Moon-yah-eeni Magic Part II

“Moon-yah-eeni” Magic

PART II:

First Things First
(the second of a three part series)

Picture taken from the Mugnaini Facebook Page

The class started off with our arrival at the beautiful Hotel Healdsburg (www.hotelhealdsburg.com) where the Mugnaini company arranges for students to stay.   Thursday evening we and the other students met our driver Ed in the lobby to take us to the Mugnaini Cooking School.  From our earlier stop that day at the Mugnaini facilities in Healdsburg, and a brief by chance introduction to Andrea herself, I should not have been surprised that they had two matching Mercedes prepared to shuttle their guests.  Attention to detail in presentation is a critical component to any fine dining experience; Andrea takes this same principle into her cooking school, classroom, and business.

Upon arrival at the Mugnaini Cooking School we were greeted directly by Andrea and her constant companion, Elle, a most pampered pooch who made a very lucky wrong turn some time back. Apparently, Elle showed up at the school one day and decided it was her new home.  She has been by Andrea’s side ever since. 

Picture taken from the Mugnaini Facebook page

We also received our first introduction to Chef Louis Maldonado, Mugnaini’s Culinary Director.    Andrea recently hired Chef Maldonado from the Spoonbar in downtown Healdsburg.  Louis, while unassuming, has very impressive credentials. Some of his many accomplishments include having been a contestant on the television show Top Chef, having worked at a Michelin Star restaurant, and having been a contributor to at least one cookbook.

Jacque and Chef Louis Moldonado

Located in a renovated farm house surrounded by a beautiful vineyard, the Mugnaini Wood Oven Cooking School is located in a setting which simultaneously inspires and energizes its students.  It has a large kitchen allowing for plenty of room to spread out, and not surprisingly, has a large Mugnaini Oven as the centerpiece. Out by the pool and in the backyard are an additional five wood ovens.  Inside the house you will find two guest bedrooms, a formal dining room, and a living room adorned with trophies from Ed, the driver’s, hunting expeditions. (Note:  In addition to being the “driver”, Ed is also chief school comedian responsible for comic relief, vineyard manager, winemaker, generally cool guy, and Andrea’s husband.)

Andrea and Elle greeted us all with champagne and graciously welcomed us with a brief tour before sitting down for a gourmet wood oven meal prepared by Chef Maldonado.   We enjoyed several delightful dishes, but a brief survey in the car on the way home indicated that the mushroom lasagna was soundly the favorite.  My close second was the lamb that was served alongside beef… (I must apologize at this point.  One of the difficulties I have with blogging is trying to decide do I pull out my I-phone and start taking notes in the middle of a meal, or do I depend on my memory?  Then add my time constraints and trying to write a blog two or three weeks later…) Result? I can’t tell you at this point the preparation or the cuts of lamb and beef…but they sure were awesome!

As a special treat, Andrea arranged for a local winemaker to pair the night’s courses with hand-selected wines.  I love wine pairings and it was really special having the winemaker himself share his passion for the fruits of his labor.

Before our return home, Andrea gave us a brief rundown on the next two days of hands on cooking and use of the wood ovens.  With just about everyone in the class having some - but not the same - experience with wood oven cooking, she explained that she was going to start from the basis that we all knew nothing, and Friday morning’s first class was going to be on the proper firing of the wood oven.  (Again, note that I have been firing my oven incorrectly up until now, and thus not getting maximum efficiency from it.)

The most exciting part of our wood oven firing lessons was that Jacque also learned how to fire the oven. Ever since our return from class, she has taken charge of “pre-heating” the oven for me.  (Unlike a normal kitchen oven you don’t simply turn a knob and wait for it to reach temperature.)  In this case you start off with kindling in the center, build a fire until the center turns to ash white, and then move to a perimeter burn.  Sounds pretty simple, but when done correctly you will have more even heat, be able to regulate your heat better, maintain the heat, and have an oven at temperature to do cinnamon rolls in the morning without having to light a new fire.  We learned this first hand when we arrived at class on Saturday morning. Such a treat! Louis had arrived well before the students, in time to get the famous cinnamon rolls in the oven. 

Our firing lesson also taught us the importance of using a log grate (which I now own), and using a palino to place additional logs into the flame. Palinoless up until now, I for one had instead been using the signature Doug Sklar “tossing” method – always just hoping the logs would land where I wanted them to!

Until now I had also been measuring my oven temp incorrectly.  We learned that it is the floor temp that really counts, and that the oven door can be used to regulate heat and flame.  We also learned that the door makes a great heat shield for those gathered around the oven.  All in all, the initial firing and heat maintenance lessons were very thorough and helpful, not to mention delicious in the foods they produced.

Chef Louis Moldonado, myslef, and Andrea Mugnaini