I will spend the week teaching at the beautiful Cocina que Canta cooking school at the world-renowned Rancho La Puerta Resort and Spa in Tecate, Baja California, Mexico. Guests at the spa will help me select the produce for your class from the spa’s expansive organic fields, then head for the state of the art facilities for a fun, 3-hour hands-on class featuring a fresh, flavor-packed menu from Morocco, and tasting. For information call (800)443-7565 or visit www.rancholapuerta.com.
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Wow, what a wonderful place to spend a week! I won’t be able to make it in June, but I hope that another opportunity will arise!
To those of you who have enquired about my classes at la Cocina que Canta. Thank you!
I haven’t yet decided upon a menu–it all depends on what produce we can pick in the beautiful fields adjoining the state of the art cooking school. It will be a Moroccan meal, however, incorporating contemporary and traditional dishes. Then, savor the dishes you will prepare, under my guidance, and that of the lovely Rancho La Puerta staff!
See you then.
Kitty
July 20, 2008
I have had a few days to catch my breath after returning from a magical week at Rancho la Puerta (www.rancholapuerta.com) where I was invited to give Moroccan cooking lessons.
I can’t tell you what a treat it was to teach in the state of the art Cocina que Canta, which is surrounded by a beautiful organic garden that provides the fruits and vegetables for this unique resort and spa.
Chef Jesus Gonzalez, the creative executive chef, and his staff, couldn’t have been more helpful and attentive to me or to the class participants.
Moroccan food was ideally suited to the venue. Indeed, the cuisines of Morocco and Mexico share many common threads, especially when it comes to flavorings such as cinnamon, cumin, nutmeg, even dried rose petals (an ingredient in ras el hanout). One different flavor that sets the two cuisines apart, however, is that of sweet Hungarian paprika. Be careful to use paprika, and NOT chili powder in your Moroccan dishes, or the flavor will be altered (I learned the hard way when I purchased “paprika” in bulk at my health food store. It was really chili powder that had been mislabeled and I had to test the dish several times before I figured it out!)
“Students” at the Cocina first took a guided tour of the organic garden to pick the ingredients for a trio of Moroccan salads; we then joined forces in the large kitchen to assemble a tagine of seafood and fennel bulbs; b’stila; couscous with seven vegetables in a saffron broth; and of course, my indispensable salted preserved lemons.
You can now spend a Saturday at the spa that includes round trip transportation from San Diego, a cooking class with the chef, a tasting, and use of many of the spa’s amenities. The Cocina alone is worth the trip! A bientot,
Kitty