Bonjour!
If you’ve ever been to one of Chef Janon’s classes you know she encourages and praises confidence in the kitchen. That’s what this class is all about leveling up! She’s shows you an entire’s day worth of approachable recipes to impress that certain someone in your life, on any occasion. Over the course of the 3 hour class we whip together a breakfast (brunch if you’re sleeping in), a perfect picnic, a romantic dinner and a scrumptious dessert for after. Chef goes over all the basic knife skills you’ll and even some surprise techniques to up your culinary game. Throughout the class we’ll cover how to make;
- Velvety Scrambled Eggs in Bacon Bowls
- A Perfect Picnic Basket
- Steak au Poivre with Roasted Potatoes (one of my faves!)
- Seasonal Fruit Crisp with Chantilly
- A Delicious Fruit Smoothie
Since the Steak au Poivre is the main course I’m already super interested to see how the rest of the recipes come together. We started with our Velvety Eggs in Bacon Bowls since that’s something of an appetizer for everyone. I mean, it’s not like bacon would have made it home anyway – so why not sample! Just look at that beautiful streaky bacon, not something you can really find in France as Chef Janon mentions. So don’t take your bacon for granted folks!
It makes such a perfect vessel for the velvety scrambled eggs. Chef took the opportunity to teach us all Julia Childs’ version of scrambled eggs. Though, I hesitate to even call them scrambled because it’s.. really not? They really are like velvet and just melt in your mouth when it’s done this way. For sure a technique I’ll use when I have that craving for something very delicate in the mornings. You can see the finished product photo at the top of the post and it makes quite the mid morning snack.
We had Kara and Dave in charge of mixing the eggs juuust right. They really knocked it out of the park! We got to see the difference a tad more or less stirring can make and got to sample both. It’s all a low and slow process so Chef really should add ‘patience’ as an ingredient on this one..
Yummy stuff indeed.
When we were getting ready to start some steaks, Chef doled out the smoothies the students had made earlier. Talk about a superfood smoothie – it has loads of kale, pineapple, fresh OJ, ginger and even Maca powder as a cool little addition. It was honestly better than a 5-hour energy drink because it really gives you a bounce in your step from all those vitamins, perfect for a hot summer day to refresh and replenish. Plus the students needed stamina for all the grilling comin’ up!
All the students got to grill their individual steak to desired doneness. We go over the different levels of rareness, how to achieve them, and the proper cooking techniques to use (lots of fun tips during this portion). We even toast and hand grind the black peppercorns we rub into the steak to level up that flavor another notch. Once it’s pressed in, time to get searing on high heat..
Just looking at those NY Strips makes me hungry for it all over again! A lot of times you’ll see me mention that something is a new favorite of mine but this.. this is my absolute favorite recipe to make in class. You gotta have the sauce Chef makes with it to get the full experience though (so come to class!). Using all that deliciousness that gets stuck to the pan we make a delicious Cognac reduction that pairs perfectly with the peppercorns.
But of course you can’t have steak without potatoes right? Paul got our potatoes all seasoned up and popped in the oven. Once they’re soft enough, we smash them down and then bake for another few minutes. This gives us those really crusty edges and pieces that are full of flavor. A quick before and after to appreciate the beautiful turmeric color they take on while cooking.
It was such a fun night with all these great folks that chose to spend their evening with us. Chef Janon and I are always saying it’s such a treat for us to get to run these classes. No matter what kind of day us or any of the students are having, once you step in and put on that apron you get lost in class and have a blast! Whatever the problem was always seems to melt way by the end of the day. It’s not just about doing what you love but being surrounded by great people! When we say we appreciate each person that comes we truly mean it. We wouldn’t be doing this without you and can’t thank you enough for showing up rain or shine – or snow or hail (calm down Colorado!).
Please drop a comment and let us know what you think. Have a recipe you’d love to see worked into a class? Or even just a friendly hello!
Au revoir for now folks.
This was such a fantastic class and some of the kindest down to earth people were part of it- it was delicious and fun. The food was incredible! I’ve been making the bacon cups and velvety scrambled eggs at home and feel so fancy! Thank you, Chef Janon- you rock!
Thanks so much Kara! It’s so true, I still think about those velvety scrambled eggs myself 🙂 I’ll most definitely pass along your message to Chef… because she does!
-Dakota