Filtering by Tag: Farm Fresh,Cooking Classes

Cooking Class @ Bernard's in Ridgefield

Features Cooking Classes

CTbites Team

Class is in session @ Bernard's in Ridgefield. Join Chefs Chef Bernard and Sarah Bouissou on Tuesday, January 29th for an evening of cooking and education as they teach you how to prepare a wonderful 4 course meal. Hors d’oeuvre, appetizer, entrée & dessert will be demonstrated, along with many helpful tips and tricks throughout the evening. Then, the best part, guests will sit down and enjoy the meal they have prepared. 

MENU
Hors d’oeuvre – Ratatouille & Herb Cheese Tart
Appetizer – Celery Root &Truffle Soup
Entrée Lamb Stew with Creamy Polenta & Roasted Carrots
Dessert – Pear & Almond Tart
6:30 pm – cooking demo of hors d’oeuvre, appetizer, entrée and dessert – the dinner to follow!
$75 per person – beverages, tax & gratuity are additional

Elm Restaurant's Chef Brian Lewis Offers Cooking Classes

Features Cooking Classes

CTbites Team

Chef Brian Lewis and Elm Restaurant in New Canaan are beginning a series of hands-on cooking classes to illustrate the flavors of the season, tempt the palate and teach the aspiring little chefs in the family.

On Wednesday January 30 from 11am to 2pm, Chef Brian Lewis will teach various methods of creating healthy and delicious winter dishes. The recipes will feature winter greens and roots and how best to complement these ingredients with citrus & grains. In addition the main event will prepare a salt-baked Branzino, an age-old technique that creates a moist and luscious presentation. The cost of this event is $90 and includes hands-on instruction, recipes and a three-course lunch.

The second class is schedule for Wednesday, February 20 for the “lil’ chefs.” You can drop off your aspiring chefs (minimum age 9 years old pleas) at 11AM for a three-hour cooking class during Winter Break and Elm will guide them through the making of pasta with tomato sauce plus that good old-fashioned chocolate chip cookies. The fee per child for this class is $45 and includes instruction, recipes and lunch at the chef’s table.

For more information, check out the elm restaurant web site. 


Scratch Baking Debuts Classes for 2013

Features Bakery Cooking Classes Kid Friendly Dessert

Amy Kundrat

Kick-off 2013 with Scratch Baking in Milford. Due to popular customer demand, owner Leslie Flick and the Scratch team will be sharing their baking prowess in two new classes to be offered in January: Breakfast Pizza & Quiche 101 and Artisan Breads. These small, two-hour classes (limited to 8 per class) will be held at Scratch's Milford location, and participants will head home with a hefty to-go box of Scratch treats. For more information or to reserve your spot, call 203.301.4396 or visit ScratchBakingCT.com/classes.

CLASS #1: Breakfast Pizza and Quiche 101
OFFERED: TUESDAY, JANUARY 15 & JANUARY 29 from 7-9PM

In this two-hour class we will start by making quiche dough... Learn the method for making the flakiest, most buttery crust quiche and tart crust that you will ever sink your teeth into. We will then go onto our Breakfast Pizza, quite possibly the most popular item at Scratch Baking. You can’t go wrong with a thin whole wheat crust topped with seasonal veggies and finished with organic local eggs. Don’t worry, we will give you a box of each items to go.

 


Cooking Classes w/ "Dinners at the Farm" Chef Rapp

Features Chef Talk Cooking Classes

CTbites Team

Want to cook effortless, mouthwatering dishes for your guests this holiday season or anytime? Then register today for White Gate Farm's series of Farm Kitchen cooking classes featuring the Dinners at the Farm Chef Jonathan Rapp on January 8, 9 or 10 -- Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday --  3:00 to 9:00 pm. Chef Rapp will be coming down from his red truck where he orchestrates his magical dinners during the summers, allowing for a hands on cooking experience. 

