January 23, 2017 by Charles Bingham

Scenes from the Jan. 21 Sitka Kitch Cooking From Scratch class on homemade tortilla-making

Students learned how to make homemade flour tortillas during the Cooking From Scratch homemade tortilla-making class held Jan. 21 at the Sitka Kitch community rental commercial kitchen.

The class was taught by Elvia Torres, who teaches reading and formerly taught home economics at Blatchley Middle School. She demonstrated her mother’s traditional tortilla recipe, and also showed students what good and bad tortillas look like.

The Sitka Kitch is finalizing the dates and times for two upcoming class series this spring. Cooking Around The World will feature five classes (two in February and three in April) where different cooks will teach students how to make dishes from Morocco, Chile, Austria (strudel), Turkey, and Thailand. The other series is tentatively called Food As Medicine, which will be taught by Sitka nutritionist Holly Marban over five or six Mondays in March (National Nutrition Month) and April. Watch the Sitka Kitch page on Facebook or our online registration page to see when these classes are scheduled.

A slideshow of scenes from the homemade tortilla-making class follows below.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

January 9, 2017 by Charles Bingham

Sitka Kitch to host Cooking From Scratch class Jan. 21 on homemade tortilla-making

Learn the basic fundamentals of how to make homemade tortillas from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Jan. 21, at the Sitka Kitch community rental commercial kitchen (505 Sawmill Creek Road, inside First Presbyterian Church).

This class will be taught by Elvia Torres, a teacher at Blatchley Middle School who in May 2016 joined several others in Sitka to complete the Safe Home Food Preservation Certification course from the University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service. Elvia will share her mother’s traditional recipe, and she will demonstrate what good and bad tortillas look like.

The cost for this class is $15, plus a food/supply fee split between the members of the class. Space is limited at the Sitka Kitch, so register early. Students should prepay for the class through the Sitka Kitch online registration site, http://sitkakitch.eventsmart.com, using PayPal. If you need other payment arrangements, contact Chandler or Clarice of Sitka Conservation Society at 747-7509 to pay with cash or check. To qualify for a refund, please notify us at least three days in advance if you need to cancel. The registration deadline is 5 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 19. Please email sitkakitch@sitkawild.org with any questions.

Also, keep an eye out for the announcements of two upcoming class series this winter/spring — Cooking Around the World (featuring a variety of instructors demonstrating how to cook international dishes from February through April) and Food As Medicine (taught by dietician Holly Marbán during National Nutrition Month in March). Details are coming soon.

August 27, 2016 by Charles Bingham

Patagonia headquarters chef Tracy On in Sitka to develop new Fish to Schools program recipes

TracyOnWithSalmonFriedRiceSalmonMacAndCheese

Tracy On shows off a serving of chum salmon fried rice (front) and pink salmon macaroni and cheese that she tested Friday (Aug. 26) at the Sitka Kitch community rental commercial kitchen. Tracy is in town for a two-week internship with the Sitka Conservation Society to develop new recipes for the Fish to Schools program.

In her regular job, Tracy On is the chef at Patagonia headquarters in Ventura, Calif., serving about 500 breakfasts and lunches a day to Patagonia employees. For her summer vacation, Tracy is in Sitka developing new recipes for the Fish to Schools program as part of a two-week internship with the Sitka Conservation Society.

“I’m working on recipes for Fish to Schools, so we can incorporate a little more local salmon in the school lunches,” Tracy said. “I also had personal reasons for coming here. I wanted to learn more about the fishing industry and how to connect the kids to their local food sources. I’m also a little selfish. I’ve always wanted to come to Alaska and this is my first trip.”

During her first week in Sitka, Tracy spent several days at the Sitka Kitch community rental commercial kitchen testing new recipes. She also did a morning interview with KCAW-Raven Radio on Wednesday to help spread the word about her visit. On Friday, Tracy prepared a chum salmon fried rice dish and a pink salmon macaroni and cheese dish, then took a tour of the newly renovated Sitka Salmon Shares plant. She also has been working on a salmon corn dog and other recipes.

Tracy is trying to create recipes the kids will enjoy, what she called “comfort classics kids love,” while also keeping costs down because most school districts don’t receive more than $2 or $3 per student meal for their school lunch programs. That’s one reason she has been working with pink and chum salmon while in Sitka, because the costs are lower. She also is testing recipes that can be cooked from scratch, as well as ones that just require reheating, since school districts use different methods to prepare their meals. The Sitka Conservation Society will host an invitation-only tasting this week where SCS members and guests can try out a few of the new meals.

“The main reason to host Tracy is to bring the Fish to Schools program to the next step,” said Sophie Nethercut, who coordinates the program for the Sitka Conservation Society. “We’ve been running this program on donations, and with the funding climate the way it is, we wanted to create a line of minimally processed recipes using pink and chum salmon that can be marketed to schools, nursing homes and hospitals.”

