Take Advantage of These Upcoming Cooking Classes

Right off the bat, I’ve got some bad news. Some of my favorite culinary events of the year are the cooking lessons offered by my alma mater University School of Nashville as part of their popular Evening Classes program. Unfortunately, most of those classes have been offered in the homes of generous volunteers, and really, who wants a bunch of strangers in their kitchen right about now? So most of the classes have returned to the relative safety of USN’s campus. There will still certainly be some fun things to check out when the course catalog is released on Feb. 9, so bookmark this page for later this week!

The better news is that there are plenty of upcoming opportunities to improve your chopping chops and better your batter thanks to some fun cooking classes planned by the kitchen at Yolan and by chef Skylar Bush in association with Edible Nashville.

First off at Yolan is a pastry class courtesy of executive pastry chef Noelle Marchetti, who will take students inside the kitchen on Friday, Feb. 4, to show them how to cook her signature lemon-rosemary focaccia using her personal sourdough starter. Chef Marchetti has named her starter “Margo,” and she’s an integral part of Marchetti’s cooking success. While your take-home focaccia bakes, you’ll enjoy a three-course lunch of salad, pasta, and dessert with wine pairings. Reservations are strongly recommended — a March 4 class on making pasta from scratch has already sold out.

You might have seen chef Skylar Bush on one of his frequent appearances cooking on local midday shows, and he’s an excellent teacher as well as a fine cook. In collaboration with Edible Nashville, Bush has planned a series of three cooking classes at the Kitchen Studio at Eleven Willow, a creative workspace just a few minutes from downtown.

The classes will run on consecutive Saturdays starting on March 26. Here’s the syllabus from the official announcement:

Saturday, March 26, 5-7 p.m.

Cajun Class: Learn about the Cajun trinity, how to make a roux, a brief history of the po’boy and how chicory coffee came to be.

Crawfish Etouffee 

Creole Stewed Okra and Tomatoes 

Cajun Green Rice 

Giffords Bologna Po’boy Sliders 

Chicory Coffee 

Saturday, April 2, 5-7pm

Southern Cooking: Learn how to make fluffy biscuits, perfect gravy every time, the importance of chow chow, and soul warming greens.

Grandma’s Biscuits 

Gravy Trio — Redeye, Tomato and Country Ham 

Braised Greens 

Pinto Beans and Chow-Chow 

Saturday April 9, 5-7 p.m.

Indian Comfort Food: Learn to make some of Chef Skylar's favorite dishes from his travels to India and the importance of treating your spices the right way, the value of good rice, and the perfect cup of chai.

Vindaloo 

Palak Paneer

Indian Railroad Cutlets 

Raita

Good Basmati Rice 

Homemade Chai Tea 

Each class is $95, so buy your space at the table at the event website.