COOKING FROM THE GROUND UP, is Jonathan's simple fresh approach to cooking in season. Learn uncomplicated farm-to-table cooking by first heading out to the fields and greenhouses with Jonathan and White Gate farm manager Susan Mitchell. Gather beautiful organic produce for the evening's four-course menu that students and chefs develop together. Then it's back to the kitchen where the team will prep and cook. Finally, participants will sit down together with some exceptional wine and enjoy the "fruits" of their labor.


Dinners at the Farm Tickets on Sale TODAY= Great Gift

Restaurant Farm to Table Local Farm Wine Dinners Farm Fresh

CTbites Team

The 7th season of Dinners at the Farm has just been announced...just in time for holiday shoppingEvery summer Dinners at the Farm brings their celebrated benefit dinner series to local Connecticut farms by hosting amazing multi-course feasts of just from the earth food, cooked fresh that day. They'll be dicing, chopping, sautéing and plating delicious locally grown food in the fields of host farms including Barberry HIll FarmScott's Farm & Greenhouses and White Gate Farm for 12 glorious summer nights in 2013.

And, as with every year, these dinners are benefits. Dinners at the Farm will be donating $20,000 towards the critical work of our beneficiaries CitySeedCT Farm Land TrustWorking Lands Alliance,Region 4 Schools and NEW this year, The New Connecticut Farmer Alliance, a group of emerging farmers working to grow and sustain new farms in Connecticut ensuring a viable agricultural future. Visit their schedules and tickets page for more details and to purchase tickets

Farm dinners make great gifts, just in time for the holidays. View our PHOTO GALLERY here. 


Ultimate Holiday Gift Guide for the Connecticut Foodie

Cookbooks Cooking Classes Entertaining Gift Guide Holiday

April Guilbault

As is always the case, one holiday ends and another is launched into our consciousness almost instantly. Those crumbs from the pumpkin pies are just being swept away, but The Holiday Season is officially here and Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa shopping has begun. What to get? Where to get it? It’s the annual quest. We’d like to make things a wee bit easier for you, as we’ve found some great items for the food lovers on your list. Buy one, buy several! Either way, you will seen as one of those “good gift givers”!

Wakeman Farm Winter CSA Sign Up is Now!

Ingredients Local Farm Farm Fresh

CTbites Team

Winter is drawing near, and many of us will eat the last of our local, farm-fresh veggies alongside our Thanksgiving turkey. Luckily, with Winter Sun Farms & Wakeman Town Farm in Westport, you get to keep eating Hudson Valley vegetables and berries all winter. You don't want to miss your first pickup. If you haven't signed up yet, now is the time! (Here is more info on CSA's and how they work.)

The season kicks off in December, when your share is projected to include: Sweet Corn, Butternut Squash Puree, Green Beans, Peppers, Tomato, Blueberries and Pea Shoots. New this year, our tomato puree comes in a shelf-stable jar.   Sign up at www.wintersunfarms.com and check Westport, CT as your pickup point.

WinterSunFarms Winter CSA Pickup at Wakeman Town Farm


Holiday Baking Classes @ Wave Hill Breads

Bakery Cooking Classes Holiday

CTbites Team

To kick off your Thanksgiving preparations, Wave Hill Breads Bakery & Cafe is offering a series of holiday cooking classes, the first of which is: Pumpkin Desserts Three Ways (plus the Art of Presentation) from 10:00 - 1:00, Saturday, November 17th. Join Executive Pastry Chef Matt Kirshner for an in-depth Pumpkin experience, including lunch in the Café. Matt will be showcasing Pumpkin Creme Brulée, Chiffon Tart, and Soufflé. The class will be limited to fifteen pastry afficionados, and the fee is $100, so if you’re interested, sign up soon - their initial classes filled within hours!  To reserve, stop in or call us at 203-762-9595, or email Wave Hill at info@wavehillbreads.com.  We promise you’ll be a star at your holiday table.

Also, don't miss Family Fun (4+) - Rolling, Baking, Decorating Cookies with Chef Matt Kirshner. Saturday, December 15, 9:30 to 11:30, including lunch, $60 per person.  


