Cooking Class with Chef Samantha Izzo

This past Tuesday I went to a cooking class with chef Samantha Izzo. It was incredibly helpful and inspiring, and I got a delicious dinner out of it! She taught not only the specifics of 9 dishes, but she talked a lot about techniques for cooking in general. It wasn't a hands on class, but she walked us through every step of each dish very carefully as she prepared our dinner. The 9 dishes that she prepared for us were a Caesar salad with homemade dressing, fresh baked foccacia bread, fresh homemade ricotta cheese, tomato and fennel orzo, roasted mixed peppers with capers and marjoram, sauteed fennel with almonds, raisins and saffron, whole baked fish in sea salt, and lemon pound cake with homemade lemon curd.

Some of the basic things she taught:

• When choosing vegetables, the smaller veggies tend to have more flavor.
• Organic foods tend to be better, not only for health and environmental reasons, but they tend to be better from a chef's prospective as well.
• Always keep the blade of your knife on the cutting board. It allows for more control and is also safer.
• When separating egg yolks and whites, simply let the white run through your fingers and catch the yolk in your hand. Your hands work better than any tool you can buy for this.
• When chopping garlic, smash the whole bulb with the side of your knife before peeling it. It makes it easier to peel and easier to chop.
• Sea salt is better than regular table salt or kosher salt for most dishes.
• When using leeks don't try to wash them before cutting them. Cut them up and place them in a bowl of water and the sand and dirt will sink to the bottom.
• Yeast is dead and will not do its job if it doesn't foam a little and smell when you mix it with warm water.
• Recipes are just a guideline, they are meant to be interpreted and changed as you see fit.
• Always buy extra virgin olive oil.

The most interesting part of this class for me was the whole baked fish in sea salt. She made a mixture of a little water, a little egg white, and a lot (4 full boxes) of sea salt, and spread a layer of it on the bottom of the baking sheet about a half an inch thick. She then put the whole salmon on it, and filled the cavity with leaks and spices. When the cavity was filled she put the rest of the salt mixture over the fish, covering everything but its head. The idea is that the fish is completely sealed in, and will stay moist and retain all of it's flavor. When the fish came out of the oven the salt was rock solid. She had to smack it really hard with the back of her knife to break the salt, and then pry it off in big chunks. I normally hate seafood. I try it over and over again and can't seem to get over the fishy taste and smell of it, but to my surprise I actually enjoyed this salmon.