>> joanne: what really gave that salad a twist was those wonderful kind of buttery pichohonenelilis.s. also the cumquats that kind of, as she said, explode in your mouth. and then chervil that, she'd never had that. it took it from a, you know, like a number-four salad up to a ten. [ music and background conversation ] >> funding provided by bella sera wines. >> what makes a beautiful evening? savoring the day's end, a time together, or is it something more? it's going to be a beautiful evening, a bella sera.

bella sera, wines of italy. >> by king arthur. king arthur flour asks, "what's your reason to bake?" king arthur, since 1790. by anolon gourmet cookware. for the home cook who demands professional performance. anolon. by valley fig growers, sweet additions with blue ribbon orchard choice and sun-maid california figs. by hansgrohe. kitchen, shower, and bath ideas since 1901. and by mcevoy ranch organic extra-virgin olive oil. >> joanne: i was really thinking about what are the dishes that i love to teach my students. and i think probably it would be the simplest dishes with the biggest wow factor. and i'm hoping to wow you a little bit today lee. >> leigh: okay. >> joanne: leigh is in the healthcare profession. and, do you like to cook? >> leigh: i do, i love to cook when i have time. and i really try to cook healthy, healthy things. >> joanne: oh, that's good me too.

so, this is a salad that i happen to absolutely love. i mean i really do love it and i love oranges so that's where we're going to start. these are navel oranges you can tell. they're called that because they have that little bit right there that looks like a navel. >> leigh: they have a navel. >> joanne: exactly. so, you're going to take the orange. and what you're going to do is to cut off the bottom and the top, just like that, okay. now, with the cut side down what i do is i take a small knife, and i'm cutting around the edge and down to the bottom, so like this. and you can see that you're following the line of the orange. if you're leaving a little bit of the white don't worry about it. >> leigh: that's alright, that's a lot of white. >> joanne: that's a lot of white. you want a little bit, take off a little bit more. now you want this, look at this leigh, in more rounded motion kind of you're following the contour. don't worry about the bottom we can always fix that.

so, with my knife i just remove all of that white pith. >> leigh: okay. >> joanne: now, why do i want to remove the white pith? >> leigh: it's a bit bitter right. >> joanne: it is a little bit bitter exactly. >> leigh: so, what are we going to make with these oranges? >> joanne: i thought we'd do this salad with oranges, picholine olives, and also some avocado. >> leigh: that sounds great. >> joanne: it'll be really, really good. now, what i do next is i cut across. and i love navel oranges because they're seedless. but, you cut across into thin slices. and sometimes you come across one or two seeds but for the most part they're seedless. i see i had one seed in this one. >> leigh: you got a couple. >> joanne: and then we can place these oranges right on the platter. what we can do is just to grate a little bit of this orange zest. now, one of the ways that you can do it is just like this to hold the orange in your hand and just go back and forth.

and this is kind of nice because this catches the orange zest, probably a teaspoon or something. try that. >> leigh: okay. >> joanne: now, when you're zesting you want to make sure that you don't zest the white part, just the color part of your orange, lemon, lime whatever citrus you're using. you can put that right in the bowl. what we'll do next is we're going to cut this in half. you can cut it. and then we can juice this right into the bowl. so, we're making a vinaigrette and the vinaigrette will be made. and that is it would seem like you'd want to do it that way. >> leigh: it fits in that way but then the juice might get us, huh? >> joanne: exactly. so, turn it over. >> leigh: okay, other way. >> joanne: exactly, good. listen it would seem that way to me too. but, try this you'll love this. >> leigh: you don't want to be wearing this. >> joanne: juicer, good, that's excellent. now i love avocado.

>> leigh: i love avocado as well. >> joanne: it gives you this wonderful kind of richness and creaminess to the dish. so, we'll set this aside for our vinaigrette and now we'll work on the avocado. i like to take a big knife and what i do is i start on the top and i cut right around the pits. so, i cut from the top right to the pit. i go right around the outside and i meet it on the other side. great, that's perfect. >> leigh: okay. >> joanne: and then what you can do next is just to twist. sometimes mine's a little more even this time i made one small and one large but that's fine. >> leigh: yeah, same here. >> joanne: it might be a little harder to get the pit out but what i do is i take my knife and i tap right into the pit and i turn it. it might be harder because of what i did. yours will be easier. see, i mess up okay wait, wait. >> leigh: oops. >> joanne: okay let me show you something. >> leigh: okay. >> joanne: alright. >> leigh: a little carried away. >> joanne: tap and then turn. >> leigh: twist that way. >> joanne: twist, so once again take your knife and tap into it.

