Cover Story — Kitchen 101

Learn to cook like a pro

By Hippo Staff

So much food, so little time.

Every trip to the supermarket, every stop at the bookstore brings you hundreds of possible recipes and the ingredients with which to create them. But does either of those places offer the confidence to create all those wonderful meals? How about the know-how to put them together fast enough that those meals are practical to serve even after a 10-hour day at work?

Nashua and its residents are lucky, however. Cooking help is available at a variety of shops and chefs. Most of these classes last just an evening and give you enough knowledge to change your ordinary creations into culinary masterpieces.

We sent three of our intrepid reporters out to see if they could make their grub gourmet.

The Creative Feast

By Seth Hoy

shoy@hippopress.com

Chef Liz Barbour of Hollis has been cooking since 1992.

Now, as head chef for her cooking business, The Creative Feast, Barbour hosts cooking classes in the Southern New Hampshire area and even makes visits to customers’ homes.

Although she doesn’t have a culinary arts degree, she took the hands-on approach to cooking—throwing herself into the demanding environment of restaurant kitchens. Her cooking resume includes stints as chef at Grappa in Maynard, Mass., pastry chef at The Inn at Harvard in Cambridge, Mass., and an off-site catering business called Baker’s Best in Newton, Mass.

“I learned completely on the job,” Barbour said. “I worked at a gourmet food store in Boston, but got burnt out on the customers and deli. I learned a lot, though. You see chef’s resume changes very frequently, but that’s a good thing. You’re learning different techniques from different chefs.”

Barbour started The Creative Feast, 5 Broad St., Hollis, more than a year ago when she discovered that there’s more to life than plowing through a plate of mashed potatoes.

“I liked being a chef,” Barbour said, “but it just turned out to be not the thing I loved to do. The thing I love the most is teaching. I also worry about the way we’re eating. I worry about the fact that we’re not cooking anymore. I get such intense satisfaction out of the whole process and watching my family eat—so if I can enlighten everybody and have a great time teaching, then it’s worth it.”

Barbour is fascinated by cooking shows on television. She wonders how people can just sit there and watch but never actually go into the kitchen and try it. Barbour gives people the confidence they lack in the kitchen by opening up a dialogue as she cooks and instructs.

“People are afraid that they’re just not going to turn out something good,” Barbour said. “That’s what stops us. People think, ‘I could never make that.’ So they never experiment. But once people see it, you can explain to them that if you break the egg, that it’s okay to throw them out and start over. Everything doesn’t have to look or taste like it came out of a restaurant kitchen.”

The Class

 Barbour’s cooking class format is a bit different than most.

Rather than set up stations for everyone to cook, she creates a studio setting and creates the meals herself. But don’t worry, as a captive audience member,  you’ll find the experience is still interactive—you are free to ask questions, smell, taste and observe.

Tonight’s menu is vegetarian—oven-roasted spaghetti squash with a black bean sauce, herb-encrusted goat cheese with a cherry tomato and basil relish and for dessert, crepe Gateau with pears and yogurt crème. Barbour hands out folders with each recipe, making it easier to follow along and take notes.

As Barbour picks up the squash, she shares her knowledge of squash properties as we pass it around—where to find good squash and the best way to prepare it. She also talks about cutlery, the dos and don’ts of which knives to use and corresponding cutting boards. She cuts the squash in half, staying away from the stem. She pops the squash in the oven at 375 degrees for 40 minutes or until the squash is fork-tender. Overcooking the squash will make it mushy.

While the squash is roasting, we begin the black bean sauce. Explaining each step of the way — which kind of beans to use and how to mince garlic—may seem basic. But to post-collegiate guy whose cooking skills include Pop Tarts and Hot Pockets, I’m open to any techniques.

She adds ginger, garlic, canola oil, sesame oil, soy sauce and chili paste. With the bean dish simmering in the pan, Barbour explains that it’s okay to let it bubble in the pan without stirring. People are stir-crazy, it seems, and think the bubbles are bad. The smell of the garlic and ginger permeates the room and you can tell people are anxious to dig in.

Before Barbour slices and dices the cilantro, she hands it around for people to taste and smell. According to Barbour, Market Basket has a nice selection of fresh produce. She also encourages people to ask an employee to bring out fresher produce if they’re not happy with the current selection. I think we’ve all walked past a produce aisle with less than appealing lettuce.

As the beans bubble to the desired thickness, the squash is ready to come out. Barbour takes a fork and scrapes out the seeds like a pumpkin. She then scrapes the inside of the squash, pulling it down to produce beautiful strips of thin spaghetti squash. With her assistant, Barbour makes plates for everyone—dishing out the spaghetti squash and ladeling the black bean sauce. In a restaurant kitchen, food presentation counts just as much as taste. Barbour comments on the orange color of the squash and its black bean counterpart.

And the taste is amazing. I don’t even like beans, but the garlic and black bean combo complements the warm squash noodles perfectly. The beans aren’t too mushy and each bite makes you hungry for the next. Who knew vegetarian cooking could be so good? Learning, it seems, is delicious.

The important part of Barbour’s demonstration was being able to ask questions. Although Barbour made it look easy, as most good chefs do, she points out her own mistakes so we won’t make them at home. She also suggested steps we could do in advance if were entertaining.

Beth MacDonald of Hollis attended Barbour’s cooking class because she wanted to learn something new.

“I don’t usually have time to cook a big meal,” MacDonald said, “and when I do it’s usually the same thing or things I’m comfortable cooking. Plus I like the vegetarian theme. I’m trying to eat healthier and explore more creative ways to do that.”

Lizzy Huberlie, 14, of Hollis, has been interested in cooking since she was young. She’s tired of our fast food culture and just wants to learn new ways to cook.

“I just like cooking,” Huberlie said. “I sometimes cook for my family too. I’d rather eat something new that tastes good to my palate than the food people usually eat.”

And then we have our married couple, Matt Klicker and Shailagh Curry of Merrimack—and Klicker wasn’t even forced to attend.

“We need to learn the tricks of the trade,” Curry said. “We like to cook at home and it definitely helps to get out there and learn new techniques.”

For more information on Liz Barbour’s cooking classes, visit www.thecreativefeast.com.