Whisk: In Home Cooking Classes

 Tip for enjoying this post: skip to paragraph three.

One of my friends, Tammi*and I like to dream up businesses together. We exchange ideas and strategies and use words like 'overhead' and 'target audience'. She then likes to take those ideas and turn them into cash cows and set up retirement funds and travel internationally. Me? I prefer to take those ideas and start a blog.  A blog which, as I write this, is now up to six followers, two of whom are anonymous, which means they're famous celebrities, and by celebrities I mean screenplay writers who are watching to see how this whole thing unfolds so they can then write a movie about me.

Tammi's "I have an LLC, what do you do?" face

Anyway, from the beginning, Tammi was very encouraging about my idea for a blog, but I still wanted to hear what other people thought. At first I made the mistake of casually slipping, "I might be starting a blog" into conversations when it was still light outside and no one had been drinking. If you yourself are considering writing a blog, don't do this. It's tantamount to telling them you're starting a raw food diet, and you're having them over for dinner next week for some raw cashew milk and chia seeds. This is because they think if you start a blog they're going to have to actually read said blog, and when they see you, you're going to quiz them about your latest post. Even though this is totally true, you don't want that to be the first thing they think about when you're mentioning this idea. Instead, wait until they are fairly liquored up (and if your friends are like mine, this means exactly eight ounces of wine) and have been talking about men for awhile. It doesn't matter if they are lamenting men's existence or celebrating it, as either way everyone's bonding. This is the point at which you should toss out your blog idea. They'll inevitably tell you they LOVE it, it's AMAZING, they CAN'T WAIT to read it, and have you thought about including how to cut onions without crying? And it was during one such exchange a couple weeks ago, that I managed to convince my friend, Katie Cavanaugh, to teach me how to cook something amazing.

Katie looking cute and repping our Hokies

Katie owns Whisk, a personal chef service in Arlington, Va. She does everything from cooking classes to private events. I consider myself a pretty good cook, so my first thought was to tag along while she taught someone else (and by someone else I mean Jenny, who famously requested help scrambling an egg our senior year of college) how to cook. Unfortunately, Jenny was busy**, so we decided Katie would teach me how to make an impressive meal for two. Normally Katie comes to your house and either cooks with you or for you, but since I'm currently living in a hotel (more on that sometime soon), I went to her. When I got to her apartment, she had everything laid out for me. 

Hungry yet?

She explained that we were going to start with a toasted baguette and Cannellini beans followed by Sea bass over ratatouille, then she poured me a glass of Riesling.

As we began chopping, I was amazed by all the tips and tricks she was teaching me. From showing me the difference between a Santoku and a Sashimi knife to how to slice a Poblano pepper to easily remove the ribs and seeds to how to use a cookie cooling rack to toast bread, I was picking up some valuable information. She was quick to customize the lesson to fit my cooking level, which she determined to be high intermediate*** meaning I could get to the dessert round on Chopped.  A few minutes later, the prep work was out of the way. She started by heating some olive oil in a stainless steel pan. Next she tossed in minced shallots and Rosemary, followed by the drained and rinsed Cannellini beans and salt and pepper.  The shallots' aroma filled the kitchen, and Katie popped a handful of baguette slices in the oven.  Less than five minutes later, she plated the appetizer:

This picture hardly does them justice. Mmmm.

The end result was simply delicious, and I was surprised five ingredients could taste so sophisticated. 

On to the ratatouille! We (meaning she, as I mostly watched/drank wine/demanded she make me more bean toasts, woman!) began by lightly toasting fresh corn, which we then removed and set aside. Next we add chopped onions, zucchini, squash and tomato paste to the pan. A few minutes later came cherry tomatoes and Poblano peppers. Finally we added a large can of crushed tomatoes and the toasted corn. All the while, Katie explained why we did things this way or pointed out how this smelled or how this should look. She then turned the heat down and let the ratatouille thicken. 

As the ratatouille bubbled along, Katie unwrapped pinkish white Sea bass filets and laid them skin side up in a hot pan lined with olive oil. They popped and sizzled delightedly. 

After a couple of minutes, she turned the filets and then moved the pan to a preheated oven. Around 7 minutes later she pulled the fish, took its temperature and declared it done, nestled it in a bed of ratatouille, added some fresh basil, topped off my wine and met me at the table, where she found me, napkin in my lap and clutching my knife and fork caveman-style.

Like the appetizer, I was anticipating goodness, but I got greatness. As she promised, the fish was buttery, and the ratatouille complex. It was filling without being heavy. As we ate, Katie told me how I could turn the leftover Cannellini beans into white bean hummus and the ratatouille into vegetable soup or pasta sauce, and I told her about this really great app I'm going to invent.

The end. 

P.s. Exact recipe coming soon!

Want Katie to cook for you or with you? It'd make for a great date, girls' night in or introduction to cooking for your kids. Her company, Whisk is based in Arlington, and you can follow her on twitter: @whiskkitchen 


 

*This is obviously not her name. It's really Tammy.
**Avoiding us like the plague
***She never actually said anything to this effect, but I'm really good at reading people.