I’ve been looking forward to Chef Heidi Fink’s cooking class since the day I registered in March. I’ve attended a cooking class with her before – a more intimate demo affair, with six people in co-Get Fresh’er Elisabeth’s kitchen – watching Heidi cook each dish, while we interact and note-take, learning tips and tricks. By contrast, this event was in a classroom kitchen at the Fairfield Community Centre, last Thursday, June 23rd.
When I arrive, her class if full (I guess that Facebook post filled the last spot) of cheery faces, eager to learn, ranging in age. We pass around a platter of cheese from Little Qualicum Cheeseworks, Moonstruck Organic Cheese Co., pate from Choux Choux Charcuterie, baguettes from Fol Epi and super yummy quince Heidi harvested and made herself. I fall in love with the Little Qualicum brie cheese all over again (it’s a great farm visit if you’re up island).
Heidi discusses her local food recipes and resources; we get printed hand outs to take home with us. Sweeping her hand over to point to a large table, piled high with food, she tell us, “Pretty much everything, except the olive oil, salt and a few spices on that table was sourced yesterday on the Saanich Peninsula.” This is going to form our communal dinner, comprising of roasted asparagus crostini, garlic braised chard crostini, a Westcoast variety of Nicoise salad with pan seared salmon, garlic anchovy broccoli, roasted chicken with potatoes and a no bake cheesecake.
Heidi pairs us up, assigning recipes and floats through the room giving us pointers and filling the air with her anecdotes and laughter. The kitchen is bustling with the sounds of chopping and sizzling and the scents of garlic, lemon, thyme, roasted asparagus and chicken. My partner Corine and I were tasked with making the No Bake Dreamy Cheesecake, using Saanich-grown wheat flour from The Roost, chevre goat cheese from Hilary’s Cheese Co. and super ripe strawberries from Oldfield Orchard. The result was light, creamy… and dreamy… and not goatish at all!
The class paused midway, while Heidi showed the class how to fillet a salmon (from Finest at Sea) and cut up a whole chicken (from Mill Bay’s Terra Nossa). A good tip for locavores: buy 6 chickens at a time, cut ‘em up and you’ve got a good pile of wings, drumsticks, and a dozen breasts on the cheap: about $5/lb. We all wrapped up our plates and sat around the big table for our delicious, multi-course meal. The asparagus crostini, roast chicken and to-die-for potatoes came out the clear winners by vote.
Chef Heidi Fink offers several Local Cooking classes a year, each featuring season-specific local foods and recipes. You can catch her next hands-on dinner version Thursday, July 21st, 6-9:30pm at the new Cook Culture, downtown at Blanchard and Johnson ($85). Or she also has one focusing on Bountiful Berries (jams, desserts) sooner, on Thursday, July 7th, also at Cook Culture.
