Online Cooking class with Stephanie Izard – Escape to Goat Island

What can you say about this year…

As we all try to make the best of it, I think it is safe to say that most of us are at a point where our cooking at home routine has hit a wall. We found an Online Cooking Class with Stephanie Izard to spice things up for us!

We try to order takeout often from the many local restaurants we love but even that has run its course. In an effort to find something different to make and help with menu planning we busted out all our cookbooks but even that got boring. Thankfully one of my favorite chefs got very creative and teamed up with Goldbelly to create a Cook-Along Kit for 2 + Free Cooking Class.

 

Just a little backstory… If you don’t know who Stephanie Izard is go google her. She is a James Beard Award-winner, “Top Chef” winner and she owns Chicago’s famed Girl & the Goat, as well as Little Goat, Duck Duck Goat, Cabra, Sugar Goat and soon to be Girl & the Goat LA. She is powerhouse in the kitchen and her unique menu creations are something special.

My husband worked in Chicago for a couple years and we got the opportunity to enjoy the fine dining that Chicago has to offer. Since Girl & the Goat is the top rated restaurant in that city and (I work hard to keep my Elite Yelp status) you better believe we stalked open table for months waiting for a reservation to open up. Boy was it worth the wait! The restaurant is beautiful, the staff was so helpful in making suggestions – oh and the wine list was great! What more could you ask for – AMAZING FOOD!

Chef Izard has created such a unique menu with flavor combinations and ingredients that are very unique such as “Goat Empanadas and Wood Oven Roasted Pig Face.” Don’t get me started on how amazing the vegetable appetizers are such as the Sautéed Green Beans and Honey Soy Glazed Brussels Sprouts (two of our favorites).

So back to my story of the Online Cooking Class with Stephanie Izard! I follow Chef Izard’s social media and she announced she was doing a cooking class – so you know I jumped at the chance to be a part of that. She partnered with Goldbelly (which by the way is a pricey site but very cool to be able to order food from restaurants all over the country). The class was 7 PM ET on Thursday, November 5 and our meal kit arrived the day before with everything. This package served 2 people and included everything we need to make the complete meal + cocktails. We got to participate in a LIVE culinary journey, where we made coconut-braised pork belly, shrimp papaya salad, tuna poke, Thai-inspired rice crepes, and two BYOB cocktails. Oh and she did not forget about dessert. Stephanie included a pre-made rum cake. Also included were full-size bottles of This Little Goat Went To Tokyo and This Little Goat Went To Southeast Asia sauces. For the $119 price tag with drink mixes included it was is a great date night.

The Whole Kit	The prep work before the class
India-spiced Tropical “Rum” Punch (wow did we like this. we couldn’t decided what run to use) The Sweet ‘n Spicy “Margarita” was also very good but my assistant/bartender/husband enjoyed the rum punch a little too much and forgot to take a photo of them. ?????	Cooking along with the Chef – the Tuna Poke was amazing! (the margaritas did get in the photo above)

Last but not least we brought Chef Izard along with us to the table to enjoy the amazing meal we made with her!

In case you are wondering – no this is not a sponsored or paid post. I am just trying to support my favorite chef’s and restaurants any way I can. We are so sad we will not be able to visit Chicago for our annual Christmas trip which always includes a visit to Girl & the Goat. If you can do the same and see if there is a way to support your favorite restaurants and hospitality business do what you can. If you want to see all the the Boka Restaurant Group has to offer for delivery and takeout and meal kits go check them out! And make sure to sign up for “The Goat” newsletter.

We purchased a ticket to the first Equality Should be Normal Virtual Gala which is taking place on Wednesday December 9th at 6:00pm! ESBN Founder Romel Murphy and Board Chair Stephanie Izard invite home viewers to cook an unforgettable meal alongside Chefs Marcus Samuelsson, Carla Hall, Joe Flamm, Kristen Kish, and Brian Jupiter and enjoy musical performances by Miguel Cervantes of Hamilton, Jonathan McReynolds and more!

Oh and it was just announced that Chef Izard will be doing a New Year Around the World Cook-Along Kit + Live Cooking Class. This would be a great gift idea for someone. If you want an invite to join goldbelly please leave us a comment with your email and we will invite you as a friend!

We will make sure to write a post about our fun evening!