Today’s Friday field trip is a visit to one of my favorite places, Terrain, to attend a cooking class. This class is different than others I have attended, because it focuses on recipes from a specific area of the U.S. rather than those made with a specific ingredient. The area is Brooklyn, NY. The inspiration for the class is a book titled The New Brooklyn Cookbook.

If you are like me, the last thing you want to focus on after all the holiday eating is to eat! So, just sit back and enjoy looking at the photos!

The first thing we created together during class was some pizza…you really can’t think of any New York food without thinking of pizza! Even though I have made pizza many times before, I enjoyed the discussion as our instructor, Jen, led the class. How can you not have a fun time when you are kneading pizza dough!

A photo of our Terrain cooking class instructor. The Westport store offers a fun variety of cooking and craft classes. Here the instructor is creating Brooklyn style pizza.

Of course, an added bonus while taking any class at Terrain is to check out all the beautiful products they have in the store…

Here is a perfect example… I fell in love with this beautiful measuring vessel that our ice water was served in!

Another product at the store that we used during the class was the white truffle salt…a great addition to one of our pizzas!

The freshest ingredients are always on hand for the classes at Terrain…

And, in this particular case, since we were checking out all things Brooklyn…

The pizza was a really fun thing to create, and even more fun to eat!

We had alot of fun with it. But, as I mentioned, I have made pizza before…The real “lightbulb” moment recipe for me was the next one we tried out from the book…

I was pretty much a ‘beet virgin’ …beets were always a staple at my grandmother’s table when I was growing up, but they have never been a part of my kitchen. The roasted beet salad recipe that we tried out from the Brooklyn cookbook totally opened up my mind to beets!

The salad we created was incredible…

The cooking class was a really fun time. I’ve had a couple Brooklyn eateries on my list of places to visit for quite some time…this class may have just given me a little more motivation to follow through on my Brooklyn visit. I was told the cookbook that provided the

recipes we used during the class is no longer available in print. I looked on Amazon and found that they have a digital copy, if you are interested in obtaining The New Brooklyn Cookbook. It is a great collection of recipes from some wonderful restaurants in Brooklyn.

If, like me, you are interested in exploring more recipes using beets, I am currently trying some interesting ones…For those of us new to beets, Angela, on the blog Oh She Glows has really great, clear instructions on how to create a Citrus Beet Salad with Creamy Avacado Lime Dressing. Chef Martin Kouprie from Toronto creates a beet salad using chocolate! I love to see inventive uses for chocolate…his recipe is like a kitchen stadium creation!

Do you have a favorite beet salad recipe? I would love to hear about it!

I hope you enjoyed this peek into a Terrain cooking class…maybe it will spark a trip to Brooklyn…or, trying a new beet recipe! If you live anywhere near one of the two Terrain locations, I would recommend trying one of the classes.

Have a wonderful weekend as 2012 comes to its close.

Thanks so much for visiting, Jackie