January Cooking Classes

I took two cooking classes in January, which both happened to be taught by Chef Nancy (who is my favorite instructor at the Merc); Exotic Moroccan and Savory Pastries. The Moroccan one was AMAZING. Moroccan food is similiar to Indian food, but without burning your mouth off. Basically all the spices and favor without the extreme heat. The main reason that I took it was to learn how to make a chicken tagine which means that I can buy one of these pretty pots:

Nancy said that we don't need to buy a special tagine pot to make the dish, but I'll definitely keep my eyes open for one if I end up going to Spain this year. She made a harissa sauce (Moroccan hot sauce) which was incredible. I was just reading Gourmet magazine yesterday and noticed a soup recipe where they also used the harissa sauce (I'll have to try that out soon). In the chicken tagine, which was a complex dish made of 3 different recipes, she added preserved lemons (basically lemons preserved in salt for a long time). I need to start making these lemons, so that I can make this tagine dish in the near future. Amazing.

Last night, I took the Savory Pastries class. I had a nice surprise when I got to class and found someone that I knew there! In December, Terry had taken a class that I had also gone to, so I was glad to see her with her high school aged son (what a great thing to do with your older children). Nancy taught us how to make potstickers (her filling and sauce was yummy, but I prefer a more crunchy bottom), empanadas (these were amazing and I can't wait to try these at home) and samosas (Chris made me take this class just for these).

In a couple of weeks, I'll be taking another class of hers (I should just become a groupie) where she will be teaching recipes from her old Kansas City restaurant. I am really looking forward to that one. The Merc is also trying out a new type of cooking class where you pay a little more and it includes a cookbook that the chef chooses. Nancy will be teaching the first one, Vegetarian Thai, in March and I'll be signing up for that one for sure (even if I am not a vegetarian or becoming one anytime soon). I'm going to try out some of these recipes from the classes and post them soon!