>> leigh: twist, and twist. >> joanne: and today's class was really all about some really fun ingredients that were really very sensuous but they were also things that were new to leigh. and i thought, you know, that really made them kind of fun and more interesting. you can take your spoon and then just go right around the edge of the skin just like that and then cut side down. alright, so, next what you can do is take your knife and cut your avocado into slices. and i would say they're probably abut a quarter of an inch thick. okay and you can take the avocado and just place those slices of avocado right on top of the oranges, with these. and next we'll continue on with the vinaigrette.

now we'll add a little bit of balsamic vinegar. so, i would say a couple of tablespoons. we want some acidity. but this is going to be a little bit sweeter so, that's perfect. this is a little bit sweeter because of what we're, it's more of, you know, the fruits and, you know, the citrus and the avocado. so, i want to keep this on the sweeter side. so balsamic is a perfect vinegar. it has a little bit less acidity to it. >> leigh: okay. >> joanne: so, now a little bit of extra virgin olive oil, probably double the amount that you use for balsamic, good. okay, let's add a little bit of salt. >> leigh: okay, a pinch. >> joanne: we'll test that and see how it is. >> leigh: okay. >> joanne: and then i like to add a little bit of honey. i would say maybe a teaspoon or something of honey but that's really to your own taste. alright. and then you can add just a little bit of pepper. >> leigh: a touch. >> joanne: not too much, thank you. >> leigh: that good? >> joanne: and then you can whisk that together.

now, because it's got honey which is a little bit more viscous, you have to really kind of whisk it a little bit more to break up that honey. there you go. >> leigh: thank you. >> joanne: see how that is. >> leigh: it's really wonderful. >> joanne: excellent. okay, now that we've got all of the components what i'll grab is a spoon. and spoon some of that vinaigrette right over the avocados and also the oranges. we won't use all of that but probably three good spoonfuls. that's going to be delicious. isn't it? excellent. i think you can stop there, yeah. >> leigh: okay. >> joanne: and now we have some picholine olives. i thought it would be really nice to just take a few of those olives and right around the outside. and i thought a little bit more citrus to tie it all together.

>> leigh: okay. >> joanne: and have you worked with these? >> leigh: and are these, are these cumquats? >> joanne: they are cumquats exactly. >> leigh: okay that's what i thought. >> joanne: i love them. and cumquats are wonderful. they've got some, they're kind of acidic but they're sweet at the same time. and you eat the whole thing, you eat the skin and everything. >> leigh: okay. >> joanne: so, what i do is i take a knife and just cut those into really small slices. sometimes you come across a seed. it's not a big deal because the seeds are so tiny. so, you can just cut these into little thin slices. you can take these and just sprinkle those. isn't that pretty? >> leigh: oh very pretty. it's beautiful. >> joanne: it's very different than your lettuce-tomato salad. isn't it? >> leigh: absolutely. >> joanne: okay, i think now all we need is one more thing. i kind of got inspired. and i thought this would be really nice. >> leigh: oh, now what is this? it's flowery. >> joanne: boy. lots of new things. i know, i have some flowers. i went out on the deck and i just picked some herbs.

>> leigh: wonderful. >> joanne: but that's kind of nice that you can do that, but this is chervil. >> leigh: okay. >> joanne: and you've got to taste this because chervil is wonderful. it's the most delicious. how do you like that? >> leigh: mmm, it's really good. >> joanne: isn't it? >> leigh: it's almost like a licorice. >> joanne: it is. it has a slightly licorice flavor almost a sweet licorice. >> leigh: yeah. >> joanne: and then i picked some flowers because i thought that would be absolutely beautiful. but it's very feathery. if you don't have it, don't feel like you can't make the salad. just use some italian parsley would be fine. or just eliminate it. >> leigh: yeah, but this is delicious yeah. >> joanne: but just look pretty this will look on the top just a little bit of chervil. >> leigh: really quick and easy. >> joanne: good. >> leigh: are these flowers edible. >> joanne: yes they are absolutely edible. >> leigh: so lovely i almost hate to taste it. >> joanne: i know, mess it up. >> leigh: yeah it's beautiful. >> joanne: putting it together with the chervil will be so delicious. look at how pretty that flower is. i've got to have the avocado and cumquat together.

