Studio of Good Living

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.

Live Well, Eat Well Seminar and a Recipe for Kick Ass Curried Chicken Salad

Posted June 11, 2010 under: Chicken Recipes, Salads, Thai Recipes

1st and 3rd Friday of the month, 6-8pm

Next Seminar: Friday June 18th Sign up now!!

“When you base your food choices on your own intuitive wisdom, that food will nourish and strengthen your body, mind and spirit to help you fulfill the purpose of your life.”
Leonard Perlmutter, American Meditation Institute

I’m happy to announce that I am partnering with Josh Camire, of warriorschoiceyoga.com to create a very unique seminar that unites food and yoga.    This is the perfect way to jumpstart your weekend!  We start with a 30 minute cooking demonstration and discussion about conscious cooking and intuitive eating. Then, move on to an hour long gentle yoga class and conclude with a gourmet three course dinner. What’s the connection between food and yoga, you may ask?  Well, one of the benefits of yoga is learning to really listen to you body’s cues.

I discovered yoga in 2002 as part of a campaign to help me quit smoking for good.  (Smoking is the scourge of the restaurant industry and a bad habit that I picked up and kept for far too long.)  I found that yoga has many benefits—better sleep, more body awareness, a higher quality of breath among others.  I’ve been an active practitioner since then. I believe that yoga has the power to change your life and your relationship with food.   This is a fun, light hearted seminar that will leave you feeling nourished in both body and spirit.  All levels of fitness are welcome and dietary restrictions are happily accommodated.

This is an amazing Curried Chicken Salad that totally nourished me when I arrived home from yoga class, hot, sweaty and ravenous.  It is good whenever you have a craving for a dish with multiple layers of flavor—spiciness and a gentle heat from the curry paste, sweetness from the currants, richness from toasted coconut, creamy-ness from the mayonnaise and salty crunchy goodness from chopped roasted peanuts.   It can be put together in just a few minutes if you have all of the ingredients on hand.  It’s the perfect dish for your next BBQ or get together.

Bon Appetit!  (I wanted to take a picture but Pete and I practically licked the bowl clean!!)

Curried Chicken Salad, Thai Style (inspired by a dish of the same name at the now defunct Cannery Restaurant in Yarmouth Maine)

1# leftover grilled or roasted chicken breast, diced

½ to ¾  cup of mayo depending on how mayonnaise-y you like your salad.  (you could  also substitute equal parts mayo and yogurt)

1 rounded teaspoon of  Green Curry Paste (I highly recommend Mae Ploy brand, available at importfood.com and some supermarkets.)

1 Tbsp. Curry Powder

2 Tbsp. Unsweetened Coconut, toasted to a light golden brown.

2 Tbsp. Chopped, salted, roasted peanuts (Planter’s is perfect.)

2 Tbsp Zante Currants or Raisins

1 scallion, white and green parts finely chopped

Salt and Pepper to taste.

Whisk together the mayo, curry paste and curry powder.  Fold in the remaining ingredients and enjoy!  This is so flavorful it is great on it’s own, over greens or crackers. I’ve also served it on cucumber rounds, garnished with chopped chives or peanuts as a hors d’oeuvres.

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Easy Exotic Turkish Style Chicken

Posted March 15, 2010 under: Chicken Recipes, Menus and Recipes

I love this recipe for ‘Chicken in Pistachio, Sumac and Sesame Crumbs’ from the cookbook ‘Turquoise, a Chef’s travels in Turkey by Greg and Lucy Malouf.  It’s easy, exotic sounding and tastes great.  The sesame seeds and pistachios add a delightful crunch, the lemon zest and sumac add a bright lemon-y note that is tempered by the richness of the parmesan cheese. Leftovers keep well and this chicken is great the second day in a pita sandwich with a little yogurt dressing, sprouts and shredded carrots. Chicken is the workhorse of the carnivore world.  It’s easy to eat, a good source of protein, and inoffensive.  At its best it is tender, juicy and moist. At it’s worst, dry, tough and tasteless.  Boneless, skinless chicken breasts can get more than a little boring if you eat them frequently—and I am constantly looking for new ways to dress them up.  The breading on this chicken ensures that it stays nice and moist.  The recipe has a couple of steps you need to take to ensure success. The first is to pound the chicken breast to an even thickness so that it cooks evenly, use fresh bread crumbs and don’t chop the pistachios too finely.

Chicken in pistachio, sumac and sesame crumbs

4 small boneless, skinless chicken breasts, about 6 oz each, pounded to an even thickness

2 eggs

Salt and Pepper

All purpose flour

Olive Oil

Lemon Wedges to serve (optional)

Pistachio Crumbs

2 slices of sandwich bread, crust removed, torn into pieces

1 Tbsp. ground sumac (if sumac is unavailable, substitute the zest of ½ a lemon in addition to .)

Finely grated zest of 1 lemon

¼ c. unsalted, shelled pistachios, coarsely chopped

¼ cup of sesame seeds

2/3 cup finely grated parmesan

To make the crumbs, put the bread into a food processor with the sumac, zest and pistachios and pulse briefly.  Add the sesame seeds and parmesan and pulse briefly to combine.

