Workshops

A popular dish throughout the Levant (Eastern Mediterranean), kibbeh comes in a vast array of shapes and flavours — in Syria, Aleppo alone is said to have more than twenty different kinds. Best known are made from a bulgur dough combined with finely ground meat and spices, carefully stuffed and formed into small football-shaped dumplings that are fried to a crisp, dark auburn. Making and stuffing kibbeh is a group activity just about every Syrian woman would have participated in at one time or another — virtually no major occasion occurs without the appearance of a platter (or mountain) of kibbeh at the table. Talented cook, musician and co-founder of Newcomer Kitchen, Rahaf Alakbani is no stranger to making kibbeh, and she will be sharing her favourite recipes and techniques in this fun, hands-on class.

Gnocchi are the magical lovechild of pasta and dumplings, versatile enough to be rustic and homey comfort food, or delicate and elegant special-occasion fare. Their secret lies in how easy they can be to make from scratch, once you know how. Laura Guanti will introduce you to some of the many varieties of gnocchi, start with the simplest: a rustic, hand-shaped pasta of semolina flour and water formed on special press board. From here you’ll move on to the more famous classic potato gnocchi but with a few interesting variations: regular white potato gnocchi, a green spinach gnocchi, and black squid ink gnocchi!

The Depanneur welcomes Olga Galperin of Nurtur Health - creator and purveyor of handcrafted beauty and wellness botanical products -  to lead a workshop featuring three distinct healthy and fun preparations that will enhance your pantry and allow you to create unique gifts for friends and family.

Dive into the flavours of Rome’s most beloved street bites — humble, honest, and packed with flavour. This hands-on class brings together simple ingredients and traditional techniques to recreate the kind of food one might grab from a local bakery in Rome, or snack on wandering through a Roman piazza. Join Italian cook Erica Foffi for this exploration of some of Rome’s most iconic street food dishes.

Delicious Maple Syrup - what better way to celebrate this quintessentially Canadian ingredient than two delicious maple recipes: Maple Butter Tarts and Maple Scones. Let 20-year cookie biz veteran Alan Zelcovitch walk you through creating delicious maple syrup butter tarts — they are so much easier to make than you might imagine — and you may never want to buy another butter tart again! You will learn the secrets of a beautifully flaky crust, and exactly how to make the perfect maple filling as well. As a bonus, you'll  be shown a great trick to easily remove them from the pan. Building on these pastry skills, you'll also get other make some fabulous Maple Scones as well. These flakey, layered scones can be frozen in raw, and baked off as you need them, so you are always ready to enjoy freshest scones, warm from the oven.

Breaking down a whole animal is not only more cost-effective than buying pre-cut parts, but it give you much more control over the resulting cuts, allowing you to optimize them for specific dishes. Join Chef Taylor Parker for an in-depth introduction to whole-animal butchery. This hands-on, day-long workshop will cover the techniques and cuts for three primary types of animal encountered in the kitchen: quadrupeds, fish and fowl.