it's fabulous. >> leigh: you could really taste the honey. the sweetness of the honey came out when combined with the oranges. and the avocado, it was just delicious. but the, the cumquats, that was the wow part of that salad because they are really tangy and kind of tart. [ music ] >> joanne: alright, we're going to start first of all by heating up some fish stock or bottled clam juice. now, what i'm using is just bottled clam juice because you can go ahead and buy that and that makes it a whole lot easier. so, you can place that in the pan. you want to bring that up to a boil. and i'm going to cook some clams and mussels. i think they're really, really delicious. >> leigh: i eat them all the time at the restaurant. >> joanne: oh you do? >> leigh: i just never do them myself. >> joanne: well i think after this. >> leigh: i'll branch out. >> joanne: you will. alright, you can see that this is now starting to boil. and what i like to do now is just add these to the pan.

it's great if you have a cover that's glass. and, i'll tell you why. you can see, usually you can see pretty well. and you can see when those clams and mussels open up. so, i like to take tongs. we've got a little condensation now but you probably will be able to see. and i remove those as they open otherwise i find that they get overcooked. so, as you see it open what you do is you remove that. >> leigh: this one. >> joanne: yeah. >> leigh: right there. >> joanne: and if you get the liquid in the bowl too. >> leigh: okay that's fine. >> joanne: it's fine. >> leigh: and they all opened, excellent. >> joanne: so, next we just add all of those mussels, all at once. >> leigh: and do you, do we need to cover these or just? >> joanne: you know, they will come back to a boil very quickly. if you want it to come back to a boil more quickly you just put the cover right on the top again.

>> leigh: oh those were quick. >> joanne: yeah that's the great thing about mussels. they're really, really fast. and sometimes what you want to do is give them a good stir and sometimes that just jars them a little bit and they just start to open really fast. >> leigh: wake them up, perfect. >> joanne: good, let's see. >> leigh: yeah, this one here doesn't seem to want to open. >> joanne: how's the other one, i think that one is. >> leigh: this one's coming. >> joanne: oh good. that's done. let's see, that last one, i think we're probably going to throw that one out. >> leigh: okay. >> joanne: and if you find one that isn't open, and it's been in there for a while it's usually probably dead. so, you want to throw that one away okay. >> leigh: okay, i always hear that. you don't, you don't want to mess with it if they're staying closed. >> joanne: right. >> leigh: there's probably a reason. >> joanne: exactly. >> leigh: it stays closed leave it be. >> joanne: so, what we'll do now is just to pour this liquid right over the clams and the mussels. and we're going to work right in this pan. now, let this mixture cool and we'll set this aside.

so, chopping an onion, have you don't that before? >> leigh: okay i have done that before. >> joanne: okay we're going to check out your technique. >> leigh: okay. >> joanne: alright, so, we've got a nice big onion, there you go, and a nice big chef's knife. >> leigh: alright. >> joanne: i love this size knife by the way. a nine inch chef's knife is a great knife to use for this. so, perfect, cut side down, no. what you want to do is cut side down. this is important. >> leigh: okay. >> joanne: this is the stem end, this is the root end. let's keep this together. >> leigh: okay, okay. >> joanne: just cut through it. >> leigh: that makes sense so we're going to have it. >> joanne: don't cut that off, yes. perfect. now what we do next is you can remove the skin. >> leigh: okay. >> joanne: you can remove that first layer. >> leigh: yeah. >> joanne: that's fine.

