cookies after being dipped in chocolate (some have been sprinkled with almonds as well). Other pictures show the construction of the Grilled Portabella Roasted Pepper Sandwich. Thanks to Robin Brennan for being the class photographer!

Last night was Pierogi class! Pierogi (plural form) are delicious Polish dumplings filled with savory or sweet fillings. The dough is rolled out, circles are cut and filling placed on each circle. Each pierogi is carefully sealed and boiled in water. They can be eaten at this point, but we fry them with onions in butter to make them extra delicious. We made two fillings: Potato and Cheese and Sauerkraut and Mushroom.

Pierogi continues to be one of our most popular classes and yesterday’s was no exception as it was was filled to capacity with eager students. I didn’t take any photos during last night’s class, but I do have a film clip (in slow motion) of the final preparation of pierogi making from my home kitchen. Enjoy the sizzle!

We are so pleased to be offering a cooking workshop in conjunction with an art talk by curator
Mary Murray at
Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute on July 22 and 29, 2009. The theme is Grilled Tapas for a Summer Party and we will be offering scratch-made flatbread with olive oil, summer veggies, and roasted pine nuts, apricot glazed chicken kebabs, grilled garlic shrimp with fresh lemon and basil,and tabouli (bulgur, parsley, tomatoes, and lemon juice, etc.) with grilled pita. For dessert we we have ice cream with chocolate-almond butter cookies. A glass of wine will be served. We’re glad that both sections of the workshop have been filled, but sorry for those who were unable to register.

Here are some pictures from the Bountiful Garden workshop that Susan’s Cooking School presented at Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute on October 21. Our thanks go to Barb Kane, April Oswald and the maintenance staff at MWPAI for their help in putting this workshop together.

Above is the braided sesame bread.

Here I am demonstrating the rolling of pastry dough for the fruit tarts. Below is a view of the oven roasted veggies and kasha pilaf.

Below is the maple-cranberry chicken.

Great culinary workshop in one of Utica’s finest institutions!

All of our classes had filled, but we were able to open another Holiday Dinner class on December 9th.

The Bountiful Garden harvest class at MWPAI was great fun. We made kasha, beet salad vinaigrette (the sweetest beets I have ever tasted), oven roasted veggies, chicken breast with maple cranberry sauce and apple-blueberry tarts. Students enjoyed wine and sun dried tomato-cheese bread before class began.

This coming Tuesday (pictures below) will be great fun as well.

Welcome to Susan’s Cooking School!