I attended the Sean Sinclair from Luminaria class on Saturday morning at Las Cosas. This was a class with a guest chef. When we have a guest chef, Chef Johnny Vee who is the regular instructor is still present, but the recipes are from the guest chef – in this case Chef Sean Sinclair. The class did go over time, but I don’t think bothered most of us. I had no idea we were running over until Chef Johnny Vee mentioned it.
Class description: Join Santa Fe’s hottest new chef as he shares with us recipes from his autumn menu at the fabulous Luminaria at Inn & Spa at Loretto. Sean’s resume includes gigs at Albuquerque’s Farm & Table as well as the heralded Inn at Little Washington. Don’t miss this rising star as we prepare: Crispy Brussels Sprouts with Walnut, Honey Gastrique, Craisens & Red Chile; Fall Risotto with Pumpkin, Apple & Pepitas; Pistachio crusted Lamb with Anasazi Bean Cassoulet, and for dessert, Pecan Cobbler. (Hands-On)
Per usual the menu items are split up among class members. There were a lot of people in this class so each menu item had four people working on it. The pecan cobbler was changed to pecan pie tart. Chef Sean explained that the pecan cobbler recipe that he was thinking of is one served at his current restaurant and it a bit involved. Apparently they make their own phyllo dough and it is multi-day thing.
With three other classmates (all who had made pies before), I got to work on the pecan pie tart. I was glad it was pecan pie rather than a fruit pie. I do not like fruit pies.
Pecan Pie Tart
So we decided to have our group of four divide the work thusly: two people worked on the pie filling and two people worked on the pie crust. The pie crust was more work and I was on pie crust duty. I do not have photos of the prep work because my hands were either messy from cutting up shortening and butter or messy from mixing the crust dough by hand.
The pie crust had all-purpose flour, salt, shortening (or I think it was really lard), salted butter, egg, white vinegar and cold water.
The photo below is of the pie crust after all prep steps had been taken and it had chilled in the refrigerator for a bit.
The pie filling was prepared by two others in our group. It has sugar, brown sugar, salt, dark corn syrup, melted salted butter, vanilla, and eggs.
Back to the pie crust. The dough was place on a floured surface and rolled out. Then we used the tart pan to create the rough circle of dough that would be pressed into the pan.
The tart pan was put back together, placed right-side up, and the dough was carefully laid over the pan. Then it was pressed carefully into the pan. Next the excess dough was cut away.
Next the pecans were placed in a flat layer on the piece crust and the syrup mixture was poured on top.
The pie tart right out of the oven.
The pie tart after removing the tart pan.
The pie tart served with whipped cream.
The Other Menu Items
Crispy Brussels Sprouts with Walnuts, Honey Gastrique, Craisins & Red Chile included Brussels sprouts mixture and honey gastrique.
Brussels Sprouts – Brussels sprouts, walnuts, dried cranberries, Chimayo red chili powder, and green grapes. Brussels sprouts were fried in vegetable oil.
Honey Gastrique – honey, apple cider vinegar, and sherry.
Fall Risotto with Pumpkin, Apple & Pepitas included pumpkin puree, risotto, and topping.
Pumpkin Puree – sugar pumpkin, unsalted butter, and sweet yellow onion.
Risotto – arborio rice, dry white wine, vegetable stock, water, sweet yellow onion, unsalted butter, and Granny Smith apple.
Topping – toasted pumpkin seeds, parmesan cheese, salt and pepper.
Pistachio Crusted Lamb with Anasazi Bean Cassoulet included cassoulet, lamb, and topping.
Cassoulet – Anasazi dried beans, ham hock, chicken stock, and salt. Pressure cooker was involved. After pressure cooking, tomato concise and tarragon was added.
Lamb – Lamb T-bones, salt and pepper. It was medium rare.
Topping – Black pepper, salt, and toasted pistachio.
If Only This Were Springfield 