Week of September 19-24, 2010

From the Field to the Table

Have you ever wanted to know how to make the tastiest and most nutritious meals with fresh-picked garden produce? This delicious and illuminating workshop combines organic gardening with organic gourmet cooking and feasting. Join vegetarian chef, cooking teacher, and cookbook author, Leslie Cerier, and Esalen farm and garden manager and passionate sustainable farmer and gardener, Shirley Ward, for a fun and informative hands-on cooking and gardening experience.

Monday through Thursday, we will start in the garden, and harvest crops for our lunch. Shirley will show us the best in hands-on harvest techniques, crop varieties grown in Big Sur's coastal environment, propagation (seed starting) and planting methods, irrigation, soil building, composting, cultivation, and the benefits of companion planting: combining produce with flowers and herbs.

Back in the Big House kitchen, Leslie will teach you how to mix and match our freshly harvested produce and herbs with whole grains, beans, local goat cheeses, and more, as we cook our lunch from scratch with gratitude for the Esalen farm and garden.

Leslie will show you how to cook like an artist, design and prepare colorful meals, create global flavors from the fresh herbs and spices, and compose dishes using contrasting shapes and textures. Eat like kings and queens while deepening your connection to the land and lessening your carbon footprint.

Recommended reading: Cerier, Gluten-Free Recipes for the Conscious Cook, A Seasonal Vegetarian Cookbook, and Going Wild in the Kitchen.

($50 ingredient fee paid directly to the leaders)

Reservations Information (Accommodations & Pricing)