Gracie’s Place, located in the heart of downtown Williamston, MI, is a favorite gathering spot for cocktails,music, and upscale dining. It has a warm and inviting atmosphere, with brick walls, a stamped tin ceiling, and the works of local artists decorating the walls. Their menu offers classic American bistro cuisine,with a fantastic variety of entrees. Locals rave about the grilled strip steak, garlic-soy pork tenderloin, and their famous macaroni and cheese, which can be ordered one of four ways,all of them delicious. My husband tried the Pittsburgh macaroni and cheese one evening, (white cheddar, skirt steak, roasted red peppers, caramelized onions) and when I sampled it, I had to physically restrain myself from reaching across the table and taking it from him. He was very lucky that we were in a public place, or he would have almost certainly been the victim of entree larceny!
Every so often, Gracie’s Place offers a cooking class, under the instruction of executive chef, James Sumpter. Their September class focused on a classic Italian menu, with five courses. Polenta, peach compote, caprese salad with hand-pulled mozzarella, wild mushroom risotto, rosemary-garlic rack of lamb, and gelato,to finish the meal. Prep tables, loaded with every tool and ingredient we would need for the evening, waited for us. To save time, dry ingredients were pre-measured and laid out, there were also portable burners in place for us.
Everyone gathered in the main dining room of Gracie’s, where Chef James greeted us with glasses of Pinot to enjoy, while we got organized into groups of four. My friend Becky and I were introduced to Denise, and Carol, a couple of lovely ladies who were excited to learn a few new culinary tricks. Another couple, Peter and Cathy, arrived a few moments later, and we all decided to work together, making us the largest group in the class. No worries though, there was plenty for everyone to do, plenty of wine for everyone to enjoy, so we all felt that “the more the merrier” was definitely the motto for the evening.
Our group went to the polenta, and peach compote station, and soon we were busily chopping onions, garlic, and celery, according to the recipe’s directions. The recipe is fairly basic, so we didn’t need much help from Chef James. He came over and briefly outlined what we needed to do, and make sure all was in order; then he was off to work with the other groups, who had more complicated dishes. Carol and Denise worked on the peach compote, using beautiful, in-season Michigan peaches.
After we had our prep work done, we sauteed celery, garlic, and onions until the onions were soft and translucent, then added chicken stock and brought it to a boil. When the stock came to a boil, we added polenta, and let it cook until it was done. It smelled heavenly, and we monitored it closely, until it had achieved the proper consistency. We finished it by adding butter and grated parmesano-reggiano. We all tasted the dish, (it was the responsible thing to do) and agreed that we were all going to make this delicious, simple dish as soon as possible.
Then it was our turn to make the wild mushroom risotto. We chopped more onions and garlic, and sliced up some mushrooms. Peter tossed those in the skillet and cooked them, while Becky grated lemon zest and chopped mint for a gremolata to serve with the rack of lamb. Everyone was very curious about the risotto, because we all love it, but every member of our group had thought of risotto as a high-maintenance, intimidating dish to prepare.
Turns out, it’s not so bad. I have always shied away from trying risotto, because I thought risotto required constant vigilance. The idea of all of the stirring, and the sauteing, and the stirring, and the adding of stock, and THE STIRRING, always with the stirring, made me feel exhausted just thinking about it. But where I thought the risotto-making process needed the level of attention that is required by say, a nuclear power plant operator; it is actually more like the level attention that is required if you are Homer Simpson, nuclear power plant operator. Seriously, you just stay in the vicinity, giving it the occasional stir, and topping it up with a bit of wine or stock, as it reduces.We ended up with gorgeous, creamy (even though there is no cream in risotto) risotto that was universally declared, incredible.
The next portion of the evening was the one that I was really looking forward to; making our own fresh mozzarella. We really love fresh mozzarella, and the idea of making it ourselves seemed like a lot of fun. Chef James had some preliminary work done. He had mixed non-homogenized milk with calcium chloride, and rennet, along with a few other things, and a large bowl of curds and whey were waiting for us. After he drained the whey, he took a handful of the the unprocessed mozzarella, and put it in to a large stainless steel bowl. Then he poured steaming hot, heavily salted water over the mozzarella and let is sit for a moment or two. Then he very carefully (remember, it’s hot!) took the mozzarella and began to pull it, as though it were a lump of pizza dough. The cheese stretched and smoothed out, and began to glisten. Before long, he had a ball of fresh mozzarella that was ready to go into our caprese salad. Although making your own cheese definitely requires some prep and getting a few ingredients that don’t normally reside in my pantry, I think this will be a great project to try at home.
As we put together our lovely salad made with heirloom tomatoes, fresh basil, fresh mozzarella, olive oil and balsmaic vinegar, we really got inspired. Denise came up with the very clever idea to roll the mozzarella flat and line it with fresh basil leaves. Then she rolled it back up into a log, and cut out pretty spirals of cheese and basil. We used those to top the heirloom tomato slices, and we drizzled those with some balsamic vinegar and olive oil. We finished the dish by sprinkling more fresh basil over the platter. A couple of the other teams were checking out how we were plating the salad, and started to discuss what they wanted to do. Then something funny happened, we found ourselves in the midst of a reality show. The other teams started engaging in a little bit of, dare I say, smack talking? The other teams started talking up their big plans for their salad, and how it would totally show ours up! Top Chef and Hell’s Kitchen cheftestants had nothing on our fellow attendees, let me tell you! Actually everyone was giggling and laughing, it was all in good fun. And to give credit, where credit is due; the other teams really stepped up and got creative with their salads, one team even created long braids out of their mozzarella, which they used to line their platter. Everyone really did a beautiful job.
We lined up everyone’s platters on the bar to admire. Everyone did a fantastic job, and when we sampled these delicious appetizers, everyone agreed that the hand-pulled mozzarella made this dish really spectacular!
Then it was time for the Bill Nye the Science Guy portion of the evening. Chef James showed us how to make a quick gelato, with a little twist. After we mixed and cooked the base for it, he put it into a stand mixer and added dry ice. It froze the gelato in just a few moments, and the dry ice added a slightly fizzy aftertaste to the final product; it was unusual, but delicious! Best of all, it can be done with just a mixer, no ice cream maker was necessary! We added shaved chocolate and fresh raspberries to our batch, and it was incredible!
We left the actual grilling of the garlic-rosemary rack of lamb to the experienced sous-chefs at Gracie’s Place. A commercial grill is definitely something that only an experienced chef should use, and it would have been criminal to burn the tender lamb.
When the meal preparations were complete, we pushed all of the tables together, and brought out the polenta, risotto, and compote, which had been in warming ovens waiting for us. Everything was served family-style, and we settled in to enjoy our delicious meal that we had worked so hard to make!
The payoff. We had an incredible meal, accompanied with good wine, and great company. Everyone chatted while we ate, and marveled at how much we had learned, and enjoyed that evening. I would seriously recommend anyone that gets a chance to try something like this, do so. The evening far surpassed any of our expectations; giving us a lovely evening, with great food, some fascinating and useful cooking tips and tricks, and the opportunity to meet some wonderful people in our community who shared a common interest in food and cooking! Gracie’s Place is a great spot for dining, and they also host parties there, so you may want to consider it for bridal showers, wedding receptions, anniversary parties or other special occasions! Thanks, Chef James, and Gracie’s Place, for a great evening!
