Chef Warren is back this fall with his Culinary Advanced class, featuring all new recipes building on the techniques covered in the previous advanced foodie classes.

Past serious foodie basics and serious foodie advanced students are encouraged to sign up for a whole new set of dishes and ingredients.

You’ll get a chance to debone whole poultry, filet whole fish, and cook with whole lobster only this time you’ll be exposed to cultural dishes from around the world from Latin America to the Middle East.  For the final day of the course you’ll have the chance to show what you know by designing and executing your own dishes with ingredients supplied by Chef Warren (and any secret ingredients you have in your pantry at home).

The course will run for 5 Mondays beginning October 15, with Monday November 12 off due to the Remembrance Day long weekend. Classes start at 615 pm.

Serious Foodie Advanced Course Schedule – Fall 2012

Day 1 – Monday Oct. 15

• Deboning whole chickens

Latin American cuisine featuring:

• Empanadas
• Plantains
• Chimichurri Sauce
• Mole Sauce

Day 2 – Monday Oct. 22

• Deboning whole duck

Middle eastern cuisine featuring:

• Bulgar Walnut Mantis
• Pomegranate, walnut and saffron braised duck leg
• Squash confit
• Zaatar rubbed duck breast

Day 3 – Monday Oct. 29

• Processing whole fish

Asian fusion cuisine featuring:

• Wine steamed fish with béarnaise, baby potatoes, and fall vegetables
• Coconut curry mussel and fish pot

Day 4 – Monday Nov. 5

• Cooking with whole lobster

Italian cuisine featuring:

• Lobster tortolloni with bisque / grape tomato sauce
• Potato risotto with lobster, clams, and fava beans

Monday Nov. 12 – no class for Remembrance Day long weekend

Day 5 – Monday Nov. 19

Menu Development Night:

2 dishes designed by groups of 2 to 4 with ingredients made available by Chef Warren:

• 1 fish course
• 1 meat course

Dates: Every Monday from Oct 15 to Nov 19, excluding Nov 12

Time: 6:15 – 10pm

Cost: $495 + HST

Bring: Chef’s Knife, Paring Knife, Apron, Tea Towels, Nonslip shoes, Pastry Scraper, vegetable peeler, fish tweezers

Register: Call 604.876.7653. Payment is due at registration and can be made by phone with VISA or MasterCard, or in person by Cash, Debit or Cheque.

Three Scholarships awarded
at Northwest Culinary Academy of Vancouver’s
6th annual Open Black Box Competition

Sunday, June 24, 2012 saw seven of BC’s young aspiring chefs faced off in Northwest Culinary Academy of Vancouver’s (NWCAV) 6th Annual Open Black Box Competition for a chance to earn a sizeable scholarship of $1500 to $3000.

At NWCAV we feel it is important to encourage young people to pursue their interests & dreams, and this competition is one way we do that. The Black Box Competition is open to high school seniors or recent graduates from across BC.

When they registered, competitors were given a list of some of the ingredients that would be available to them on the day of the event, and other “mystery ingredients” were revealed just before the clock started ticking.  This year’s protein was a chicken breast with wing attached, and the mystery ingredients were lemon and cinnamon.  Participants had access to a pantry that included new potatoes, Arborio rice, bell peppers, asparagus, green beans, stocks & dozens of other ingredients.

Our judges this year were Eric Wan, Professional One Year Fall 2009 NWCAV Grad, who is currently a chef at Rosewood Hotel Georgia, and Peter Blackman, who is currently in the Pastry portion of his Professional One Year Program.  Challengers were graded throughout the 1.5 hour event on fourteen different criteria in four categories: Execution (organization, food safety-sanitation, station maintenance, food usage/waste), Technical Aspects (logical steps, correct techniques, proper cooking/prepping), Plate Presentation (clean/hot plates, originality, timing) & Taste/Seasoning (seasoning, food temperature, flavour combinations, texture).  For the final plates, dishes were numbered & judged “blindly”, meaning they did not know who’s dish they were trying.

Family were invited to watch & cheer on their contender, and I know they were as impressed as we were to see the so much talent, creativity & passion in the kitchen, especially since only a few of the students have real industry experience.  All of them came well prepared, having put great thought & planning into their menus ahead of time, and worked in a focused & organized manner throughout.

At the end of the day, NWCAV awarded scholarships to the following deserving young cooks:

Bianca Noleza, took top spot!  ($3000), David Thomson Secondary

Amy Juarez ($3000), David Thomson Secondary

Aron Hanson ($1500), Tupper Secondary

Congratulations and good job to all the students who came out and participated!

(top left to right) Zeb Kane, Elizabeth Rink, Cody Slade, Adrian Christopher, Peter Blackman, Eric Wan, Chef Christophe Kwiatkowsky. (bottom left to right) Aron Hanson, Amy Juarez, Bianca Nobleza

Today at Northwest Culinary Academy, we had our second menu development day. Students spent overnight focused on developing a four component salmon tasting plate. They came in focused, with some great ideas. Plates had to include three knife cuts, four different sauces, four grains and two cooking methods. Their organization and intensity paid off.

As we are ending the seventh week of school, we have a promising Spring 2012 Culinary class.

Class with Chef Christophe starts at 11am on Sunday, July 8th. At 3pm, have a friend come join you for English Tea .

You will be preparing the following:

• Raisin scone with clotted cream
• Strawberry preserve
• 3 types of finger sandwiches
  • smoked salmon
  • cucumber and watercress
  • chicken salad
• Cream filled strawberries
• Strawberry tartlets (sweet dough, mousseline custard)
• Pound cake
• English tea

P.S. Her Majesty has been invited; at this time, she has not yet confirmed her attendance.

Date: Sunday, July 8th

Time: Class 11am – 3pm; Eat 3pm – 4pm

Cost: $99 + HST (includes 1 person cooking at 11am and a friend or relative to join you at 3pm for English tea and recipe package)

Bring: Chef’s Knife, Paring Knife, Apron, Tea Towels, Nonslip shoes, Pastry Scraper, containers (for left overs)

Register: Call 604.876.7653. Payment is due at registration and can be made by phone with VISA or MasterCard, or in person by Cash, Debit or Cheque.