Kathy Sali

By Robin Beckett

Photos by Chad Bremerman

As soon as you walk through the door and inhale the smells wafting from the stove, you’re hooked.

During one of her recent cooking classes, Kathy Sali’s home kitchen filled up quickly. Students streamed in and mingled with each other, and the smells of garlic and mango being chopped on a cutting board by guest chef Frank Magana of Prosser’s Picazo Seven Seventeen restaurant.

Sali began offering cooking classes with guest chefs in March, soon after she and her partner of 17 years, Paul Weaver, finished building their new house on Young Grade Road in October. Built to resemble a French farmhouse, her home became the inspiration for the name of her class, “La Maison de Falaise” — French for “cliff house.” An autodidactic cook, Sali began learning the skill in 1985, her inspiration a Junior League cookbook given to her by a close friend.

Now, “I love to cook,” Sali says.

“She’s a terrific cook,” interjects Weaver.

Together, Sali and Magana put the students at ease. Sali’s motto is, “Enter as strangers, leave as friends,” and it shows.

“I’m a hugger,” she said.

Magana is as quick with a knife as he is with a quip — not at all the type of domineering and despotic chef so often seen on television these days.

The kitchen’s working space is large enough for the students without feeling cavernous. When Sali and Weaver designed their new house, they did it with Sali’s dream kitchen in mind. To that end, it can seat 14 people along two granite-clad counters and has space for the same number of people at the large farmhouse table.[[Show as slideshow]]

La Maison de Falaise’s signature fleur de lis decorates everything from the hand-painted stove hood the custom recipe binders to the black aprons that students wear (and are available for purchase).  Sali has left no detail out, yet there is no pretentiousness.

La Maison de Falaise hosts two classes each month — a kids cooking class on the second Sunday (Sali’s daughter, Eschelle Nunley, and her 5-year old granddaughter, Blaire, are the instructors) and an adult cooking class on the second Thursday. Menus run the gamut, but during the class with Magana, some amazing food hit the plate: mango-glazed prawns and warm chevre wrapped in grape leaves, a Caesar salad, steamed clams, stuffed pork chops and chocolate crème brulee. Each course was paired with wines from locally-owned Naches Heights Vineyard and Wilridge Winery.

Along the way, students learned the tricks behind prawns that are perfectly done, and how little things like cooking spray can help one’s presentation (Yes, cooking spray).

The Caesar was delightfully different from the usual, made with mayonnaise and fish sauce instead of egg yolks and anchovies, yet it still had that distinctive “bite” one expects in a true caesar dressing.  The risotto, made with what Magana called  “mushroom tea,” was much more than the simplicity of its parts, with an earthy, almost nutty fullness of flavor … and it took exactly 18 minutes to make.

“Risotto should not ever take more than 18 minutes,” said Magana.  “Ever.”

The main dish, though, was the star of the show: pork chops stuffed with sun-dried tomato, parmesan and spinach.  They were prepared by the students, who learned how to properly cut the chop so stuffing can be inserted easily without letting it seep out during the cooking process.

To top it all off, a chocolate crème brulee was prepared and devoured after the last pork chop bone hit the plate.

At the end of the meal, there were a lot of satisfied customers.

Sali plans on adding basic cooking classes to her lineup soon.  Classes run anywhere from $45-$65 a session, depending on menu, but keep in mind that includes recipes, eating what one makes, and a lesson that lasts a lifetime.

But don’t take it too seriously, said Sali.

“It’s all about having fun.”

For more info or to register for a class, visit maisonfalaise.com.

Chocolate Creme Brulee
Courtesy of Chef Frank Magana of Picazo 7Seventeen

Serves 14 if using 3 oz. ramekins

Ingredients
1 qt. heavy cream
1 cup sugar
1 oz. chocolate liqueur (optional)
1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 oz. cocoa powder
2 oz. dark chocolate, chopped
11 large egg yolks

Procedure
*Preheat over to 350 F
*In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, add cream, sugar, liqueur and vanilla.
*When mixture is warm, add the cocoa powder and chocolate and whisk until blended.
*Place the egg yolks in a large, stainless steel bowl, break yolks, slowly add the warm chocolate mixture to the eggs a little at a time while whisking.
*Strain and pour into individual ramekins. Place the ramekins i a large baking pan.
*Pour enough hot water into the pan to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins.
*Bake until firm in the center; check after 30 minutes.
*Remove the ramekins from the water bath and let cool.
*Place in cooler for two hours.
*Dust with sugar and caramelize with a propane torch.

Members of the Bon Appetit dinner club trade laughs while in the kitchen.

Photos by Chad Bremerman

Today’s foodies might find themselves in a bit of a pickle: loving to cook, yet lacking the time it requires to don an apron, turn to the dog-eared page they’ve been salivating over for weeks and get chopping.

Enter the dinner club.

New idea?  No.  Great idea? Only if you like to cook and eat amazing food with some of your best friends.

Yakima’s Lisa Reinhart, 42, and Tahni Kalina, 38, formed their “Bon Appetit” dinner club in September 2001.

“We had this vision of what we wanted — of getting back to basics and entertaining in your home,” said Lisa, who with Tahni recently sat down with Yakima Magazine to discuss the group.

During those first dinners, getting the silver polished and the house cleaned to spotless was important, they said.

