A Winter Camp to Remember

Radical Cooks winter cooking camp was the perfect way to turn the first week of the year into something warm, creative, and delicious. This past week our campers spent their time learning new skills, exploring global flavors, and building confidence in the kitchen—all while having a lot of fun.

The first day we launched right into making classic crêpes. Measuring carefully, whisking smooth batter, and spreading it evenly across the crepe pan taught precision and focus. Campers enjoyed both sweet fillings, perfect for brunch. Recipe at: Crepes

One of the highlights of camp was making okonomiyaki, a savory Japanese pancake often described as “whatever you like” cooking. Campers learned how to chop cabbage and green onions, mix a batter, and cook it safely on the griddle. They loved customizing their okonomiyaki with different add-ins and toppings, and it sparked great conversations about Japanese food culture and how savory breakfasts and snacks vary around the world. For many campers, this was their first time cooking and tasting a dish like this, and it quickly became a favorite. Recipe at: Okonomiyaki

We also traveled to Scandinavia with yellow split pea soup and Swedish pancakes, a thinner, lighter pancake using a vintage traditional “plette” pan. This activity reinforced the idea that sweet and savory can enjoyed in the same meal. Recipes at: Split Pea Soup and Pancakes

And that was just Monday. 

By Tuesday, campers were becoming more adept at their knife skills and we focused on the plant-based world, using soy in a variety of ways. We started off the morning Mexican making breakfast burritos with soy chorizo, traveled over to Vietnam making summer rolls with tofu, and wrapped with a carrot soup from France. Recipe at: Summer Rolls

Wednesday was the best day. In the morning we made a pavlova, with origins in either New Zealand or Australia, depending upon who you ask. While the pavlova was baking in one oven, in another we were roasting a chicken for our English savory pie ~  chicken pot pie. Recipe at: Pavlova

Earlier in the week I was gifted a bunch of key limes. So if one pie wasn’t enough, we traveled back to the United States to make mini key lime pies.  Wednesday was really the best day.  Recipe at: Key Lime Pie

Thursday we maximized our use of southern California’s in season citrus making an Italian pasta limone, lemon curd (England), and of course, a delicious lemonade. 

By Friday, it was back to Asia, with a course on Chinese dumplings and finally, back to where we started ~ France. To wrap up the session, we made French tart making our own pâte sucrée  (pâte sucrée is a sweet, tender, crumbly dessert crust enriched with sugar, eggs, and sometimes vanilla, resulting in a cookie-like texture for fruit tarts and cream pies) filled with custard and fresh fruit.  Recipe at: Chinese dumplings

Wow!!