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Attend a cooking class at Studio of Good Living in San Francisco and you’ll soon discover a new world full of culinary adventures. More than just a cooking school, the Studio of Good Living shares the art of living well with all its students!
Studio of Good Living offers exceptional cooking classes and events in the Bay Area and Beyond. Want to learn how to cook or brush up on your cooking skills? Take a class with us! Escape to San Francisco for a Taste of San Francisco or indulge yourself with Cook, Shop, Spa. Burned out? Drop into Live Well, Eat Well for yoga lovers. Continue the journey with the Art of Dinner Blog and view our video classes for new ideas to spice up your dinner table. . Need a change of scenery? Join us for a total culinary and lifestyle retreat in beautiful Maine. Discover the possibilities with Chef Phoebe Schilla and the Studio of Good Living. Life is Beautiful by Design.
“Eating is the most essential act of every living creature. And in virtually every human culture, growing, eating and sharing food has a spiritual dimension too. Today, eating is also unquestionably a political act. Our food choices, conscious or not , shape our world.”
This quote encapsulates exactly how I feel about the ‘Art of Dinner’. The above quote is from ‘Grub, Ideas for an Urban Organic Kitchen’ by Anna Lappe and Bryant Terry. (Anna Lappe is the daughter of Francis Moore Lappe who wrote ‘Diet for a Small Planet’.) It’s a nifty book with some terrific research about the politics of big agriculture and simple ways to introduce eating locally and healthfully to your dining room. I love the first part of the book. The resources section has great information in it as well. The second half of the book contains recipes and menus, which did not entice me as much as the rest of the book did. However this is definitely a book to read and put on your shelf for all of the valuable information it gives you in the first half. It explains clearly and concisely the reasons for buying locally and organically whenever possible.
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Spices are backbone of any kitchen. High quality and fresh spices will ensure that your food tastes great! Frequently, when re-organizing pantries, I find spices that are old, musty and out dated. Spices should be purchased in small quantities, dated when opened and replaced every 1-2 years for ground spices and 2-3 years for whole spices. Dried herbs in particular have a very short shelf life and should be replaced when you can no longer detect an aroma when you crush the herb between your fingertips. Some spices have an expiration date on the container, but I prefer to label and date spices as I bring them into my kitchen. Keep your spices in a cool, dry, dark cabinet—not over the stove! Spices that I can’t live without include paprika (sweet and smoked), cumin, and coriander to name a few. Dried herbs that I always have on hand are oregano, thyme and tarragon. With just a few spices on hand, you can perk up any meal.
Here a couple of easy recipes using my favorite spices.
Oven Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Cumin
Pre-heat your oven to 400F
2 Sweet Potatoes, peeled and sliced into ¼” rounds
2 Tbsp. Olive Oil
1 tsp. ground Cumin
½ tsp. Salt
½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper
Combine the olive oil and the spices. Toss the sweet potatoes with the oil-spice mixture and arrange the sweet potato slices in a single layer on a baking sheet pan. Roast for 25-30 minutes, or until the sweet potatoes are soft and slightly brown around the edges.
Cauliflower Popcorn with Tumeric and Coriander
Pre-heat your oven to 400F
Roasting is a fantastic way to cook cauliflower and brings out the natural sweetness.
1 Head of Cauliflower, separated into florets, then slice the florets into small pieces.
2 Tbsp. Olive Oil
½ tsp. Tumeric
1 tsp. Coriander
½ tsp. Salt
½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper
Combine the olive oil and the spices. Toss the cauliflower with the spice mixture and spread in a single layer on a baking sheet pan. Roast the cauliflower for 25-35 minutes, until it is slightly brown, caramelized and crunchy on the edges.
Maine in August is glorious. It’s my favorite time of year there. It brings back memories of carefree childhood summers—you know those days, when school days are far in the distance and you wake up each morning with no plans and a sense of adventure. I love being able to go back each year to our family cottage on Pattee Pond in central Maine. My grandparents and their friends cleared the road to the lake in the 1930’s. My family has had a cabin on the lake ever since. We stop at the local farm stand on our way to the pond and pick up fresh maine blueberries, lobster, corn and basil for a late summer dinner. After a quick, refreshing swim we settle in to shuck corn and cook together. I make my famously delicious corn pudding with basil. This recipe is a fairly recent acquisition, it was published in Gourmet in July of 2007, but it has rapidly become a favorite of both family and friends. The secret is to use fresh, sweet corn cut right from the cob. I hope that you enjoy this as much as we all do.
