The Wooden Spoon

For Christmas my favorite sister (Laura) gave Amanda and me a gift certificate for The Wooden Spoon here in Chicago. The Wooden Spoon is a family-owned shop offering cooking classes and gourmet kitchenware. You can check out their website here: www.woodenspoonchicago.com.


We finally got around to using it last Saturday. The class we took was called Ready? Get Set...Saute! and it included the following dishes:

• Chicken Picatta with Mashed Potatoes
• Sautéed Pork Medallions with Raisins and Apples
• Pan-Seared Scallops with Fennel Puree
• Sautéed Snap Peas
• Vanilla Bean Rice Pudding

All of the dishes turned out to be very tasty. My favorite was the Sauteed Pork. We also learned a bunch of cooking techniques that we want to try out on our own. The most enlightening demonstration was how to make perfect pan-seared scallops. The teacher for this class was Todd Moore who has worked in big name Chicago restaurants such as Blackbird. It was really interesting to see how he worked. I was most impressed at how he repeatedly tasted scalding hot food without a flinch. I would have been in agony if I would have tried it just once.


All in all it was a great learning experience with fantastic food from an expert teacher. We were even able to pick up a few cooking gadgets, such as a microplane and flour sifter. I would highly recommend a class here for any cooking skill level.