As it turns out, my previous post about Corby not being all that into Valentine’s Day was a bit off.  Corby, the sweet, wonderful, handsome, talented, brilliant man that he is, gave me a cooking lesson at Charleston Cooks! as a Valentine’s Day present.  Here is the drawing in my card- it is of Meg and Corby going to Charleston Cooks! and they are excited- it is pretty cute. We had our class last night, and it was so much fun.  The title of the class was Winter Comfort Foods, and while it was almost 80 degrees in Charleston yesterday and felt nothing like winter, I am never going to turn down the opportunity to make, and here is the menu we made:

Appetizer: Homemade Three Cheese Crackers with Fire Roasted Tomato Soup

Entree: Beef, Pork and Veal Meatloaf with Italian Herbs and Barbeque Sauce

Sides: 1) Brown Butter Scallion Mashed Potatoes

2) Spinach Souffle

Dessert: Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Ganache

All fantastic!  Our amazing instructor was the very talented chef Emily Kimbrough- she has cooked all over the country at amazing restaurants from Colorado and finally, luckily for us, to Charleston.  The evening consisted of a walk through the kitchen with Emily explaining the concept behind each dish, and then the group broke into little groups to make each dish.  Corby and I chose the Spinach Soufflé station as, while I can make popovers well, I have never mastered a soufflé… until last night, where we made the most amazing spinach souffles EVER.  While I might admit to not being the biggest fan of spinach, this really was delicious.  I can’t wait to try a cheese soufflé because what could be bad about that?  I am also very excited to try a dessert souffle as well.  The interesting thing that she told us was that as you obviously coat the souffle dishes with butter so that they won’t stick, it is best to line them with something so that the souffle will rise much higher.  For a dessert souffle, you should coat the inside of the dish after you butter it with sugar, and for the spinach souffle, we coated it with finely grated Parmesan cheese.  Emily said this makes a souffle rise much much higher.  Here is the recipe for the spinach souffle that serves 12:

spinach souffle

Ingredients:

1 stick unsalted butter at room temperature
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, finely grated
10 oz frozen spinach thawed
2 shallots, minced
2 1/2 cups milk
2 cups Swiss cheese, grated and divided
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
1/2 tsp nutmeg
6 egg whites
2 egg yolks

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350.  Butter 12 4 oz ramekins.  Sprinkle the butter with cheese.
2. Using your hands, press liquid out of the spinach and discard liquid.  Set aside.
3. Heat 5 tbsp butter in a saute pan over medium heat.  When the butter is hot, add the shallots.  Cook, without stirring, until the shallots start to brown.
4. Add four and stir constantly until the flour smells nutty, about 3-5 minutes.
5. Add the milk, about 1/2 cup at a time, and allow the mixture to thicken after each addition.  Simmer until the mixture coats the back of a spoon.
6. Add the spinach, 1 1/3 cups of cheese, salt, pepper, and nutmeg.  Simmer until the mixture is very thick.  Allow to cool slightly- about 5 minutes.
7. Meanwhile, place the egg whites in a mixing bowl and whisk to soft peaks.  Do not overbeat as this will make it difficult to fold the egg whites into the soufflé properly.
8. Once the spinach mixture is cool, place egg yolks in a mixing bowl.  Whisking constantly, add the spinach mixture slowly to the egg yolks.  This is called tempering (bringing two things to the same temperature)
9. Add 1/3 of the egg whites to the spinach mixture and fold in.  Repeat with the remaining egg whites until all is incorporated.  Do not over-mix as this will make the soufflé not rise.
10. Divide the mixture among the ramekins and top with the remaining cheese.  Bake in the oven until puffed and set, about 25-30 minutes.  Serve immediately.  Do not open the oven for at least 20 minutes as this can make the soufflé fall.

I know this may seem like a lot of directions, and having everything laid out in the proper measurements was incredibly helpful, but it really seemed easy to make, and they were so good and light and puffy.  The whole dinner experience was fantastic. The meatloaf was amazing as was the soup and mashed potatoes, and the chocolate cake was out of this world.  It was all so easy to make and the instructions were so helpful.  Emily taught us so many tricks about how to cut an onion without crying (don’t cut the root off- had no idea!) and how not to get your meatloaf mixture all gummy.  Here is a picture of the dinner minus the dessert which by the way, some crazy in the back of the class didn’t want hers and guess who got extra- we did!  We had a great time, and I can not wait to go back.  Charleston Cooks! is owned by Maverick Southern Kitchen Group (www.mavericksouthernkitchens.com) which also owns Slightly North of Broad- aka S.N.OB. (where Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively had lunch on Monday- fancy), High Cotton, and the Old Village Post House.  All of these restaurants are musts when visiting Charleston.  Thank you Charleston Cooks! and Emily (and Corby) for a wonderful night!!