Cooking in the kitchen with...

Last night I went to the Chopping Block at Merchandise Mart for, what was billed as, "Girl's Night Out". It was a cooking and drink demonstration. The first course was bacon wrapped dates. Easy peasy to cook. Paired with some sort of Mango Champagne drink. The drink was ok. I think a plain mimosa would have been tastier. Fine, I admit it, I ate the dates. With the bacon on them. I think once a year I eat bacon. I'm an annual bacon pescatarian. I'm nothing but flexible. Or, I just really like bacon. Mmmm bacon.

Anyways, for the next course they made bloody mary's paired with a shrimp ceviche. This is where things start getting good. The chef, who was such a cutie patootie, told us he had mixed habanero peppers in with the grey goose vodka, then let it sit for 4-5 weeks. It added a whole extra dimension of spiciness. I like my bloody mary's with a bit of kick, but I want to be able to drink them. The flavored vodka gave the necessary heat, but it was an extra layer of spice. Paired with that was a very different type of ceviche. He grilled some vegi's on top of a cast-iron grill and pureed them with some of the other ingredients. The ceviche sauce was delicious and we all were asking for other things to do with it. He mentioned mixing it with pasta and I am going to have to try. I've missed my Mexican/Italian restaurant and I think this dish might help fill that void.

Here we have to back up a moment and point out Kandy's fascination with the cast-iron grill. A little light bulb went on in my head- you mean I could grill things in my apartment. You could taste the grilled vegetables in the ceviche. I went to the bathroom and checked out the price. We got a 15% off discount on items used during the demonstration. The sales clerk said the one they were using was the le creuset, which was way out of my price range, but she would give me a discount on the other one. Sold.

We ordered a bottle of wine. Why not. By this time we start getting a little boisterous, but our chef was adept at answering our questions, or fending off our interjections. The final course made us all sit up and take notice. First he drizzled olive oil on some fresh sliced bread and put those on the grill. Then he did something to a steak- whatever, but for us pseudo vegetarians he put zucchini on the grill. Then he whipped up a Chimichurri sauce. Assembled them all together, served with a watermelon mojito (which we really needed at that point) and watched us all swoon with taste bud joy.

I'm going to have to break in that grill this weekend and I am looking forward to it.