Published: September 04, 2008 06:14 pm      

COOKING CLASSES: There's more ways than one to go back to school.

Watching Barbara Blackburn cook with herbs is dizzying.

Giving a fast-paced tutorial on which leaf tastes like what flavor, she plucks them out of her fully bloomed English garden and moments later is infusing her main course and salad with odd yet inspired couplings of sprigs and leaves.

Demonstrating the composition of a handmade cannelloni, she disregards its Italian heritage and tosses in such unlikely flavors as sorrel and tarragon, along with the quartet of parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme.

“I feel sorry for the herbs I don’t use,” she said, laughing, as she decorated the plate with a sorrel pesto and some fresh basil springs.

There is a touch of cinnamon in the red sauce and nutmeg in the white sauce.

One would think the melange of herbs and spices would create a noisy blast of flavors, each competing for attention. But beneath Blackburn’s fast-moving fingers, they are a well behaved symphony of sublime taste.

She does not follow the simple recipe that she plans to teach in an upcoming cooking class because “I never follow my own recipes,” she said. But each student will be encouraged to do the same, stepping outside of the confines of measurements to create a singularly unique dish.

“Yes, I know,” she said with a sigh of resigned pleasure as she watches the reaction of happy taste-testers. “It’s not the usual cannelloni you get in the neighborhood restaurant, but you want your cannelloni to be different — to be you!”

Blackburn’s course, called “Cook like a Roman,” is among those being offered in the fall for cooking enthusiasts who want to take a cue from the season and head back to school.

It’s one of three classes she is teaching for Grand Island Community Education program, along with “Tea with Jane Austin,” and “Six Ways to Make Ratatouille.”

Blackburn’s cooking classes always involve eating, as well, and those who attend the “Cook like a Roman” class can expect to leave filled with more than a new appreciation for culinary creativity.

Eating while learning will also be part of an upcoming cooking class called “Harvest Moon Buffet” at the Dale Association in Lockport.

Personal chef Kelly Jones will teach how to create a full seasonal meal, including tomato and celery soup, glazed pork loin with garlic potatoes, Brussels sprouts in brown butter and apple quince bread pudding.

“This is my second year of doing cooking classes for the Dale, and I always try to vary what I do,” Jones said.

Her Oct. 23 class will be called “English Farm Tea Buffet” and feature sliced ham, potted salmon pate, an assortment of stuffed eggs, cottage loaf, whole wheat scones, apple raisin pie and chocolate squares.

Dec. 4 and 18 classes are themed as “A Walk in the Woods” and “Post Sledding Buffet” and will offer winter themed foods such as white sausage ragout, butternut squash and shrimp soup, roasted game hens with herbed ricotta, and beet and champagne risotto.

For more elementary cooking lessons, there is a pie crust class being held by the Ken-Ton Schools continuing education program.

Lesa Camelo, a former 4-H instructor, will teach her tried and true recipe for fruit pie crusts.

Students in her class, being held Oct. 20 at Franklin Middle School, are asked to bring their own canned fruit filling. Each student will take home a pie to bake at their leisure.

Camelo’s classes are sometimes about more than pie-making, she said.

“I had a man meet a lady in my class and they started dating. It was nice,” she said.

Her secret: “Don’t be afraid” when baking which sounds like it could be a life theme for all aspiring chefs.

Or, as Barbara Blackburn likes to say, quoting Julia Child: “A recipe is not the Bible.”

For more information on the classes, see the accompanying sidebar. Blackburn’s cannelloni recipe is below.

Cannelloni

Filling

1/3 cup cooked, pureed spinach

2/3 cup cooked ground or minced meat (veal, beef, pork or combination of each)

1 egg

2 tbsp. grated cheese

1/2 tsp. basil

1 clove garlic, minced

1 cup ricotta cheese

1 cup béchamel or cream sauce (see below)

1 cup tomato sauce (see below)

1 package prepared commercial lasagna noodles or crepes.

Combine the spinach, meat, egg, cheese, basil, garlic and ricotta. Spread on a strip of noodle or crepe and roll. Cover with tomato sauce, drizzle with cream sauce and top with grated cheese. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes or until cheese begins to brown.

Béchamel or white sauce

Melt 2 tbsp. butter over low heat. Add 2 tbsp. flour and blend for three minutes. Slowly stir in one cup milk. Cook and stir until sauce is thickened and smooth, using a whisk or spoon.

Quick tomato sauce

To one large can of tomatoes in a sauce pan add one small can of tomato paste, 1 tbsp. grated onion, 1/2 tsp. sugar, 1 tbsp. Italian seasoning (or 1/4 tsp. each of basil, oregano, rosemary and a dash of pepper and nutmeg).

Serve with a salad of cleaned spinach leaves, with a vinaigrette made with “as many chives as I can squeeze into a cruet,” Blackburn advised, and 1 1/2 cup white vinegar. Add a splash of virgin olive oil and honey to taste if desired.

Contact editor Michele DeLucaat 693-1000, ext. 157.