Living Maxwell
Archive
My Friday Night Dinner at The Natural Gourmet Institute in NYC
The Natural Gourmet Institute, a cooking school in NYC that places a very strong emphasis on organic, hosts Friday night dinners that are open to the public.
I had been hearing very good things about these fixed-price, four-course dinners at The Natural Gourmet Institute and finally decided to check it out last week. Here’s what I had:
HIJIKI CAVIAR BLINI
This was a very clever use of hijiki, a sea vegetable that I enjoy a lot.
WALDORF SALAD & MUSHROOM CONSOMME WITH GARLIC TOAST
While the salad may appear to have a heavy cream sauce, the dressing is actually dairy-free and made from cashew milk. The soup provided great balance to the crisp and refreshing salad.
TEMPEH-QUINOA LOAF SUPREME
It was a little embarrassing when this meal was served because I devoured it in about 10 seconds while everyone else had barely eaten a bite of their food.
I have had a ton of quinoa and a decent amount of tempeh in my life but never together in a loaf. It really worked and had fantastic texture and flavors.
Alongside the quinoa-tempeh loaf were kale, green beans, onion rings, and a potato, Jerusalem artichoke and cauliflower duchesse.
BANANA BOAT SUNDAE
As with everything else in this meal, the dessert was dairy-free. Coconut milk was the base ingredient, and brown rice syrup was the main sweetener.
This dairy-free/sugar-free ice cream sundae was rich and decadent.
—
Overall, I was very impressed with the meal at The Natural Gourmet Institute. Everything was incredibly fresh, and I really liked the variety of the flavors presented in each course.
And once the meal was over, the chefs came out and we were able to ask them questions about how the food was prepared. How great is that?
While I have never taken any cooking classes at The Natural Gourmet Institute, I would like to do so soon and left my Friday dinner with an extremely favorable impression of the school.
If you’re ever looking for something fun and different to do on a weekend in NYC, definitely give these Friday night dinners at The Natural Gourmet Institute a try. You’ll eat some fantastic food and meet some really interesting people.