Cinch Gourmet Meal Market & Cooking Classes

Features Cooking Classes Entertaining Fairfield Special Dietary Needs Specialty Market

Nancy Kleeger

Years ago, around the time The Brady Bunch was infiltrating almost every T.V. set in America, it was unlikely that your mom would have picked up dinner in lieu of cooking a homemade meal.  While it’s true that familiar words in your household at the time may have included Wendy’s, Burger King and Arby’s, you weren’t pulling up to the drive-in window to order healthy, gourmet food.  At home it may have been a casserole or a roast while mom always remained neatly coifed, and eating meals at the table as a family were normal.  

Fast - forward 40 years and life is a lot different. In our fast paced world today we often find ourselves in a pinch, pressed for enough time to prepare a well-balanced meal for our disappearing family dinners due to time constraints.  Enter Cinch, Fairfield’s newest “Gourmet Food Market.”  A market where you shop for high quality meals that you just heat and serve in your own home.  “Eat your heart out Carol Brady, let me tell you a little bit about the life of a 21st century family on the go.” 


Rhubarb Kitchen: Cooking School, British Style, in Darien

Features Restaurant Cooking Classes Darien Education Dessert

Melissa Roberts

As if on cue, the day I attended class at the Rhubarb Kitchen, a cooking school with an emphasis on all things British, the sun disappeared and the weather turned appropriately overcast and drizzly. A perfect backdrop for learning about the delights of the very English ritual of Afternoon Tea.

But first, a little about the women who run this show. Rebecca Binks (aka “Becs”) grew up in Kent and learned the highlights of English food from her grandmother, mom, and eight aunts. A former banker and world traveler who has lived in France and Spain, Becs landed in New York City where she met Lisa McMullan. Lisa, an Irishwoman, grew up surrounded by lush farmland and her culinary path is inspired by a true farm to table experience. Lisa practiced as an optometrist, but her love of food always lingered in the background.


Saugatuck Craft Butchery Classes & Events

Features Butcher Cooking Classes Education

CTbites Team

The kids are going back to school, and so should you! Lead by example and take one of Saugatuck Craft Butchery's fall/winter classes. They are offering their usual Butchery 101 classes, as well as a special Holiday Edition. All registration is now done online, so visit the Craft Butchery website to reserve your spot. See below for details on all available classes. 

They are also conducting pig butchering demonstrations- unlike the classes this is not hands-on, but it is still a great way to watch and learn as our butchers walk through the basic anatomy of a pig, artfully carving it into primals, then individual cuts. 


Canning & Sauce Making @ Westport's Wakeman Town Farm

Ingredients Cooking Classes

Christy Colasurdo

Ahh...harvest time. So many veggies, so little time before they spoil. Wondering what to do with that bumper crop of gorgeous organic tomatoes and gigantic squash from the garden?  Don’t let them go to waste! Instead, come to the Wakeman Town Farm on Saturday, September 8th from 9am-12pm, and learn how to can and preserve your harvest to enjoy all winter.  During this three-hour workshop, you’ll learn the basics of canning and how to make both delicious jam and tomato sauce.  You’ll even be able to take a few jars home to stock the pantry!  Cost is $35 if pre-registered,  $40 at the door.  Wakeman Town Farm, 134 Cross Highway, Westport. Space is limited; please register early. 
Click here to register or email wakemantownfarm@gmail.com to reserve a spot. 

White Gate Farm Launches 'Farm Kitchen' Cooking Classes

Restaurant Cooking Classes East Lyme Shoreline East Farm Fresh

Amy Kundrat

White Gate Farm in East Lyme, CT, a favorite eastern Connecticut farm stand and Dinners on the Farm venue, is unveiling their new commercial "Farm Kitchen" and a series of cooking classes featuring talented Connecticut chefs. 

The series will officially kick off this Friday at White Gate Farm for what they are calling a "Grand Unveiling" on August 24 at 7 pm ($10 per person). The evening will feature a preview of the hands-on kitchen and farm-fresh hors d'oeuvres, wine and chef's presentations. They will also unveil the full season of classes, dates and participating chefs this evening.


