The Chopping Block - Chicago

During a team business trip to Chicago, we spent a fun evening at The Chopping Block learning some fun cooking skills and preparing a fantastic dinner.  My boss loves the stores, and the Lincoln Square location we chose had two kitchens for demonstrations and classes.  (It made me miss the Viking Cooking School we used to have in Franklin!)  I think cooking classes are a fantastic idea for corporate team-building events, because wine, food, and fun are perfect for breaking down walls.

Our menu (seasonal of course!) included:

• Appetizers (prepped before we arrived, ready to eat and delicious)
• Watercress salad with radish, goat cheese, and mint-yogurt dressing
• Fresh pasta with roasted red peppers, peas, and Parmesan
• Scaloppine of Chicken with roasted asparagus and cremini mushrooms
• Strawberry rhubarb crumble

My buddy MM knew this photo would be on the blog and so we hammed it up!

My team was in charge of the pasta and the salad.  I really enjoyed making fresh pasta again, and it was so delicious I feel inspired to make it at home.  We included herbs in the pasta dough, so it had a great look.  We used hand-cranked rollers, but I plan to use a mixer attachment at home so I can manage it myself a bit better.

The other team handled the chicken, veggies, and dessert, and it was all awesome.  The chicken was so flat and thin, and I liked the cream sauce more than I thought I would.  I had seconds of the pasta!  Fresh pasta is just amazing.

The dessert was phenomenal. The crumble had steel cut oats in it, adding a crunchy texture.  We topped it with vanilla bean gelato.  Heavenly!  I scraped the plate clean.

I wouldn't hesitate to recommend that you check out a class at The Chopping Block.  If I lived in Chicago, I'd take a week off just to do their full course!

P.S.  This was our ride.  For realz.