Why do you combine milk & onions?

This and many other questions of mine were answered this past Saturday by Chef Barry Smith in my first New Earth Farm cooking class.  If you haven’t been to one of their cooking classes instructed by some of the best Chefs in Hampton Roads you are missing out. I learned you freeze goat cheese because  it makes it easier to zest plus so much more from this class.

New Earth Farm is a sustainable farm dedicated to producing high quality, delicious, all natural food. They have a non-profit teaching program right on the farm in a learning center where local chefs teach classes on their specialty cuisines using local produce and products. It’s great that the class fee goes right back into continuing and expanding their local and international educational programs and projects.

Here is a recap of my class experience:

The learning center is a cozy country room with a rustic, long, reclaimed wood dining table in the center. There is a wall of freshly canned vegetables and sprigs of dried cat nip hanging from the ceiling. Several feet away from the table is a long bar filled with fresh vegetables, fruit, herbs, containers and a cook-top. When I entered the room I was greeted warmly by Lyndsay the manager, and Chef Barry was busy preparing ingredients for the class. Chef Barry is the Executive Chef at the brand new restaurant Commune that opens shortly in Virginia Beach.

The room quickly filled with other students, mostly women of all ages, with the same goal of learning how to cook something delicious and nutritious.  We all sat at the large table and drank fresh water marinated with refreshing mint. We listened to Chef Barry and Lyndsay tell us about the three meals that were going to be prepared and eaten during this class!

This 2 1/2 hour 3 dish class was really nice because I had a choice, I could sit back and take notes or be right up front helping to prepare the meals. I chose to sit back, take notes, pictures, and take advantage of tasting opportunities. Chef Barry talked us through each step of each course, demonstrating how each action was done. I loved the tips and tricks he shared to help us become better, healthier cooks. Several students enjoyed helping by chopping, stirring, mixing and cooking right beside Chef Barry.

The first course we prepared was a smoked fish salad on a piece of homemade rye sourdough bread, topped with pickled onions, and garnished with fresh fennel. The word delicious does not do justice to this mouth watering dish. What makes this dish so great is the slow smoking method of cooking the fresh fish mixed with fresh ingredients (think chicken salad) and then generously topped on the crunchy, brown, bursting with flavor and texture bread.

The second course was Chef Barry’s succotash, a take on a bean bowl but made with local barley and vegetables. The barley bowl contained pink-eyed peas, corn, peppers, and tomatoes that I have never heard of before, Purple Cherokee tomatoes which are plump and contain so much flavor.  Surrounding the succotash was an onion purée. The secret to making an onion purée is using milk when cooking the onions. The milk keeps the onions from turning brown while cooking. This also made the onions taste more refined and palatable.

The third dish was grilled peaches over a vanilla cream sauce topped with goat cheese.  Chef Barry first cut the peaches in half and took out the pits, then made an amazing simple syrup sauce with chilies, sugar and bourbon. He coated the peaches and placed them on the grill for about 5-10 minutes. I watched in amazement when he intentionally grilled the peaches until they were black on the bottom, which caramelized the sugars and increased the flavors of the dessert dramatically. The peaches were cut, then mixed with the flambeed simple syrup bourbon sauce then placed over a vanilla cream sauce. The final touch over the warm dessert was zested frozen Goat Cheese. This is a tip I will definitely use in the future, the zested goat cheese was like a fine white snow giving off just the right amount of tang to offset the sweetness of the dessert. I love the fact that this treat was light and gluten-free.

All of these recipes and so much more will be offered at Chef Barry’s new restaurant Commune in Virginia Beach. A restaurant that serves healthy and delicious food is exactly the type of restaurant we need in are area.

Since I blog about wine I have to let you what I would pair with these dishes. I could go with a Pinot Grigio, the classic choice or a Chardonnay that would compliment the open-faced fish salad sandwich. But I think I would pair the fish and barley bowl with a Va Wine from The Two Twisted Posts winery call Vidal Blanc. This is a fruit forward white with crisp, robust citrus acidity. The fruitiness in this wine really helps bring out the flavors in the food you pair it with.

If you get a chance to take one of New Earth Farm’s cooking classes you will be glad you did. They are all offered at 5:30 pm, but they do fill up fast so contact Lyndsay as soon as you can.

They also have a Farmers Market every Saturday from 10 – 5 pm, so come out and take advantage of their fresh produce.

Phone: 757-301-7995
Email: info@newearthfarm.org
Address: 1885 Indian River Road
Virginia Beach, VA 23456

Cheers – Carrie