Chef April's Dessert Class

This was a night devoted to desserts. Unfortunately is was a night not devoted to photography! Our camera elected to die with only three photos taken. :( We promise to do a better job next class! Here's Chef April quickly getting the class involved.

Tonight's menu is Fruit Napoleon with Chocolate Sauce, Home-made Baklava, Chocolate Molten Cake, and Amaretto Crème Brulee. Yum, yum and a big YUM!

You can see there was a lot of hand's on activities tonight and a good time was had by all!

We'll have April back in June for a wonderful selection of appetizers. Perfect to help you with your summer entertaining!

Game Night with Chef Jimmy Stewart

What a wonderful night with Chef Jimmy Stewart. You can tell by the hunting hat that tonight was something slightly different than our usual fare.

Tonight was devoted to wild game, and Jimmy has a little bit of experience in this realm. We "loose" him as a Chef because he will be up near Quebec between mid-April and the end of October.

Moose and bear are part of his northern quarry, and when he returns to MD in the winter months, what else but waterfowl, whitetail and Sika deer!

Here is the grilled quail with a delicious peanut sauce. Here is the before....

...and here is the after!

The crew enjoys the first course.


Keep an eye on this crew!

Notice the quail posing with an apple quail! While Chef Jimmy was waiting for guests to arrive, he field-dressed the apple into Food Art.

Onto the venison. Chef Jimmy explained that he has started to do all venison in a marinate that then gets vacuumed-sealed, to infuse the flavors. The actual preparation is started as a boil bag and cooked to an optimum temperature based on how you like your venison prepared (rare, medium or well done).

There is a mushroom sauce that is served with the venison...yum yum!


Our mushroom assistant wields a mean carving knife!

A little saute action...

that becomes a beautiful mushroom gravy garnished with cilantro.

Tonight had wonderful food, company and stories from the field!

Just when you thought it couldn't get any better, the third course of duck was in the skillet.


Chef Jimmy explained that his property in Canada has a 60 mile drive into the lodge on unpaved roads that they maintain. Sometimes you need the chain saw going out, and by the time you get back, the beavers have closed the road again!

Here is the duck...it is more tender than it looks, in a beautiful raspberry vinaigrette sauce.

Oops, out comes a birthday cake for Julie.

In the spirit of the evening, it had a Lemon Moose filling.

What a wonderful evening. Chef Jimmy will return to us in the fall time frame for another class devoted to wild game. Thanks to all for a great evening!

Note, Chef Jimmy's Hunting area in Canada is HERE!

The Full Cource by Chef Aaron from CDs Cafe

Chef Aaron joined us for another fabulous evening learning how to use fresh healthy ingredients for wonderfully flavored entrees.

The start many of his soups includes celery, carrots and onions chopped fine and heated to the right texture.


Tomatoes were added to this mixture along with fresh basil and spinach leaves....

The end result was a beautiful Tomato Basil Soup!

Joann's Mom, Ann, was our server while employees of Quality Street attended a food show.


The next item began with garbanzo beans run through a food processor, with liquids, spices and herbs added gradually...

...to produce a signature CDs Cafe dish, Hummus with Grilled Pita.

What a nice spicy flavor...the dishes were completely clean when returned.

The featured entree for the evening included baby carrots and white rice......


with Broiled Tilapia with Mango Chipotle Salsa. A dish packed with flavor and a very comfortable prep time. Our students learned the value of shocking the carrots at the perfect cook time.


We can't forget dessert! Chef Aaron did a beautiful Bananas Foster, which he had not made since attending culinary arts school. It came out perfect!


The flame was there to cook down the sugars but the batch was too large for the "big bang".

It looks great and tastes even better!

Another very nice evening at Quality Street! Chef Aaron will be on again in the summer schedule for a number of very nice classes including a day-time class in June. Come on out and enjoy!!!!