Eat*Drink*Cleveland: cooking class

Viking Cooking Class

Every year, we have a private cooking class at Viking. It's something I look forward to all year! Such a fun way to spend time with your friends and family while learning new recipes and eating great food. And who doesn't love getting to use all the super fancy equipment!

As always, we had a great menu and I couldn't wait to get cooking! We tackled the menu in reverse so everything would be cooked at the proper time.

One of favorite desserts from previous years came back for a much requested repeat performance - Hot Chocolate Cakes! They are molton lava cakes that everyone loves. They are SO easy to make I have no idea why I never make them at home? Probably a good thing I don't because they are decadent and addictive!

Next we sauteed the shallots, garlic, mushrooms and spinach. We added a pinch of sugar that really enhanced the earthiness of the mushrooms.

Next up was the loaded baked sweet potatoes. This is one of my favorite vegetables so I was looking forward to trying a new way to prepare them. We drizzled a mixture of butter, brown sugar, honey, cinnamon, nutmeg and cayenne pepper into each prebaked spud, then we topped them with chives and mini marshmallows. I would skip the marshmallows but they were great!

This is how I prefer my marshmallows...

We continued with the cheddar biscuits. This was the one I was most interested in cooking. I LOVE a good biscuit but had never tried to make them at home. This recipe was very untraditional but really, really good. The biscuits were tender and moist. I will definitely be making these in the future!

They had buttermilk, heavy cream and sharp cheddar cheese in them and were to die for! (Don't tell but I snagged a couple for breakfast the next day.)

Then we whipped up the gorgonzola marscarpone. It's so easy everyone needs to make this:

3 oz Gorgonzola

3 T mascarpone

2 t thyme

1 T basil

2 t tarragon

1 T heavy cream

1/4 t kosher salt

1/2 black pepper

All herbs are fresh and minced. Mix all together, adding more cream if needed. The mixture will be think like softened butter.

Store covered in the fridge.

Spoon onto hot steak.

Finally we sprinkled the steaks with salt and pepper...

Then got grilling...

We didn't marinate them or use any other seasonings and they were tender and so tasty. They tasted like summer.

After our work was done, we mingled, drank wine and shopped while the hardworking Viking crew cleaned up and set the kitchen for dinner.

Chef Adam used to work at Viking and he even made a special appearance as our chef for the night. He is the BEST! Magnificat is lucky to have him as their chef!

Then we got to eat this:

And this:

What a feast!

For our annual class, we take over the entire kitchen for the night. You can arrange for that also but they have tons of great classes open to the public. If you have never taken a class at Viking, I highly recommend that you do! The kitchen is envy-inducing and everyone is super nice. And you will leave with a full tummy and some great recipes to wow your friends and family with.

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