Food, Home & Lifestyle

A Market Fresh Dinner: Planning and Prep

Lesson time 23:58 min

Quality time with your guests is just as important as making a quality meal. Learn how to think in three courses and time each step of your cooking for a delicious menu that allows you time to enjoy the party.

Students give MasterClass an average rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars

Topics include: Plan Your Cooking • Pre-Salting and Parboiling • Alice’s Essential Sauce: Garlic Aïoli • Waking Up Nuts And Olives • A Compote That Lets Fresh Fruit Shine

Alice Waters

Teaches the Art of Home Cooking

In 16+ lessons, learn to cook beautiful, seasonal meals at home from the James Beard Award-winning founder of Chez Panisse.

Preview

I usually think of menus in three courses-- a salad, a main dish, and a sweet end. I'm also wanting to contrast the textures, and the color, and the temperature on the plates. Menus like this are perfect for entertainment, because so much of the preparation can be done ahead of time. - When I'm thinking about a menu, and I'm having people over to dinner, it's really important that I'm not doing very much at the last minute. And my plan is to serve them, when they just come, some almonds and some olives. And I'm going to roast the almonds in the oven. And I'm going to saute the olives on the stove with some lemon and oil just to flavor them a little bit. I'm going to grill chicken over the fire, and serve it with these potatoes, which I'm going to grill as well. I'm going to parboil them here. And then I'm going to cook them on the grill. This fruit compote that I want to make for you is one that could sit in the refrigerator for an hour or two. But I don't want to have to worry about-- about last minute preparation-- just about the one thing that I might really have to concentrate on. I mean, it really works successfully to have only one thing hot that you have to think about. And, of course, it's more time to be with your friends. I want to season my chicken, because the longer that it-- has salt, the more flavor it has. And I'm going to season it with some thyme and salt and pepper. I took the chicken breasts off of the chicken. I'm going to make stock with the other part, and use the legs to make something with as well. But the breasts are rather large. I think that this will be enough for four people. So I'm going to sprinkle it rather liberally with some chopped thyme, and then really liberally with the salt. I put a little olive oil on it, too, and I set it aside. If it's not very long before dinner begins, I'll just leave it out at room temperature-- maybe an hour or two. Because it's great to have it at room temperature before you're grilling. But if it's longer than that, I would put it in the refrigerator, and take it out an hour or so before you're going to cook it. All set. And I always wash my hands after I touch-- touch the chicken. I'm going to start the potatoes in cold water. They don't break up so easily that way. Little bit more salt water, kind of liberally. And while they're cooking I'm going to teach you about aioli. I'm going to make an aioli. And this is the most basic, delicious sauce of . It's with garlic paste, and really good olive oil, with salt. And you can put all different kinds of flavorings in. I mean, you could make it a green sauce with garlic. Actually, you could leave the garlic out, and just have a really tasty mayonnaise with lemon in it. To make this emulsion, it takes an egg that's at room temperature. It's very critical. Sometimes, when I want to make an aioli right at the moment, and I have cold eggs in the refrigerator, I'll pour hot water over the egg...

About the Instructor

Alice Waters started America’s farm-to-table revolution. When she founded the iconic restaurant Chez Panisse, her local, organic ingredients sparked a movement and earned her the James Beard Award for Outstanding Chef. In her first-ever online cooking class, Alice opens the doors of her home kitchen to teach you how to pick seasonal ingredients, create healthy and beautiful meals, and change your life by changing the food you make at home.

Featured MasterClass Instructor

Alice Waters

In 16+ lessons, learn to cook beautiful, seasonal meals at home from the James Beard Award-winning founder of Chez Panisse.

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