Still safety-first

Area cooking classes fill up quickly

Because COVID-19-related protocols require masks and social distancing, area cooking classes, which are smaller and more personal, fill up quickly. Hands-on classes have personal work stations, where no one else except the student touches the food during preparation.

Now that many of us are vaccinated or soon will be, the demand for such classes is growing.

Here are some classes available this month.

Register at 440-729-1110 for the following three classes at the Loretta Paganini School of Cooking, 8623 Mayfield Road, Chester Township. Visit LPSCINC.com for more information and additional classes.

Mastering Mother Sauces is a 2.5-hour hands-on class at 6 p.m. April 14. Chef Kate Csepegi will show how to pair sauces with desserts and entrees as she teaches principles of sauce making, stock making, sauteing, poaching and roasting with a menu of Béchamel-Kentucky Hot Brown Bites; Veloute-Herb Roasted Chicken with Pan Gravy; Tomato-Cavatelli with Tomato-Basil

Sauce; Espagnole Sauce-Beef Bourguignon; and Hollandaise-Zabaglione with Fresh Berries. The fee is $65. Scrumptious Desserts is a two-hour class for cooks 12 to 17 years old that will be led by Csepegi at 1 p.m. April 17. Students will learn to make and eat Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting; Lemon-Blueberry Cheesecake; Pineapple UpsideDown Cake; and Red Velvet Whoopie Pies.

The fee is $55.

Chef Tim McCoy will show why salt is the most important ingredient of all in With a Grain of Salt, a 2.5-hour class at 6 p.m. April 21.

The class will be focused on preserving, seasoning and flavoring foods, and he will teach how to identify and taste different salts, pairing them with foods, discovering salt block and salt crust roasting.

He’ll illustrate techniques for roasting potatoes and squash, a process for making dulce de leche and more. The evening’s menu: Salt Block-Roasted Shrimp on Pineapple Salsa; Tomato and Cucumber Salad with Chive Vinaigrette and Celtic Sea Salt; Lemon and Herb-Stuffed Whole Snapper Roasted in Salt Casing;

Roasted Fingerling Potatoes with Truffle-Scented Sea Salt; Butternut Squash Puree with Black Cypress Sea Salt; and Chocolate and Dulce de Leche Torte with Mirror Glaze and Hawaiian Red Sea Salt.

The fee is $65. Linda Wintersteller at Mentor’s Wildwood Cultural Center, 7645 Little Mountain Road, said cooking classes there sell out almost as soon as they’re announced. Classes, which take place from 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesdays, cost $18, with Mentor residents receiving a $3 discount. Each class also has a food fee, payable to the instructor on class night. Register and get more information at 440974-5735 or visit Facebook. com/WildwoodCulturalCenter.

Upcoming classes from longtime Wildwood instructor Judi Strauss include Pierogi Making on April 13, Onions and Garlic on April 20 and Gifts from Herbs on April 27.

New this spring are Lil Creators classes from instructor Heather Zimmerman for kids 7 to 11. A Sweet Treats class from 4:30 to 6 p.m. April 14 will create a gnome cupcake, frog cupcakes, flower cupcakes and sweet treat mushroom cupcakes.