A lovely, but very rich, set of recipes from Normandy, presented by chef Peter Belknap. For some reason we didn’t need to wash nearly as many dishes as usual – very relaxing!

The kickoff was a very tasty salad of mixed greens topped with sweet spiced walnuts, apple and pear slices, a garlicky/mustardy vinaigrette, and a slice of baguette that had been spread with goat cheese and broiled. I could eat this sort of thing every day. A viognier was poured to go with this, which was a nice match.

The second course was a real doozy – a seafood tart (more of a quiche, really) full of cheese, mussels, shrimp and eggs, served alongside a scoop of cannellini beans baked with bacon, cream and more cheese. Total silence fell after this was served, always a good sign at a cooking class or dinner party. The last of my viognier actually didn’t go very well with this, so I was happy that the second wine was a very tart, grapefruity sauvignon blanc that cut right through the rich beans and cream.

Despite the solidity of the previous course, we did serve more food. The last course was a piece of sole fillet, panfried then baked, with potato pancakes and a scoop of seafood-cream-apple sauce on top. It was a nice flavor combination.

Luckily for us all, there was no dessert.