What better way to cook with farm-fresh food than right here on the farm? Hawthorne Valley Farm has just teamed up with Amy Cotler, locavore extraordinaire, who will teach 4 hands-on cooking classes, over the course of the growing season, in our new teaching kitchen, with each session finishing with a class-cooked meal.

Amy is a veteran chef, cooking teacher, and farm-to-table activist, as well as the author of the new book and blog, The Locavore Way: Discover and Enjoy the Pleasures of Local Food (see BIO below). All classes, each unique, will emphasize cooking as a locavore, who is anyone who seeks out and savors local foods. The sessions will liberate students to prepare best-of-the-season dishes using simple techniques and open recipes that are both flexible and delicious. Over the months, they flow with the season, starting with Locavore Spring Celebration, focusing on early greens and strawberry crops; we move into Cook with the Season's Bounty, getting the most out of your CSA share. During the peak of the season, we offer a candlelit dinner to Celebrate the Harvest, and we end with being outdoors on the farm for a Farm Food Feast party. (Weather is variable, so menus are subject to change, if necessary, in order to use the best of the season's crops.) All classes include a meal.

"KEY INGREDIENTS" for all sessions
cost per class, per person: $70
bring with you to class: chef's knife, paring knife, and an apron

CLASS #1: THE LOCAVORE WAY: JUMP START THE SEASON
Spring Celebration: Greens and Strawberry Workshop
Friday, June 25, 5:00–9:00 p.m.

From the spring on, this is the season to for greens, both for salads and to cook. We'll harvest some of ours from the garden, and then learn how to prepare both salad and cooking greens all season long. We'll start with Three Fabulous Ways to Toss Greens, which will include the elements of dressing techniques; Variations on Cooked Greens Three Ways (with pasta, eggs, and grains), which will include lots of ideas to take home; and finish up with a Peak-of-the-Season Warm Strawberry Shortcake. Learn recipes and techniques and how to improvise with the best farm-fresh foods in season, from green salad all season long to yogurt-berry soup with any kind of fruit! Farm-fresh local ingredients are used whenever possible, of course! Hands-on class ends with the class-cooked meal.

CLASS #2: THE LOCAVORE WAY: COOK WITH THE SEASON'S BOUNTY
Flexible and forgiving recipes and improvisations for your CSA share
Friday, July 23, 5:00–9:00 p.m.

One of the keys to great cooking with your CSA bounty is to learn to know your produce and how to adapt recipes to each week's share. Discover several of adaptations of Best of the CSA Risotto, with suggestions for enjoying it all season long, made with whatever is available. We'll follow this by variations on a Warm Market Salad with What's-in-Season Vegetables, as well as a cooked greens lesson and tasting with Two Ways to Wok Greens. Using the best fruits around, we'll finish with two kinds of Fruit-Share Kuchen. The class will also include a "better know our vegetables" talk and tasting, shedding light on some of the less familiar vegetables, such as celery root and kohlrabi. This class is a combination of talk, demonstration, and hands-on cooking, culminating with a shared meal.

CLASS #3:LOCAVORE CANDLELIGHT PEAK-OF-THE-SEASON LOCAVORES' SUPPER
A celebration of the gifts of the Earth
Saturday, August 21, 4:00–8:00 p.m.(bring your sweetie to the dinner)
This hands-on class will focus on summer's bounty right here on the farm. Participants will learn recipes to take home, preparation techniques, and how to be make a successful, creative dish with available produce. The class will prepare candle-lit dinner. This is a great learning and social experience for an individual, a couple, or a group of friends. The meal will include The Best Fresh Corn Soup, Roasted Farm Raised Pork with Tomatillo Salsa, Orechiette with Piquant Heirloom Tomato Toss, Best of the Season Garlic Vegetable, and Baby Berry Tartlets with Fresh Mint.

CLASS #4: THE LOCAVORE WAY: CELEBRATE THE HARVEST OUTDOOR FARM FOOD FEAST
On The Farm Outdoor Locavore Harvest Feast
Sunday, September 5 (Labor Day weekend), 11:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m. (family-style)

Do you know where you food comes from? Yes! Where you'll be eating it! Join a class where we'll cook food right on the farm to celebrate the season's harvest. The meal we'll prepare and savor together will be created from the best of the harvest, using recipes than can be adapted according to your needs at home. Farm-Smoked Whole Chicken served with Piquant Herb Sauce and Heirloom Tomato Salsa, Eggplant-Baguette Sandwiches with Tangy Greens and Sesame Dressing, Corn with Lime-Basil Butter, Bulgur Salad with Best-of-the-Season Vegetables, Grilled Rosemary Potato Bundles, Greens and Herb Toss, and Best Berry Cobbler with Homemade Creme Fraiche.

ABOUT AMY COTLER
Veteran chef, cooking teacher and advocate of local eating, Amy Cotler is author of The Locavore Way: Discover and Enjoy the Pleasures of Locally Grown Food and a weekly local food blog. She now consults, teaches cooking and lectures on food and farm to table and school issues. She was the founding director of Berkshire Grown, a non-profit supporting local food and farms and consultant for the Chefs Collaborative, a national organization of chefs boosting sustainably agriculture. She has also worked as the web food forum host for the New York Times and developed close to 1000 recipes, including many for the Joy of Cooking. otler taught home cooks and professionals at Institute for Culinary Education and Culinary Institute of America. Amy lives in Western Massachusetts, where she also works as a private chef and culinary coach for individuals. Learn more on her website or contact her at Amy@FreshCotler.com

To sign up for the classes or for more information on them, call Caroline Smialek at the Hawthorne Valley Farm Learning Center at 518-672-7500 x 105 or email her.