Impressive meals from Basic Culinary Boot Camp

by Katrina Simmons

Chef instructor Bill Sharpe trades good-natured banter with the students as they don their aprons and start chopping. The atmosphere is decidedly upbeat as Culinary Boot Camp (Basic) ramps up for its ninth class, offering kitchen basics and the opportunity to learn the joy of cooking.

Don working on
mushroom ragout

Debbie pushes mushrooms around in the pan as their earthy smell fills the air around the stove she shares with Don. They add wine to deglaze the pans, then a splash of cream to make their mushroom  ragoût irresistible. The average age here is a young forty-something, and the class is strictly recreational. Most are winding down at the end of their work day; a contrast to the diploma students who left this kitchen an hour earlier, building up steam toward graduation and a budding career. 

Yogi and Jacob create their potato rösti.

With four more classes left in their thirteen week stretch, the Culinary Boot Camp creates an impressive meal: grilled veal chops over a bed of mushroom  ragoût, served with potato rösti, warm brussel sprout salad and freshly baked bread. It’s enough to make a woman weak in the knees. Hmm…. where can I sign up my husband?

The next Basic Culinary Boot Camp will run again in September.  Our new Advanced Culinary Boot Camp will run two nights/ week through April and May. Check our website or call Liaison College for details.