Corn Pudding with Basil
Gourmet Magazine, August 2007
4 cups corn (from 6 ears) *use a ‘corn zipper’ to easily remove the corn from the cob.
1 cup packaged fresh basil leaves, torn
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 cup milk
1 cup heavy cream
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
½ tsp. salt
A few twists of freshly ground black pepper
Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle. Butter a 2 1/2-quart shallow baking dish.
Pulse half of corn in a food processor until coarsely chopped. Transfer to a large bowl and stir in basil, flour, sugar, remaining corn, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Whisk in milk, cream, and eggs until combined.
Pour into baking dish and bake until center is just set, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Let stand 15 minutes before serving.
I love roasting a chicken on Sunday night to have on hand for the rest of the week. Roast Chicken is a wonderful thing, you can make a stock with the carcass and any number of dished with the meat. One of my favorite easy dinners is a Roasted chicken salad. It has chopped chicken tossed with salad greens and then I add all the things that make salad fun to eat. I like toasted pine nuts, zante currants (the little dried raisins) and I generally toss in whatever vegetables are lying around the house—usually tomatoes, avocado, sometimes chopped celery, shredded carrots and halved grapes make the cut. I toss the salad mixture with a simple French vinaigrette and serve it with toasted baguette slices and a selection of cheeses to round out the meal.
We all order take out, right? I know I do! One small step that I have taken to live more consciously is to turn down the napkins and plastic utensils that are typically included in takeout meals, along with the packets of soy sauce etc. Keeping your pantry well stocked with condiments such as ketchup, soy sauce will eradicate the need for single serving packets. Talk to the manager of your favorite take out place and request that they use recyclable or even better, bio-degradable containers made from cornstarch.Together we can make a difference! Start living a more conscious lifestyle today.
Eggplant is a vegetable that inspires passionate feelings amongst eaters. People either love it or hate it, with no in between. I love the silky soft texture of a well cooked eggplant dish. I also love eggplant parmesan, but what’s not to love about fried food topped with spicy tomato sauce and gooey fresh mozzarella? There are many different varieties of eggplant. Thai eggplant is small, round and green with lots of tiny seeds. It is typically used in Thai Green Curries, but I have also made an incendiary Thai style Baba Ganoush with these little green beauties. Indian eggplant is a small purple oval—you’ll find these in Vindaloos and curries. Japanese eggplant is long, slender and dark purple. Grilled and glazed with miso these are delightful. The list goes on. Whatever type of eggplant you are purchasing, make sure that the flesh is smooth, firm and unblemished. Eggplants are high in dietary fiber and are a good source of vitamin B1, B6 and potassium. (Source: The Encyclopedia of Healing Foods, by Michael Murray, ND) Eggplants are versatile, and can be baked, fried, steamed, broiled, grilled etc. I had an excess of eggplants in my Farmer’s Market basket last week which meant that yesterday was eggplant day in our house. I made two eggplant dishes; an eggplant gratin and an eggplant stew with chickpeas, peppers, tomatoes and potatoes. While the stew was good, spicy and full of cumin, the gratin was fabulous—softly textured, almost pudding like in consistency punctuated with the a top note of fresh basil, it was comforting and delicious. I’ll definitely make it again. The recipe comes from Deborah Madison’s “Local Flavors” Cookbook. Leftovers are great for lunch with a green salad and piece of fresh fruit.
An Eggplant Gratin (Adapted from Local Flavors by Deborah Madison)
Serves 6
2 ½# eggplant, any variety, peeled if white or you don’t like the peel.
Salt and pepper
Olive Oil, about 1/3 of a cup
1 or 2 onions, sliced
4 eggs
1 cup of milk or cram
1 cup of grated Parmesan
10 basil leaves, torn into small pieces
Preheat the oven to 350F. Oil a 2 quart gratin dish (I used a 9 x 13” pan and that worked beautifully.) Cut the eggplants into rounds about a ½” think. Salt if you want to and set aside.
Saute the onions in 1 tablespoon of olive oil, until they are soft and golden. Set aside.
Beat the eggs with the milk, stir in the cheese, ¾ tsp salt and pepper.
If you salted the eggplant, rinse and pat dry. Heat ½ of the oil in the skillet and saute the eggplant in batches, adding more oil as necessary. Cook the eggplant over medium heat until golden.
Layer the golden eggplant in the baking dish. Top with onions and basil. Pour the custard over the top. Bake until firm and puffed, 30-40 minutes. Cool before serving.
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