Our Recent Tuscan Feast Cooking Class Inspired by May Fridel's Tuscan Travel

This summer as part of our Culinary Travel Program, I traveled to Tuscany and the Roman area, where I was thrilled to learn about authentic Tuscan food taught by local chefs. This is a Tuscan Feast class we had recently, which showcased classic Tuscan cuisine. As always we focus on local, farm-fresh, and quality ingredients for our cooking classes.

Everyone had a hands-on experience cooking these classic recipes and enjoying them. At the end of the class, everyone ate the meal they cooked with a paired wine. Our Tuscan feast was a great success, and everyone that participated had a great time. The menu for the feast was as follows:
Tuscan Feast
- Pici Pasta with Garlic Sauce
- Sformato di Pecorino with Pear Sauce
- Chicken Breasts with Lemon

Pici Pasta with Garlic Sauce

Chef Sam Kadko teaching the class how to make classic Pici Pasta.

Sformato di Pecorino with Pear Sauce

Chicken Breasts with Lemon

We have added many more classic Foods of the World classes. Book your own class, team building, or special event, by clicking here:

Passion for Spices Culinary Teen Program: An Essential Life Skill

“It’s not just a cooking camp, it’s a cooking school.”

Our Culinary Teen Program is designed to teach essential kitchen skills and the fundamentals of cooking. This is a very useful program for getting college-ready teens ready to help organize their meals.

This summer we had our second annual Culinary Teen Program, where we had another wonderful group of teens enrolled in our program who were able to have the wonderful opportunity to enhance their culinary repertoire. It was evident from the finale competition that the teens were getting comfortable with developing a full-course meal using the mystery basket ingredients and techniques that they were taught. The parents enjoyed a wonderful feast made by the teens. This year’s program was as follows:

Day 1: soup-a-rama

Chicken Coconut & Galangal Soup

White Bean Soup with Bacon & Kale

Gazpacho

Soup-a-Rama is focused around learning about the base of soup making and how different ingredients are incorporated. In this session, Chef Sam Kadko introduced the teens in how to use proper knife skills, how to use different parts of vegetables and produces, and how to incorporate them into soups. The young chefs made Gazpacho, Chicken Coconut & Galangal Soup, and White Bean Soup with Bacon & Kale. It was wonderful to see how the teens incorporated various seasonal ingredients and made classic soups with a lot of nutrition and flavor.

Day 2: Appetizers

Stuffed Vegetables

Making the Cucumber, Tomato, and Chickpea Salad

Our second day of appetizers was all about the use of marinades with starter dishes, what type of salads are best used as a first course, and how using color and texture contrast creates appealing starting meals. Everyone made and indulged in Stuffed Zucchini and Cherry Tomatoes, Chicken Saté Yakitori with a Southeast Asian Dipping Sauce, and a Salad with Cucumber, Tomato, and Chickpea.

Day 3: Side dishes

Vegetable Gratin

Potatoes Boulangere

Farro Pilaf

The third day of our program taught the young chefs about preparing a potato casserole, using rice-cooking techniques for other grains, and preparing vegetable gratins. The menu included Potatoes Boulangere, Farro Pilaf, and a Vegetable Gratin.

Day 4: Entrees

Salmon Wrapped in a Potato Crust

Chef Sam Kadko showing how to make Salmon Wrapped in a Potato Crust

On the fourth day, the chef taught the teens how to prepare various entrees. This included simple cooking techniques for different basic ingredients like various vegetables, chicken, fish, etc. The campers made main courses like Portobello Mushroom Stuffed with Vegetable Couscous, Chicken Baked “en Cocotte”, and Salmon in a Potato Crust.

Day 5 (finale): Mystery Basket competition

A young chef’s creation!

Mystery Basket of Ingredients

The final day of the program was where the parents would come in to see what their children have learned. The class was divided up into teams, and each team was given a basket of ingredients they had to use to create a full-course meal, complete with an appetizer, entree, and side dish. This final day gave the young chefs experience on how to use the techniques they learned on different ingredients, and how to tie everything together to make their own dish.

