A Class of Art and Food

"Thomas Jefferson served as minister to the Court of Louis XVI from 1784 to 1789. Though no stranger to French cuisine when he set sail, he left behind the Virginian tradition of ham, fried Chicken and collard greens for the spectacle that was French cuisine" this is how Maite Gomez Rejon from ArtBites begins her talk about Thomas Jefferson at the class we held on November 20th and 21st at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
Maite and I have known eachother for almost 10 years - we have worked together, cooked together, laughed together... and are now putting it all together to teach together.

After touring the Metropolitan's French Galleries where we admired paintings, lavish rooms, silver platters and fine porcelain, we ventured to the American Wing to see the more moderate interiors and paintings. Maite brought these items to life with such insight and humor that even our most fervent museum-goers and historian were tickled to learn.

From the museum fourteen of us were shuttled to our kitchen midtown where prosecco and canapes were waiting us along with all of the fresh ingredients, menus and step by step instructions.

The menu was:
Salade aux Herbes - Herb Salad with Mustard Vinaigrette
Artichauds a l'Anchoiade - Artichoke Anchoiade
Raie a la Vinaigrette Tiede - Skate with Warm Caper and Olive Vinaigrette
Poulet aux Figure et Calvados - Chicken with Figs and Calvados
Pommes Fondants - Braised Potatoes
Tarte au Citron - Lemon Tart with Raspberry Coulis

Everyone rolled up their sleeves and started cooking and within two

hours we sat down to a wonderful meal. And both nights the results were equally delicious and perfectly executed. Bravo!

Our wines were donated by The Wine Advisory("Changing the world, one bottle at a time")
who are donating 10% of any bottles sold through our classes to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

All in all it was a great time and we are looking forward to the next classes March 19 and 20 and the next in May. We'll keep you posted!