What's in Season: Blueberries

Ingredients Seasonal Farm Fresh

Tina Rupp

CLICK ON ABOVE IMAGE TO LAUNCH PHOTO GALLERY 

Tina Rupp is a professional food photographer who works with Food & Wine Magazine and Weight Watchers and also photographs many cookbooks and national print ads. She is inspired by the changing colors and textures of seasonal ingredients both as a foil for her her camera, as well as inspiration for her baking endeavors in her Old Saybrook home. She shoots with Canon and Hassleblad cameras

Blueberries. You can get them practically year round in any grocery store in the country. We all know that they are often mealy and tasteless. Yet we still buy them, perhaps for their antioxidant power.

But blueberry season is a whole different world. Outside of strawberries, blueberries are the fruit I look forward to the most in summer. The sweet yet tart delicious little nugget of flavor is such an amazing berry to eat straight off the bush, in a pie or cake or crumble, or right out of the freezer and into Sunday morning pancakes.


King's Kitchen Cooks The Westport Farmer's Mkt July 26

Restaurant Events Farm Fresh

CTbites Team

This Thursday, July 26th, Hunter King of King's Kitchen in Southport Beach will be the guest Chef at The Westport Farmers’ Market. 

Hunter will be dishing out a seasonal favorite, tomato gazpacho, made with tomatoes from Riverbank Farm and served with a dollop of cucumber sorbet. In addition to this summer staple, Hunter will be making a fun twist on a classic, with Kings Kitchen Grilled Cheese Panini Fries. Made with Wave Hill Ciabatta, these fries are just as addicting as they sound, delicious, gooey, strips of grilled cheese heaven, cut to resemble a French fry!


Thursday Night Throwdown @ Espresso NEAT

Restaurant Coffee Cooking Classes Darien

Amy Kundrat

Interested in showing off those latte art skills? Or perhaps you just want to learn the basics and sip your way through a fun evening. Either way you are in luck. Espresso NEAT in Darien is hosting their inaugural Thursday Night Throwdown (TNT) Latte Art Competition on July 12. A $5 buy-in will get you into the evening's event. This first event of the season is a customer invitational (everyone is invited). Prizes and sponsors to be announced.


Terrain Westport Garden Cafe: Farm to Table Fare

Restaurant Farm to Table Westport Farm Fresh Lunch

Melissa Roberts

The construction of Terrain along the Westport Post Road sprouted up faster than a weed; but unlike a weed, Terrain was a welcome sight--desirable and beautiful. I’m unsure who frequents this store, billed as “a shop for eco-friendly growing supplies, home and garden décor” with its $100. terrariums and $2,000. wire tables, but I have noticed a lot of people are eating here. Terrain’s restaurant, the Westport Garden Cafe, with the look of a modern barn in all its refined rusticity--reclaimed wood tables adorned with potted flowers, bulbs suspended from above, and floor to ceiling glass windows--is bright and airy, completely lovely. To match decor, the menu itself is farm-to-table, boasting support for local farms such as Sport Hill, Holbrook, Oakview, The Hickories and Warrups. Alabama chef, Joe Wolfson, Food & Wine’s 2011 People’s Best New Chef from the Gulf Coast, does justice to his ingredients.


AMG Cooking School in Wilton: Learn While You Eat

Features Cooking Classes Education Wilton kids cooking party Recipe

ellen bowen

It must have been good karma to take over the former Wave Hill bread kitchen in Wilton, because the AMG Cooking School, which opened it’s doors in July, has truly found the right ingredients for success. 

Alison Milwe-Grace and her partner, Olivia Savarese, are not new to cooking having run a catering and event planning business for years. When the professional kitchen space at the old Wave Hill Breads came on the market, they saw an opportunity and jumped at the chance to open a cooking school. They have been hosting both adult and kids classes ever since.

The good friends added their own personal touch to the space. Gone are the wooden bread racks and flour dusted floors. A cozy candlelit living room and dining area serves as the entrance, while the kitchen features a huge work area complete with famous chef quotes on chalkboards to serve as inspiration.