Memories from Our 2016 Kids Cooking Camp

The Passion for Spices camp provides a unique opportunity that is rare to find elsewhere in the state and even the country!  It not only teaches kids the cultural inspirations of certain foods, but also how the transfer of these cultural foods from place to place attributes to a melting pot society.  In addition to the cultural information, kids are exposed to the health benefits of certain foods; in doing so, they are given a brief glimpse into this new era of dieting that millennials find so attractive.  

It is clearly important to become informed about healthy eating and cooking from a young age, as people of all ages are exposed to allergies, are gluten free, or defining themselves as vegetarians, pescatarians, or vegans.  Passion for Spices not only helps produce food that fulfills each category but also helps to explain the reasoning behind such restrictions.  

Health is a major focus for the Passion for Spices team, as well as a major topic that is explained in depth to the participants of the camp. In fact, Passion for Spices’ own products, the Keralan Curry and Kashmiri Garam Masala, are crafted using quality ingredients, with anti-oxidants and anti-inflammatories to help boost the immune system for optimal health.  

And that’s not all! The foods developed at the camp are not only very culturally accurate and healthy but are also made from the recipes of some renowned and respected authors.  Specifically, our Roman recipes are picked from Rachel Roddy, who was able to experience the style of Roman foods and the benefits of incorporating them into everyday diets.  Our French foods are from Claudine Pepin, daughter of culinary master Jacques Pepin.  We incorporate recipes from her work, “Kids Cook French,” which gives incredible insight on French cooking.  

Our team of chefs and counselors help teach the proper techniques of cooking that cannot be found elsewhere.  These are some of the best chefs in the state; our camp gives the kids an opportunity to work hands-on with ingredients and recipes.  This is our 8th year of the camp, and each year it grows exponentially.  We would love your child to take part in this amazing experience, but our camp is filling up quick with few spots remaining, so if you are interested, please visit our Registration Page. 

Culinary Arts Career Explorer for Boy & Girls

Only a Few Days Left To Register for This Culinary Adventure!

With only a few days left, Passion for Spices is gearing up for our Culinary Arts Explorer program. Working together with the Boy Scouts of America, the Explorer Program offers young men and women, aged 11 to 20, the opportunity to explore their passion for food and learn what it means to pursue a career in the culinary arts. 

With the guidance of local professional chefs and exciting field trips to restaurants, farms, and markets, these culinary up-and-comers will experience what it's like to source their own ingredients, work in a professional kitchen, and craft their very own recipes from scratch. 

Take a Peek at just some of the recipes we'll be learning!

• Tacos with Masa Harina
• Mexican Style Grilled Chicken with Pipian Verde Sauce
• Mexican Style Roasted Chayote
• Roasted Poblano Guacomole
• Salsa Mexicana

Our first meeting will be held Thursday, January 26 at 7:00 pm at the Summit Elks Lodge (40 Maple St. Summit). A full schedule of upcoming meetings is below. Contact Charlean Mahon at Charlean.Mahon@scouting.org for Registration Details.

Date	Location	Meeting Focus
Thursday, January 26 7-9pm	Summit Elks Lodge	Mexican Cuisine and Culture
Thursday, February 23 7-9pm	Summit Elks Lodge	Art and Science of Healthy Cooking
Thursday, March 23 7-9pm	TBD, Summit	Nutrition and Smart Shopping
Thursday, April 17 7-9pm	TBD, Summit	Recipes determined by Explorers
Thursday, May 18 7-9pm	TBD, Summit	Recipes determined by Explorers
TBD, June	Green Village Farm, Chatham	Farm-to-Table Exploration

*We can accommodate food allergies/dietary needs. Please contact us if you need special arrangements.

Learning to cook is an important skill and a critical part of our well-being that lasts a lifetime, please help inspire and encourage your kids desires to learn and cook by signing up today!

Do not let this opportunity pass your children by, Register Today!

Passion for Spices is committed to healthy and sustainable living.