Holiday Cooking Class with Sur La Table
Sur La Table's Online Cooking Classes are a great way to learn everything from mis en place to plating - all from the comforts of your own home. I am having so much fun teaching these virtual sessions.
Yesterday, I hosted a LIVE holiday cooking class with our own Culinary Director and host of "Kitchen Conundrums," Thomas Joseph. During the two-hour Zoom lesson, I showed the class how to make a flavorful winter fruit sangria, cheese gougères - one of my favorite appetizers, a classic shrimp cocktail with a delicious homemade sauce, and my rendition of my mother's potato latkes. I also shared lots of cooking tips and answered a variety of interesting questions from class participants.
Enjoy these photos and look out for more online cooking classes with Sur La Table in the months ahead.
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- These cooking classes for Sur La Table are conducted from the kitchen in my Bedford, New York farm guest house. This kitchen is roomy, filled with light and has a large counter for prepping and showcasing all our finished dishes. Thomas and I welcome the class – hundreds of participants joined us via Zoom.
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- We started by making a refreshing Sangria. Sangria, Spain’s most loved and celebrated cocktail, is a boozy fruit punch made with wine and fresh seasonal fruits. While it has roots in Spain, it’s now popular all around the world.
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- Use sturdy, flavorful fruits that can sit in a jar or pitcher for a long time without disintegrating. This time of year, citrus, apples, pears, and pomegranates all make great sangria options. in These fruits were macerated overnight and then placed in this wide-mouth glass container.
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- The recipe for this Winter Fruit Sangria is on my web site at marthastewart.com. It includes brandy, sugar, citrus, apples, well-chilled red wine, club soda, and orange juice. We’re using a wonderful red from our own Martha Stewart Wine Co.
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- Once it is all mixed, serve over ice in individual glasses – all your guests will love it.
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- Next, we made gougeres. The name sounds fancy, but these are so easy to make and they can be made weeks in advance and then baked to perfection straight from the freezer. They’re ideal for entertaining any time of year. Gougères are delicate cheese puffs made from the classic French pâte à choux—the same one used for cream puffs or profiteroles—except instead of being filled, this savory version is made with cheese and served as an appetizer. Here I am mixing the pâte à choux in the pot. The recipe is also on my web site.
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- These are made with water, butter, sugar, salt, flour, eggs, Gruyere cheese, and Compte cheese and then transferred to a pastry bag fitted with a half-inch plain tip. Here I am piping the batter onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Each mound is about an inch in diameter.
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- After they are all piped onto the baking sheets, I brush with egg yolk, and sprinkle each with about half-teaspoon of Gruyere and Compte. Gruyère is a smooth-melting type of Swiss cheese that’s made from whole cow’s milk and generally cured for six months or longer. Compte is creamy, nutty-tasting cheese from unpasteurized cow’s milk in the French Comte region of France.
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- Next, they are baked baked until they are puffed and lightly golden – about 10 minutes. The best way to store gougères is to shape the dough on a baking sheet as closely as possible. Freeze the mounds, and then, when solid, lift off the sheet pan and transfer to an airtight plastic bag for up to two months. There’s no need to defrost—just bake them straight from the freezer.
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- Look how beautiful these gougeres are – all ready to serve to my crew. These are some of my most popular appetizers – guests just love them.
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- Here are the ingredients for the court bouillion, which is a quickly cooked stock made from water, root vegetables, herbs, salt, and pepper that’s used for poaching foods, most commonly fish or seafood. For this, I have carrots, celery, thyme, salt, peppercorns and lemon. These are placed into a pot filled with 12-cups water.
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- Cooking the shrimp in their shells will increase the flavor. As the shrimp cook, their color changes from either blue, green, or brown hues to a vibrant pink.
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- They’re ready once they are all bright pink and have curled. The shells will slip off cooked shrimp more easily that raw ones. I like to place them on a bed of ice to cool after poaching – not in a water bath because I don’t want the flavors to seep into the water.
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- Horseradish is a member of the mustard family, along with kale and turnips, so it has a bite. It is a long, knobby root—it’s an herb, not a vegetable–that has no aroma until you scratch, cut, or grate it. You can eat horseradish raw, pickled or cooked, but it is most often added as a condiment to sauces. I love to make fresh horseradish to serve at holiday gatherings. Click on this blog for Making Prepared Horseradish.
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- To make the cocktail sauce, whisk together lemon juice, horseradish, salt, black pepper, and hot sauce. Then spoon it into a serving dish for the shrimp. This recipe is also on my web site.
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- Cocktail sauce can be made ahead – just refrigerate in an airtight container up to one week. And then serve with your shrimp and some lemon wedges on the side.
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- In the 1920s, during prohibition, the custom of serving shrimp in cocktail glasses began – hence the name “shrimp cocktail.” While one couldn’t drink a cocktail legally, one could at least make good use of the stemware. Shrimp served ice-cold with a sharp and tangy sauce is an unbeatable combination. Whenever I serve shrimp cocktail, I do it outdoors, so they stay cold – it is one of the most popular stations at my holiday party.
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- My mother, “Big Martha,” always used russet potatoes for her potato pancakes. Potato pancakes or potato latkes originated in the eastern European countries of Germany Austria, Russia, and Poland as a peasant food. Potatoes were cheap, plentiful and easy to store, making them a staple for inventive potato recipes. It was the European Jews who gave potato pancakes their now-famous Yiddish name–latkes–and repurposed them as a holiday food. Along with lighting the menorah, it is customary to celebrate Hanukkah by eating latkes, fried in oil since the holiday celebrates the miracle of oil. The basic Latke recipe includes simple ingredients: potatoes, onions, eggs, something to bind them together such as potato starch, matzo meal or all-purpose flour, and salt and oil.
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- The potatoes are peeled and grated into long strips on the box cheese grater and then placed into a colandar to drain.
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- Once thoroughly drained, I transfer them to another bowl and add the potato starch, eggs, beer, flour, salt and pepper – go to my web site for the full Potato Latkes recipe .
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- They’re cooked in a heavy skillet with safflower oil or any vegetable oil.
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- Fry spoonful-sized pancakes until they are golden brown and then let them dry on a baking sheet covered with paper towel.
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- These can be served with homemade applesauce or caviar – I made this batch earlier in the week. Go to my web site for the pink applesauce recipe. And the caviar is from ROE – one of my favorites.
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- Place a dollop of creme fraiche or sour cream on top of each potato pancake.
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- Then a scoop of delicious caviar.
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- Or, topped with applesauce. These are so delicious – you will make them again and again.
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- This year, while following social distancing practices to keep us safe and healthy, the holidays will be like no other. I hope these quick and easy recipes help to make your small gathering a bit more special. Happy cooking! And be sure to check the Sur La Table web site for more classes in the New Year!
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