The Oct. 2 meeting of the Bon Appetit dinner club was at Tahni Kalina's house (pictured).

“None of that matters now,” said Tahni.  Now their Bon Appetit dinner club is about friendships forged over some of the best meals they’ve ever cooked — or eaten.

“It’s that relationship that you develop. You know you could call any one of these people for help,” Tahni said.

“And we have,” Lisa added.

The group now includes 10 people, including Lisa and Tahni, as well as Sandra and Jim Peterson, Michelle and Al Perales, Chase and Stacy Kellogg and Kevin and Kim Kershaw.

To ensure that every experience was a good one, the club created rules for participation.

First, all meals come from a specific issue of Bon Appetit magazine, and are assigned by that month’s host, who makes the main course.  This way, no single member or couple is saddled with making an entire meal.

Second, if a member cannot attend one of the monthly dinner clubs, that member must still make his or her component of the dinner.

And third, everybody brings wine.  “We go through a lot of bottles of wine,” said Tahni.

It’s a recipe for success.  And really delicious food.

The recipe for the salad and the entire meal was from the October 2009 edition of Bon Appetit magazine.

Members of the group were chosen carefully, based on how well they enjoyed cooking and how dependable they were—after all, if the starch doesn’t show up, the meal isn’t complete.

Lisa and Tahni reminisced about the meals they’ve eaten through the years … mouth-watering food like roasted mushroom and garlic soup; gorgonzola and bacon potato salad; hazelnut gelato profiteroles with warm Kahlua sauce; chocolate this and chocolate that.  Greek-inspired menus, Italian-inspired menus, BBQ.  They’ve done it all.

“We shot for the moon a couple of times,” said Lisa.  “And we got it.”

Lisa quipped that they were way ahead of the curve when it comes to today’s pear/gorgonzola/caramelized onion craze.  They were putting those ingredients together years ago, she said with a wave of her hand.

“We’ve never had a bad meal,” insisted Lisa.  Tahni raised an eyebrow.

The Bon Appetit dinner club gathers around the table.

“Except for one salad,” Lisa added.  “That I made.”

They both laughed, showing how close they’ve grown over the years.

Lisa insisted that Tahni’s talent is the real thing, calling her an “amazing, over-the-top cook.” Tahni has had some training from the French, through a Provence cooking tour in 2000 and a two-week turn in Paris at L’Ecole de Cuisine Alain Ducasse in 2005.

Tahni’s education at Ducasse taught her a lot about culinary science, with each day focusing on some new food group.  One day she spent making nothing but chocolate desserts — something of a foodie dream. Several years ago, it was Tahni who gave Lisa’s baby daughter, Grace, her first taste of chocolate.

Some meal assignments are introduced with elaborate invitations… some with a quick Evite. Meals have required scavenger hunts for ingredients not readily available locally.  Members comb the farmers market, local grocery and specialty stores and even local restaurants in search of that one elusive item.  No matter the culinary challenge, each cook rose to the occasion and delivered, month in and month out.

Lisa Reinhart, one of the original members of the Bon Appetit dinner club.

“We always knew that if it was Bon Appetit, it was a priority,” said Lisa.

Over the years, however, the dinner group evolved, some couples dropping, replaced by others.  Life’s inevitable dramas and scheduling conflicts dealt the club some blows, and it actually stopped meeting regularly at the end of last year.  Lisa and Tahni missed it terribly.

The friendships proved too important, however, and in October, they resumed their club with a dinner at Tahni’s house — the first in more than nine months.  Lisa described her anticipation for the Oct. 2 event as “giddy.”

That evening at Tahni’s house, everyone—even special guests—dressed to the nines and crowded into Tahni’s cozy kitchen.  They cooked, ate, drank and caught up.  Laughter was infectious.  Music filled the background, coming from a stereo in the dining room, where a long table was set with a harvest theme, candles glowing, and place cards set just so.

The menu was from the October edition of Bon Appetit magazine, and sounded delicious.

Kim was in charge of the appetizer: Greenmarket Beans and Chard on Grilled Bread.

The Spiced Pumpkin, Lentil and Goat Cheese salad was made by Michelle.

The main course: New York Strip & Fall Vegetable Roast

Tahni cooked the main course — a New York Strip and Fall Vegetable Roast with Mustard Cream Sauce.

To accompany the roast, Sandra made Sauteed Kale with Garlic, Shallots and Capers, and Stacy made Crème Fraiche and Chive Mashed Potatoes.

To finish the dinner Lisa made a Chocolate Stout Layer Cake with Chocolate Frosting.

After saying grace with “I Will Survive” playing in the background—Lisa’s shoulders betraying her laughter—the group’s conversation bounced between home, work, and of course, the food.  At one point, they discussed the validity, indeed the very reality, of the cranberry bean.

“Are there really cranberry beans out there?” Lisa asked.

“I mean, I’m sorry … why would you call that a cranberry bean?” said Stacy, while Chase filled wine glasses. (According to foodreference.com, there is such a thing as a cranberry bean. It is reputed to taste like a chestnut.)

“That’s the neat thing about this is that you get to sample food that you wouldn’t normally try,” Chase said.

Each course was met with jokes, memories relived, and laughs that can only come from the depth of true friendship.

Lisa's dessert was a hit: Chocolate Stout Layer Cake with Chocolate Frosting.

Everyone agreed that the food was amazing, too.  But that was to be expected.