now, with a few parallel cuts you're going to cut towards the root end. so, just like this in a sawing technique you just cut back and forth keeping the tips of your fingers on the top. good. excellent and cut straight across. don't cut too far down or you'll cut that first slice right off. now, do one more parallel cut. and depending upon how fine you want it, if you want it to be really fine you do several parallel cuts. >> leigh: okay. >> joanne: now what you do is the tip of your knife towards the root end and with several parallel cuts you can just cut all the way through. don't cut through the root end though. >> leigh: got you. >> joanne: now, turn it so that the first cut side is to your right hand and then you just cut your onions

so you're dicing. good let's add some olive oil. you can add a few tablespoons, maybe about three to that pan. let's turn this on again. maybe a touch more. good. so, i'm using an extra virgin olive oil for that. and then you can add these onions. we've got lots. we may not use all of these. now, with a wooden spoon you can stir that. so, go ahead and add a minced clove of garlic. and you can add some crushed red pepper flakes. >> leigh: okay. >> joanne: i would say maybe a half teaspoon. >> leigh: ooh that's a lot. >> joanne: that's good, okay, not too much though. alright now we stir that for about one minute and it's going to be really aromatic.

you'll really smell that garlic which will be wonderful. we're going to add some dry white wine, probably about a cup of wine. and we bring that up to a boil. turn it down. >> leigh: okay. >> joanne: and we simmer that just until it's reduced by about half. >> leigh: we got some beautiful-- >> joanne: these are sea scallops. they're really big. >> leigh: yeah. >> joanne: if they're bay scallops they're small. but on the side of a scallop there's the abductor muscle. this is how it joins to the shell. so, you want to remove those. they're a little like chewing gum. they're like -- >> leigh: okay. >> joanne: you'll be chewing on those all day. >> leigh: yeah. >> joanne: so, you want to remove those and discard those. so, yes, remove them. and i've already done some of these so we can check all of them and make sure that the muscle is gone. oh. >> leigh: nice and meaty. >> joanne: they're so sweet. they're really nice fresh they're big. see the muscle; remove that one so you can get the feeling of that.

>> leigh: oh wow. yeah. yeah it's really tough. >> joanne: yes. and you just discard those. now i'll take those. >> leigh: okay. >> joanne: and we can throw those out. and next what we have is we have some shrimp. and what you're going to do for this is you remove the shells and i'm going to show you how to devein these. so, i start first of all by removing. i can see there's three kind of little sections. i remove those first three like that. >> leigh: okay. >> joanne: now we take a small knife and we're going to devein these. so you can just cut just like this on the outside going about halfway down. you can open that up and you remove the vein. >> leigh: okay. >> joanne: just like that. >> leigh: there it is. i was about to say it doesn't have one. >> joanne: now that the clams and the mussels have cooled enough to handle, what i'd like to do is i like to remove the shell from half of them. and so, what we'll do is remove the shells and place those mussels and clams right in the bowl

and we'll discard half of these. what i find otherwise is it just, has just too many shells. i'm going to take the rest of these and just place them right on top of the shellfish and we'll just set those aside. >> leigh: so, we're going to add some tomatoes. you can either use fresh or canned. it doesn't matter, they're just peeled, seeded and chopped tomatoes. >> leigh: okay. >> joanne: and on the top what do you think we have? >> leigh: bay leaves. >> joanne: bay leaves, exactly, those will give a nice flavor so you can add that right into the pan. and then we'll also add a little bit of water. >> leigh: okay. >> joanne: because this broth, though it's really delicious, it's probably quite assertive. it's got a lot of flavor. so, i want to temper that with a little bit -- >> leigh: all of this? >> joanne: -- of water. yeah just a little more, that's good. >> leigh: okay. >> joanne: alright, you're going to add just a teaspoon of vinegar. >> leigh: okay. >> joanne: just a nice red wine vinegar or white wine, let's see.

good, excellent, perfect amount. see, you won't even have to grab those measuring spoons anymore. >> leigh: yeah i love it. >> joanne: and then we have that fabulous broth that we used from the beginning. so, you can add all of that right into the pot. we bring that up to a boil. and now we can add the orzo. >> leigh: oh that smells wonderful. >> joanne: and if you noticed we didn't even add any salt yet because the bottled clam juice in our shellfish is pretty salty. so, we can always adjust later. add that orzo right in. and then stir that together. and then i like to let that, we'll turn it down a little bit, we'll let that simmer for about two minutes. orzo cooks very, very quickly. >> leigh: okay. >> joanne: so, really fast. we're going to add some parsley. so you can take your parsley. >> leigh: okay. >> joanne: perfect, and next we're going to add some saffron. >> leigh: ah. >> joanne: smell that.

