We Were There: Newport Cooks with tsk

Sometimes I get a little uninspired in the kitchen – like boxed pasta and shaker cheese uninspired. Talk about dullsville. Luckily, I recently enlisted in my first Newport Cooks class, and my zest for zesting, passion for mashin', and tasting for basting were reignited. Newport Cooks, led by Mary Weaver, presents culinary classes featuring professional chefs and instructors from Newport and the surrounding areas. My friend Kerry, a fabulous cook herself, had been raving about these classes for months, so I knew I was in for a savory affair.

This particular class was lead by Chefs Chad Hoffer and Tyler Burnley of tsk (Thames Street Kitchen) at the Newport Cooks Kitchen in Middletown. Though I originally thought that us "students" would be helping to prepare the dishes, I much preferred what actually happened: the talented chefs prepared the meal in front of the class and gave step by step instructions while we all took notes and, of course, drank wine. They prepared a sunchoke (similar to a potato, in the same family as the sunflower – oh, and delicious) bisque, confit lentils, sauteed kale with anchovy butter (which I wish all butter tasted like), and roasted chicken with preserved lemon stuffing. It. Was. So. Good.

Thanks to Chef Chad and Chef Tyler, I now know what a sunchoke is (potatoes are so 2012), that probably everything on earth is better "confit", and how to actually slice into a bird the right way. We've been doing it oh-so-wrong on Thanksgiving all these years, apparently.

The next class I have my eyes on is all about making French patisserie, because, well, life really is too short not to enjoy a good macaroon.