Waite for it…

(clockwise from top right) Fettuccini carbonara, Garbanelli al pomodoro crudo, Summer panzanella with fresh mozzarella and pesto vinaigrette

Part of my birthday celebration this past July was a meal preparation class at Sur La Table in Jacksonville, Florida. I finally enjoyed the class thanks to a gift card I got for last year’s birthday.

First, be sure you pronounce it correctly: “Sur-La-Tahb.” Like everyone else, I used to say, “Sur La Tay-bul.” I am sophisticated now.

Sur La Table is a retail store that sells kitchen cookware, knives, linens, food, small appliances, and dishes. They also offer cooking classes. Aspiring cooks can choose from beef, fish, chicken, pasta, and desserts.

When we arrived, we took advantage of some free espresso. It was delicious. It ought to be. The machine that brewed it had a sticker price of $4,500. Nothing in the store was inexpensive. I suppose I’d be a better cook with a $450 knife, but I doubt I’ll get the chance to find out.

We were called into the kitchen by Chef Josh who owns a restaurant in our city. When he found out where were were from, he asked, “Have I cooked for you?” I wondered, “How would I know?”

Three kitchen stations were prepped and ready for the ten students in the class. Two teams of four and one couple gathered around the butcher block counters. No one guided us to a handwashing station, just to pegs with aprons as Chef Josh hit us with a flurry of instructions.

We started with the pasta, cracking an egg into a hole in a bowl of flour. Our fingers gently mixed it into a ball of dough which we ran through a pasta maker. We cut out diamonds of pasta, rolled them into tubes and set them aside. Then we ran dough through the cutting part of the pasta maker to slice up long strands of fettuccini. As we worked on that, Chef Josh quickly whipped up the tiramisu while explaining the difference between different kinds of cheese.

If I had never used a pasta machine before, I would have been lost. I helped others get the hang of it since Chef Josh pushed us along a tight schedule. I turned on the stove to boil water and lit the stove to dry out the croutons that another couple chopped up.

We put chopped up parsley, oil, and garlic into a small food processor for the pesto. Chopped up onions, cheese, tomatoes were set aside. When we would point and ask, “What about this?” Chef Josh would simply say, “Yes, chop that up.” So we did.

Suddenly, it was break time. There’s a rule that after an hour, everyone takes a ten minute break. We wandered around the store, then got back to work frying bacon, boiling pasta, grating cheese, and assembling the meal.

Before we knew it, we were done. We plated the food but had to stand around to eat. It was delicious, and the tiramisu was wonderful.

Even though it all happened so quickly, it was a fun night and a delicious way to celebrate my birthday.