Thanks to a largely-misread e-mail and an available babysitter/grandma, The Husband + I had a last minute date night in Jordan’s Kitchen. Yay!
On the menu that night was:
*Roasted Three Beet Salad with Orange Vinaigrette
*Arancini with San Marzano Tomato Sauce
*Slow Roasted Pork with Creamy Polenta & Cherry Tomatoes
*Fig & Hazelnut Biscotti
Armed with our bottle of Cab, The Husband and I were ready to cook!
After a brief introduction and review of the dinner menu, we prepared our beet “packages” and pork shoulder for roasting and jumped right into knife skills – how to properly cut an onion. We didn’t need very much or any onion at all that night, but it’s always good to practice your knife skills with an expert nearby.
Someone didn't pay attention
Once the pig and beets were roasting away, we got started on dessert. When possible, always prepare dessert first – who wants to be cooking/baking away after all that cooking? We chopped roasted hazelnuts and dried figs and after three failed attempts, fished eggshells out of the biscotti batter. D’oh!
Working in shifts, we started the orange juice reduction for the orange vinaigrette, emulsifying the San Marzano tomato sauce, and whisked the polenta like no tomorrow.
After roasting for about an hour, the beets were peeled and cut and bathed in the orange vinaigrette. There was more knife skill practice on how to properly segment an orange while the greens were prepped. We are ready to plate and eat!
So deelish!
The class moved pretty quickly at this point. Using prepared risotto, we formed, rolled and breaded the arancini, got the oil ready for frying, and finished up the tomato sauce. While working in groups, we fried the arancini, drained it on paper towels, and plated our next dish. The tomato sauce was amazing – I could have eaten that alone!
The pork was removed from the oven as was the biscotti.
Smelling good and fall apart tender, the pork was shredded, while the biscotti were sliced.
This was my fourth class with Jordan, The Husband’s second. For some reason I keep coming back…the classes are small and extremely hands on – Jordan does very little cooking – the company is good, the instructor even better, and the food is always amazing.
Buon appetito!
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