Working on my cooking skillz

Most people who know me know that I'm a little challenged in the kitchen. Let's be honest, I'm a little "domestically challenged" in general. I used to think I hated cooking, but I think that's because I always tried to bake, which involves a lot of precise measuring. I have started to really get into cooking, as I've found that I can freestyle a little more, throwing in different herbs and spices and adjusting as I like. I took a cooking class a couple years ago with my mom, where I melted a cutting board, got burns from boiling oil and food sickness from eating a raw piece of bacon (which I though was some exotic type of prosciutto). I've been a little weary of cooking classes since then, but I feel like my skills have improved slightly so I decided to give it another try.

I found Chef Anna, who runs Simmer and Sear, via Groupon and decided to give it a try. She teaches all kinds of cooking classes, including Italian, Spanish, Indian and Moroccan. I took the Italian class since I figured that would be one of the easiest. The classes are either over lunch or dinner and are held in her apartment in North Beach. Class sizes sound like they can range from 3-5 people, which is a great size. You get to try a little bit of every stage of the process. Chef Anna is full blown Italian, so it was great learning from someone who clearly had  a lot of experience in traditional Italian food. She also teaches my style of cooking, not really measuring and basing seasoning off of taste. We started out making Italian Bruschetta. She taught us tricks to cutting onion, dicing garlic in less than a minute and chopping tomatoes. Add in some balsamic, olive oil and other seasonings (I can't give the recipes away, you'll have to take the class), slab some on top of a crostini and it was amazing! And totally something I will be able to make again. We also made Chicken Parmesan with a basil pancetta tomato sauce. I learned how to bread chicken, how to make sure your Chicken Parmesan ends up crispy and not soggy and how to make a good red sauce from basically scratch. This is definitely another recipe I will be easily able to make again at home.

You can bring wine to drink while you learn how to cook (necessary!) and Chef Anna is very easy to learn from. I left this class not feeling embarrassed by my cooking skills, but proud and excited to recreate these recipes. I would definitely recommend taking one of her small classes, especially if you're a beginner. For those with already developed skills, you can schedule a private lesson that's more advanced. Class schedules can be found here.