Preheat the oven to 350F.

When ready to cook the chicken, lightly beat the eggs with a little water in a shallow bowl to make an egg wash.  Set up a production line of seasoned flour, egg wash and crumb mix. First dip the chicken pieces into the flour, then the egg wash and finally the crumb mix, patting them carefully all over

Heat the oil in a saute pan and saute the chicken pieces until golden brown all over.  Transfer to a cookie tray and cook for 8-10 minutes in the center of the oven.  Remove the chicken from the oven and allow to rest for a few minutes before serving with wedges of lemon.

Serves 4

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Sausage Class 101

Posted January 20, 2010 under: What's On My Table Tonight

Some of you may ask what I did today.  My answer is this:

Sausage Class 101

I made sausage.  Lots and lots of dee-lish-ous sausage.    Last month I signed up for a Sausage 101 class with Ryan Farr of 4505 meats.  (4505meats.com)   The class was awesome; fun and hands-on.  Ryan’s sausage making skills are impressive to say the least.  Sausage is one of those things that I simply don’t make at home, but I really appreciate a high quality fresh sausage and it’s hard to find!

Today we made three different sausages and took home about two pounds of each.  (Alert:  Sausage Party at the Schilla House tonight!) The sausages we made were: Maple Breakfast Sausage, Pork and Pecorino Sausage and Chicken and Beer Sausage.   Ryan really made sausage making easy and fun—the hallmarks of a good teacher.   There were 12 students in the class.  Small enough so that we all could ask questions and get our hands dirty and big enough so that the work was evenly divided.

The Maple Breakfast sausage was delightful. It has a slight sweetness from the maple syrup, a hit of pepper, and a whiff of sage.  On a biscuit with gravy it would be absolutely divine.  (Go see 4505 meats at the Ferry Building Farmer’s Market if you want to try one.) Next up was the Pork and pecorino sausage which had an exceptional flavor and mouthfeel—it was saturated with flavor with out being heavy or cloying. The texture and flavors of 4505 sausages make them stand out from the pack.  They all have an ethereal quality to them and are beautifully balanced and textured. Last but not least was the chicken and beer sausage which was so much more than just chicken and beer!  It is enriched with cream and eggs.  Dried apricots lend a sweet note to the savory character of the beer.  This particular sausage would be lovely served with some sauerkraut, sautéed apples and a glass of Riesling on the side (a full bodied Belgian Style Ale would be lovely too).

Ryan also teaches whole hog and whole lamb butchery classes which I’m looking forward to taking later this year.   I’ll let you know how that goes!  Check him out at the Ferry Building Thursday Farmer’s Market from 10 to 2 if you want to try some of the best sausage I have had in recent memory.

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What I Made This Week

Posted November 4, 2009 under: What's On My Table Tonight

It’s been chilly in my part of San Francisco this week.  A welcome reminder of Fall weather!  The cookbooks that have been in heavy rotation are: Braise, by Daniel Boulud and Melissa Clark, Baking From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan and Mediterranean Fresh by Joyce Goldstein.

Here it is:

  • Chicken Pot Pie
  • Chicken Braised with Tamarind, Sweet Potatoes and Okra (Braise)
  • Chicken Parmesan
  • Chicken Tikka Masala
  • Portobello Mushroom and Bulgur Burgers
  • Chicken tikka masala being prepared in a pot
    Chicken Tikka Massala

    Lentil Salad with Mint Dressing (MF)

  • Farro Salad with Vegetables (MF)
  • Rosemary rubbed filet roast
  • Mac n’ Cheese, Halloween Style
  • Yummy Mummy Meatloaf –Check out the pic! http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Yummy-Mummy-Meatloaf-355709
  • Apple Slab Pie
  • Chicken with a Pomegranate and Walnut Sauce (Julie Sahni)
  • Cider Braised Pork Chops
  • Brisket with Red Miso and Watermelon Radish (Braise)—Pete labeled the sauce ‘Outstanding’.
  • Traditional Brisket for my Mom, for watching Lily while I work.
  • Butternut Squash Soup
  • Chicken and Rice Soup
  • Pork Shoulder braised with Stout, Dried Cherries and Sweet Potatoes (Braise)
  • Turnips in Miso Butter (Gourmet)
  • Vegetable Bolognese
  • Black Bean and Sweet Potato Stew
  • Thai Chicken and Coconut Milk Soup
  • 5-Pepper Spiced Lamb Chops
  • Granola
  • Chicken Cutlets Stuffed With Tomatoes and Garlic
  • Oatmeal Bread (Dorie)
  • Pear Shortbread Tart (Dorie)—totally delish and a scrumptious breakfast treat!
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Roasted Chicken – Leftovers for the Week!

Posted September 21, 2009 under: Chicken Recipes
chop chop salad
Image by stu_spivack via Flickr

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.

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