Tracy isn’t the first intern the Sitka Conservation Society has hosted from Patagonia, which has been sending employees to Sitka for the past three years to work on a variety of projects. Other Patagonia interns held workshops on repairing outdoor gear or helped with computer systems while in Sitka.

Tracy will be in town one more week, which will include a couple of sessions working on new recipes at the Sitka Kitch and the tasting event. She also hopes to get out on a commercial fishing boat and possibly visit other seafood processors in town.

Also, local commercial fishermen can still donate coho salmon to the Fish to Schools program, as the annual donation drive has been extended until Aug. 30.

June 14, 2016 by Charles Bingham

Scenes from the Sitka Kitch Cooking From Scratch class Simple Pasta Dishes

Students made meatballs; linguine with basil pesto, white clam sauce and cherry tomatoes; and spaghetti alla carbonara during the June 13 Cooking From Scratch series class Simple Pasta Dishes at the Sitka Kitch community rental commercial kitchen, located inside the First Presbyterian Church (505 Sawmill Creek Road). The students also received a recipe and tips on how to make a homemade macaroni and cheese dish (due to time constraints they didn’t actually make the dish), so they don’t have to rely on the chemical feast found in prepared mac and cheese mixes.

This class was taught by Kathy Jones, the executive chef at the Westmark Hotel and Totem Square Inn, with assistance from her sous chef Barbara Palacios. It was focused on preparing simple pasta dishes to help people expand their culinary repertoire and extend their food budgets.

The Sitka Kitch was a project of the 2013 Sitka Health Summit, and the project is coordinated by the Sitka Conservation Society in partnership with the Sitka Local Foods Network. The Sitka Kitch can be rented to teach cooking and food preservation classes, by local cottage food industry entrepreneurs who need a commercial kitchen to make their products, and for large groups needing a large kitchen for a community dinner. To learn more about how to rent the Sitka Kitch, please go to the website at http://www.sitkawild.org/sitka_kitch.

Also, watch out for upcoming classes from Chef Kathy and Chef Barbara in late July (tentative topic is rabbit), August (tentative topic is quail) and September (tentative topic is mystery basket, bring in items from your garden, pantry or freezer and create a dish).

We’ll post more details on our website, our Facebook page, the Sitka Local Foods Network website and our EventSmart online registration website when they become available. When new classes are announced you can register on our EventSmart page, but you will pay at the class with cash or check (made out to Sitka Conservation Society). For more information about the Sitka Kitch, email sitkakitch@sitkawild.org.

A slideshow of images from the class is posted below.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

May 31, 2016 by Charles Bingham

Sitka Kitch to host Cooking From Scratch: Simple Pasta Dishes class on June 13

Want to expand your culinary offerings beyond the simple, packaged macaroni and cheese you buy from the grocery store (eg, avoid the chemical feast)?

Join us from 6-8:30 p.m. on Monday, June 13, at the Sitka Kitch community rental commercial kitchen (inside First Presbyterian Church, 505 Sawmill Creek Road) as Westmark Hotel/Totem Square Inn Executive Chef Kathy Jones and Sous Chef Barbara Palacios teach a variety of simple pasta dishes as part of the Cooking From Scratch class series. In this class students will learn how to macaroni and cheese without a boxed mix; linguine with clams, grape tomatoes and basil pesto; spaghetti alla carbonara (spaghetti, eggs, bacon, pepper); and meatballs.

The cost of the class is $20, plus a food fee shared among the registered participants (about $15). Email sitkakitch@sitkawild.org for more information.

To register, go to the Sitka Kitch online registration page, and sign up. Registration closes at noon on Saturday, June 11, so the instructors can purchase supplies. This site link is for registration only. You will pay with cash or check (made out to Sitka Conservation Society) at the class. Even though you pay at the class, we need people to register through the site so we know how many people will be at the class. Email sitkakitch@sitkawild.org with questions.

December 15, 2015 by Charles Bingham

• Sitka Kitch sets scheduled orientation schedules for potential renters of the commercial kitchen

Are you a budding entrepreneur who wants to use the Sitka Kitch community rental commercial kitchen to make cottage foods products? Are you wanting to rent the Sitka Kitch (Facebook page) to teach cooking or food preservation classes, or to host a large gathering where you need a larger kitchen than what’s in your home?

The Sitka Kitch, which is located at First Presbyterian Church (505 Sawmill Creek Road), will offer some scheduled orientation sessions for a significant price reduction for a solo orientation. The scheduled orientations every other month are $10 per person or group vs. $75 for a solo orientation. These one-hour orientations will teach you how to use the Sitka Kitch facilities and show you what items are available for your use.

The scheduled orientations will be from 4-5 p.m. on the first Fridays and 11 a.m. to noon on the first Saturdays of February, April, and June (Feb. 5-6, April 1-2, and June 3-4). Please note this orientation schedule may change if we have people wanting to rent the Sitka Kitch at these times.

For more information, contact Kristy Miller at the church at 747-3356 or millerkris50@gmail.com.