Curry adventures

The insane heat continued today, although it wasn't nearly as bad as yesterday's record-breaking temps. I bought a bunch of stuff for Midget to keep cool (a water bed, water bed cover, and an old man cooling neck thing), which she hated. But I will have my way on this--stubborn old goat is trying to kill herself lying outside directly under the sun in 90-something degree weather. Anyway, I signed up for another Whole Foods cooking class in Napa, which I went to by myself because Jim was out wakeboarding with L and L's (former?) A. Tonight's menu was Thai curry, and it ended up being a pretty fantastic class.

There were only four of us in the class, all female, and that meant that we got to do a lot of hands-on stuff. Plus this menu called for a lot more prep (or mis en place, to be all food snobby about it), so I got several tips on chopping, which were absolutely invaluable and made the cost worthwhile. I may end up having decent knife skills someday. The same instructor was there, and I was surprised at how much better she was this time through.

We ended up making three different curry dishes: a vegetarian curry, a red curry dipping sauce for grilled beef skewers, and a green chicken curry. And then we also made curry milkshakes, which were incredible, despite the oddness of it all. I'm happy to report that I will be trying one or more of those dishes again.

I got to practice cutting up a potato, green onions, basil (chiffonading it), cilantro, and Thai eggplant. The green onions were hard, but I learned the most from them. I think I am now obsessed with getting a good chef's knife. The instructor recommended Global knives, which is the same brand that Giada uses, so I'm sold. She also reiterated the need for All-Clad and Le Creuset. In time. I also grated some ginger and learned how to peel it with a spoon (not as easy as Bobby makes it look like on TV) and helped with the milkshakes.

All of the curries were started the same way--sauteeing the curry paste in some oil and then adding cocunut milk. Various spices were added to each and simmered for a while, including fish sauce and siracha. I did the red curry, but I couldn't taste it because fish sauce was added to it. I didn't particularly like how the instructor looked at me after I said I was a vegetarian and therefore wasn't going to eat the curry, but oh well.

The red curry paired with the beef, which was sliced against the grain on a diagonal and then threaded on skewers. I helped to salt and pepper them after someone else EVOO'd 'em and then they went on the indoor grill. Of course, it was right around then that the some of the power went out in the store, which meant that there was no vent fan and smoke poured into the kitchen and refused to leave.

The vegetarian curry was up next. We used broccoli, cauliflower, carrot, and potato for the vegetables. I was a little disappointed that she chose to cover the dish. It took a lot of the color out of the veggies and made them look nasty. When I make it again, I intend to uncover it near the end to help the vegetables retain their natural bright coloring.

Last was the green curry, to which I added salt instead of sugar. I thought it was salt and was going to taste it first, but the "leader" of the four of us insisted it was sugar. The instructor looked pissed when she tasted it and it was too salty. But oh well, I didn't eat it, and it wasn't 100% my fault.

Speaking of the leader, she was a somewhat pushy know-it-all that annoyed me in the beginning but later on became slightly more endearing. I tuned her out for the first half while she was instructing everyone else. She knew a lot more formal stuff than I did, but I think I knew more than the other two, and I may have known more overall cuz I'm a Food Network freak.

The instructor chided me for being too timid, and I know I was pretty hesitant, but that was because even though I feel like I'm a decent cook, I'm certainly no expert and I have no formal training whatsoever. All that being said, I don't believe I'm anywhere near qualified enough to act as though I know what I'm doing in the kitchen. What I wanted to avoid was coming off like one of my classmates, who tried to act as the sous chef and looked like a know-it-all. That's annoying. I'd rather be quiet and act how I am--a novice cook, rather than be full of myself and look like an idiot when I mess up. I already felt stupid enough making the mistakes I did without the added pressure of appearing as though I knew what I was doing in the first place.

Anyway, the food really was delicious. I loved the yellow curry, but it was all about the milkshakes for me. I had no idea curry ice cream was any good at all, but believe you me, if you can get over the weirdness of it all, you will love it. I can't even describe what a pleasant taste it was. Of course, thinking about it, coconut milk and curry are a perfect pair, so why not regular milk and curry? The sweetness of the ice cream was actually complemented by the curry. Buying some curry ice cream is definitely on my list of to do.