Chopped Salad and Tim Hogan’s Cooking Class

I love to go to cooking classes. They can be participation or demonstration, it doesn’t matter, I love them all. If I’m lucky I will find a recipe I want to make myself or I may learn about a new technique, a new cooking gadget, or new product.  I get to be with people who are into food and I get to have somebody else cook for me. What could be better?

During the summer of 2009, I signed up for Tim Hogan’s participation cooking classes through the Manhattan Beach Parks and Recreation Dept because I was thinking of also teaching a class through them. I wanted to check out the kitchen and see what was involved in the logistics. I ultimately decided not to teach a cooking class, but to create this blog  instead. But I had so much fun going to his classes, it was totally worth it. He is teaching a new class beginning January 25, 2011, called Hearty Winter Cuisine that you might find interesting.

Tim’s classes were in sets of four and I took three sets – 12 classes.  At the beginning of the last four classes was when I decided to do this blog, and Tim graciously allowed me to photograph during each class.  Actually I was a total pain in the butt, like, wait, don’t move that pan until I can shoot it!

Here are some photos I took during the classes.

Tim shows how to make pizza dough and oversees pasta sauce

It was unfortunate that I didn’t have the chance to photograph during the first classes, because we made really wonderful food like homemade pasta Tagliatelle with Bolognese Sauce; Linguini, Green Bean and Chicken with Fresh Basil Pesto; Grilled Yogurt Curry Chicken Kabobs; and Carne Asada in a Mojo Marinade.

Tim is an attorney by day, and a gourmet cook and passionate foodie by night. He is one of those guys who cook by look, feel and taste. For him the recipe is only a guide, which had my OCD-must-measure-every-little-thing stomach in a knot pretty much the whole time I was there. We did a lot of cutting, chopping and laughing, and his food always turned out great.

This chopped salad that we made in class is extremely good, but what really sends me is the vinaigrette. I didn’t see Tim prepare it, but as he was walking by to put it in the refrigerator I stuck a spoon in it to see what it was about. It looked like a regular mustard salad dressing, so I just popped the spoon in my mouth. Whoa! An explosion of garlic, Poupon, parmesan and vinegar. It totally stopped me in my tracks. When I prepared it at home, I adjusted the ingredient amounts to the way I remember it tasting.