A Feast to Die For

A couple of weeks ago, or maybe it was just last week...my boyfriend suggested getting new knives because ours are horrible. We then happened to see Alton Brown's Good Eats episode American Slicer where he talked about the types of knives and knife skills. I heard about knife skills classes and decided I wanted to try one. My birthday isn't until May, but he said I could take one as an early birthday present. I was excited to see a class at Johnson and Wales for this Saturday and quickly signed up.

Well, the class wasn't what I expected. We were taught some skills, but then we cooked for half the class and we needed more help with the recipes and finding ingredients and didn't get the attention on knife handling skills that I hoped to get. It was still a fun class and I got to try some FABULOUS new recipes!

I don't have pictures because I was at the class, but here is what we had:

Corn Chowder
Bruschetta
Stuffed Mushrooms
Chicken and Herbs in White Wine
Tomato Basil Pork Chops
Baked Salmon with Pecan Crunch
Sun-Dried Tomatoes Risotto with Mozzarella
Sweet Peas and Spinach

My favorite out of everything was the risotto. it was INCREDIBLE!!! I'll definitely make it at home sometime.

The stuffed mushrooms were marinated in some balsamic vinegar in class, but it's not in the recipe. I don't really like balsamic vinegar and that was what put me off of the mushrooms, so I think I'll try it at home and follow the recipe they gave us.

So...while it wasn't what I was expecting, I did enjoy the class and was able to taste some amazing food.

In the end, I bought a set of Calphalon Contemporary knives. The Shun knives were my favorite, but way out of our price range. I liked the Calphalon Katana knives, but didn't like the handle. I much preferred the handle of the Calphalon Contemporary, and my boyfriend felt the same, so we went with the 17 piece set and I immediately had to try slicing some vegetables to try them out. I used to be unable to cut parsnips, and even my father and boyfriend had trouble cutting them with the old knives. With the new chef's knife I was easily able to slice through a parsnip! I love my new knives!!!