Detouring from the Menu in Lagunitas (Feb 20, 2011)

Spontaneity makes any cooking class even better! Howie and Dave specialize in hosting fun cooking classes with a good mix of guests – and their own additions to the menus I send on ahead. This year the day before the class – my second time at their cozy home off a road through the woods in Lagunitas – Howie called to tell me that the eggplant I needed for one recipe and the green beans required for another did not meet her standards.
She had bought instead mushrooms and zucchini so we worked out new recipes with those vegetables. Dave had nabbed some fine pork tenderloins at the market doing the shop and we rubbed them with a sage/rosemary/garlic/olive oil mixture before putting them into the homemade barrel barbeque fired up outside. Nearby was the wood-burning oven with Howie’s pizzas: our sauteed mushrooms seasoned with garlic, rosemary and wine were spooned on top of the hot pizzas.
These “Howie/Dave additions” rounded out the recipes we all prepared as part of our cooking class: leek frittata, savory sage pork chops, creamy asparagus pasta and arugula and tomato salad seasoned with balsamic vinegar. Oh, yes, we did an Umbrian pepper dish, too – and son Mattia joined in this class, helping out on the preparation of la bandiera (“the flag”), so-called because of the three colors: green bell peppers, red tomatoes and white onions.
Mattia often used to eat la bandiera at home in Assisi. He lives in the U.S. now. I guess he has allegiance to two flags now.

CLICK HERE for more photos of my Feb 20 Lagunitas event.