Hands-on cookery for a feast of fun

I s your definition of a food processor your 16-year-old son? Do you think that coddling an egg means spoiling it? Do you think leeks are plumbing problems? How about Kohlrabi? Is it a town in Iraq? Is mincing the way Pee-wee Herman walks? Is lemongrass a place in your yard where the dog peed?

On the other hand, does your chocolate mousse seem a bit loose? Is your sauce Bernaise suffering malaise? Does your ratatouille have a bit of ennui? Whether you are a novice and want to conquer your fear of frying or an experienced cook who wants to fine-tune your knife technique, Laguna Culinary Arts can come to the rescue.

In addition to their professional chef school and their cheese and wine shop, it also has a cooking school for the home chef. Located upstairs at 550 South Coast Highway is a complete kitchen and fine-cookware store, featuring the only hands-on cooking classes in Orange County.

Unlike most other cooking classes in which you are merely an observer watching the professionals cook, students here prepare the meal from start to finish and then enjoy a sit-down feast. The classes are taught by graduates of Laguna Culinary Arts professional chef school, as well as a team of notable internationally trained chefs.

Choose from skills classes, ranging from basic to advanced, couples classes, kids classes and a long and delicious list of menu classes. Offered daytime, nighttime, weekdays and weekends, you’ll more than likely find something to fit into your schedule.

On a Saturday morning, we dropped in to observe the “Spice Up Your Cooking” workshop taught by the lovely Annelise Albert, a recent graduate of LCA’s chef school. In the fully-equipped professional kitchen, eight students donned their aprons and gathered around their cooking stations to listen to a lecture on herbs and spices.

Annelise emphasized that freshness was of prime importance and, to retain their vigor, spices should be stored away from heat and light in air-tight containers. She prefers whole spices that can be ground in a designated coffee grinder or with a mortar and pestle when ready to use.

To release their flavor, you can employ one of several methods. Whole spices can be toasted in a dry frying pan or “bloomed” by using a drop of oil while toasting. Then they are ground and added to recipes. Ground spices can also be toasted but burn easily, so blooming is recommended along with the addition of water, stock or wine. The idea is to cook them until the liquid evaporates and the oil separates.

Annelise then demonstrated knife technique, which everyone got to practice. Sharp knives are a must, and if you only have three they should include a paring knife, a filet knife and a chef’s knife. They are all available at the cookware store, along with a sharpener, that should be used every time you cook. Some other handy tips from the class include using a teaspoon to scrape the skin off fresh ginger, starting potatoes in cold water for a less starchy result, and when substituting dry herbs for fresh, use one-third the amount.

The menu for the day included: peppery pink lentil soup with coriander, ginger, Serrano chilies and cilantro; creamy mashed potatoes with cumin, turmeric, honey and mustard; spice braised short ribs with coriander, cayenne, ginger, allspice, rosemary and cilantro; and chocolate brandy bread pudding with cinnamon whipped cream.

Students ranged from novices to experienced cooks. Joe has taken quite a few cooking classes. His wife grows a lot of herbs and wants him to learn how to use them.

He says: “The thing about these classes is not the recipes but the techniques which can be used for other things.”

Sue came with her mother-in-law, Linda. Sue is a serious cook who loves to take classes. She likes getting great recipes and learning new techniques. Linda’s “boys” gave her a gift certificate for Christmas. She has been cooking all of her life but was an elementary school teacher, which left her little time for fancy cooking.

Tara said that she has no cooking experience and added she wouldn’t normally have taken a cooking class but her boyfriend gave her a gift certificate. She giggled and said: “I guess he’s sending me a message.”

When the class began the elaborate preparations for the short ribs, Tara commented that she didn’t know if she liked her friends well enough to do this for them.

We left them all slaving over the hot stoves and having a great time of it, but the best was yet to come a few hours later when they would be dining on a delicious meal, the product of all their hard work.

We would like to share a simplified version of the recipe for the mashed potatoes.

* Elle Harrow and Terry Markowitz owned A La Carte for 20 years. They can be reached at themarkos755@yahoo.com

20060217iur90oncMARK DUSTIN / COASTLINE PILOT(LA)Smoked salmon and asparagus canapes created by students during Tuesday night’s class at the Laguna Culinary Arts. 20060217iur909ncMARK DUSTIN / COASTLINE PILOT(LA)Pam Evans, left, and Morgan Evans, right, chop some fresh dill for smoked salmon and asparagus canapes during Tuesday night’s class at the Laguna Culinary Arts.