One of the most fun things I've done during quarantine (and yeah, it's a pretty short list, since we mostly stay home a lot) is to teach Zoom cooking classes to women in the Sisterhood at my temple. Twice, my friend Karen and I team-taught two or three recipes in one session. This was especially helpful as we did a really good job of handing off to each other, sharing expertise, and fielding questions with each other's help. In our first class, we made a rich chocolate pudding and chocolate chip meringue cookies. Yes, that meant a lot of dessert for our students... but the pudding uses only egg yolks, and the meringues use only egg whites! No waste! In our second class, we went savory: yeasted Turkish flatbreads paired with hummus and tzatziki. They went together thematically, and making the dips was a great way to spend the hour the dough needed to rise.
Last month, I helped one of our rabbis and one of our cantors develop a Rosh Hashanah cooking series. We put together four classes over three weeks to share fun and different high holiday recipes. The idea was to teach the participants these recipes, and then they would feel comfortable incorporating new recipes into their holiday menus. My friend Sherri taught one session - a whole branzino with a salad featuring pomegranates. Our preschool director taught participants to make apple challah, shaped round for the New Year. I taught two sessions. The first was savory - roast chicken with dates, apples and onions and a side of Ottolenghi-inspired roasted carrots. The second was my great aunt Ruth's apple cake. As it happens, it is a widely-popular internet recipe for apple cake, but I think of it as her special recipe because she is the one who taught it to me.
It turns out that I really enjoy teaching Zoom cooking classes! It's been fun and challenging. I often have to slow down, or just hang out and wait in between steps while the students catch up. This would probably be alleviated if we were together in person, because I could walk around and see everyone's progress. I like to keep up a friendly chatter, which makes it fun. I fill in personal anecdotes about cooking, interesting food trivia, or tips and tricks. I answer questions and suggest substitutions for ingredients and equipment. I try my best to set everyone's worries at ease and make cooking or baking feel accessible... this is supposed to be fun, not stressful! It doesn't have to be perfect! It will taste delicious no matter what!
Here's a pic from our apple cake class. These are some of the women (and daughters) from our Sisterhood group. I'm in the middle on the top row. I have no idea how the Food Network chefs cook with their hair down, so mine is always tied up and I'm always wearing an apron.
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