>> leigh: now is this, this is quite expensive, is it not? >> joanne: it's very expensive. and so we'll add one big pinch. >> leigh: okay. >> joanne: to the pot, okay. and then we'll also add some shellfish. i'll let you do the honors. you can add it all right into the pot. now, stir that together. now doesn't that look good? what a beautiful color. >> leigh: nice. now, what kind of wine would you pair with the stew? >> joanne: this would be delicious with a chianti. that's what this is. [ music ] [ clink of wine glasses ] >> andrea: cheers >>joanne: so, everybody loves tuscany. everybody hears about it. they love the wines from there; chianti, sangiovese grape. it's a big broad topic. let's talk a little bit about that. >> andrea: well, tuscany is probably the place that we'd all love to move to and pretend we're from if we're not because the food is fantastic

and you're right the wines are amazing. now the signature grape of tuscany as you said is sangiovese as you said. it is red and it is the perfect grape for pairing with food. it has lots of great acidity and i think pairs particularly well with things that have tomato sauce. so, when you think of classic italian dishes whether that's pizza or lasagna, seafood stew with tomato sauce, you're going to have a great pairing if you put it with the wines of tuscany. there are lots of different ones that use the sangiovese grape. now the classic one that everyone's heard of is chianti. and it is a wonderful, wonderful wine to discover and to look at the different faces of it because you have basic chianti which is very affordable and fun for everyday drinking but then you also have chianti classico which is the historic heart of the zone. and those are a little more complex. then you have chianti classico riserva which are aged a little bit longer and very sophisticated wines that can actually get better in wine cellars. so, they're great. there's also other variations of sangiovese in the tuscany region.

probably the most famous and certainly the most fullest in body and the most palatial and majestic is called brunello di montalcino and that's a wine that if you have a collection or you know somebody who's really into wine and you want to bring them something tuscan that's the one to look for because it's big and tannic and rich. definitely built for the cellar. >> joanne: do you know what i love about this little three minute thing where we've got it turned off? it's a great time to get all of your guests to the table. and we've got that little leeway and, can i help you with some? >> leigh: thank you. >> joanne: it's gorgeous, there you go. it doesn't even really need a garnish the colors are so nice. aren't they? you see how, the shells. it just looks so nice. just those little touches, you know? they're simple but. now, i think when you bring this to the table, what are they going to say? >> leigh: that's a major wow factor. >> joanne: that's a major. and then they taste it.

>> leigh: oh, that's amazing. >> joanne: good? oh good. >> leigh: amazing. >> joanne: that's really wonderful. >> leigh: delicious. >> joanne: okay we've got to try the wine. >> leigh: we do. >> joanne: wow, that is so, gol, what a nice nose that has. nice and gutsy and mm. that's really, really wonderful with this. >> leigh: cheers. >> joanne: cheers. >> leigh: thank you so much. >> joanne: to fine cooking, and to the whole wow experience. >> leigh: i know i am wowed. i'm going to wow others now! >> if you enjoy joanne weir's cooking you can order the companion cookbook, wine country cooking, which contains every recipe joanne teaches in the series and many more, plus 50 full-color photos. you can also order the entire series of joanne weir's cooking class ii, all 26 episodes on 4 dvd's for $27.95.

you can order the book, the dvd's, or both at cookingclass.joanneweir.com. you can visit our website to find and print selected recipes, get information about each episode, learn more about joanne and the show, see behind the scenes photos, provide e-mail feedback and more. it's all at cookingclass.joanneweir.com. funding provided by bella sera wines. >> why do things taste better in italy? enjoyment of life, food, friends, and family. it's going to be a beautiful evening, a bella sera. bella sera. wines of italy. >> by anolon gourmet cookware for the home cook who demands professional performance. anolon. by king arthur. king arthur flour asks, "what's your reason to bake?" king arthur, since 1790. by valley fig growers, sweet additions with blue ribbon orchard choice and sun-maid california figs.

by hansgrohe. kitchen, shower, and bath ideas since 1901. and by mcevoy ranch organic extra-virgin olive oil. [ music ] [ music ] [ music ]

hi, i'm rachel. come join my friends alex, leah, and hopkins for "signing time!" leah's first language is american sign language. we'll teach you some. come sign with us! ♪ there's singing time and dancing time ♪ ♪ and laughing time and playing time ♪ ♪ and now it is our favorite time, signing time ♪