We Tackled the French Laundry

I was fortunate enough to teach a class full of eager and interested students at Cooks of Crocus Hill recently. The topic being ‘Tackling the French Laundry” based on Thomas Keller’s cookbook titled The French Laundry Cookbook. A couple of students have had the great fortune of eating at his fine establishment in Napa Valley and his restaurant in New York called Per Se.

I haven’t had the opportunity to visit either one but I am totally on board with Mr. Keller’s philosophy of cooking. Here is a short paragraph from his book.

“Cooking is not about convenience and it’s not about shortcuts. The recipes in this book are about wanting to take the time to do something that I think is priceless. Our hunger for the twenty-minute gourmet meal, for one-pot ease and pre-washed , precut ingredients has severed our lifeline to the satisfactions of cooking. Take your time. Take a long time. Move slowly and deliberately and with great attention.”

I enjoyed his book to such an extent that I decided to teach a class based on some of his recipes. They included a Parmesan Cup with Goat Cheese Mousse; Pickled Oyster with Cucumber Cappellini and Caviar; Poached Shrimp with Apple Salsa; Potato Gnocchi with Gorgonzola Sauce and Lemon Sabayon Tart with Pine Nut Crust and Mascarpone Honey Cream.

Many showed interest in having me teach another class. Next time perhaps, it will be a participation class using other recipes from his book.

Below are some photos that one of the students took during class.