Mediterranean Cooking Class

There's a teeny little restaurant in the East Village called Porchetta that's been all the rave for a little while.  There are only a few seats and the menu only holds a handful of choices.  But, it's quite popular and the owner/chef, Sara Jenkins, is on the up-and-up.  Lucy emailed me some time ago to see if I would be interested in taking a cooking class with Sara at Whole Foods.  Yes, I was interested, but I still hadn't been to Porchetta and I felt like I just HAD to take care of that first.  So, one Sunday evening before church in May I met Lucy at Porchetta for a scrumptious meal.  You can basically have the Porchetta sandwich or the Porchetta plate, which is just the meat w/ a couple of sides.  I chose the sandwich and it was delicious.  I was ready for the cooking class!

The Whole Foods class was actually not over porchetta, but rather Mediterranean fare.  There was no way we could go wrong with this class.  Sara Jenkins (a fab chef who was raised on Mediterranean fare) plus Mediterranean fare in general (one of my faves).  Greatness all around.  The class did not disappoint.  It was small, intimate, and hands-on.  There were only 12 of us in the class and we were split into groups of 4.  Sara would make a recipe and then we would make the same recipe with our group of 4.  At the end of the evening, we got to eat our creations...and it was delicious!

On the menu?

-White Almond Gazpacho
- Roasted Baby Beets with Anchovy Butter
- Cretan Bread, Tomato and Feta Salad
- Fresh Summer Beans Simmered in Tomato Sauce
- Pan Roasted Asparagus

The gazpacho was to die for.  I mean really, really amazingly good.  It was incredibly rich, so just a small cup was all you needed.  Oh, I hope for an occasion to cook this again for friends or family at some social gathering.  But, it's kind of a weird dish, so it's got to be just the right occasion and just the right people.  I also loved the asparagus which was tossed with some arugula, shaved Parmiggiano cheese, Faro (a grain...kind of like rice, but bigger) and some oil and vinegar.  So good.  The Salad was excellent as well.  I don't like tomatoes much, but pair them with feta and they take on a whole other flavor to me.  The cretan bread (hard barley bread) just added to the texture of the salad...I loved it.

To top off the whole evening, Sara sent us all home with a tin of Porchetta's famous seasoned salt!  It's normally $10 at the restaurant!

So, it was a very fun class and fun night with Lucy. I'd love to take another class at Whole Foods since this was such a great experience!  Between the salt, the amazing meal, the new recipes, and an entertaining evening, I think we got our money's worth out of this class!