Foodstuff: Schools in for summer

Offseason in the springtime usually means travel, and this year’s May getaway led me over Independence Pass and then south to New Mexico, where I met up with a dear college friend and her family who were cruising through Santa Fe and Taos.

Most must-do lists in The City Different include an artful immersion at Meow Wolf or a serene spa day at Ten Thousand Waves, but I (as always) had food on the brain. I was delighted when a last-minute cancellation got me off the wait list and into a class at the 37-year-old, women-owned Santa Fe School of Cooking. Its three-hour, hands-on tacos class featured instruction on four different types of taco fillings, flour and corn tortillas, an avocado and tomatillo salsa and culminated in a lunch, which we enjoyed with our small class of 16 total eager would-be chefs.

The 10 a.m. session started with a robust history lesson by instructor and private chef Mica Chavez, accompanied by a selection of coffees and teas to sip while we sat. We learned how chiles came to be regional, then global, how different preparations evolved across different states and the best tips for cooking, eating and storing a few favorite New Mexican dishes. Before diving into the demo kitchen, we reviewed our recipe booklets as a group and discussed the station setup.

Then it was time to get cooking. There were enough stations around the room for pairs of two, with two items to prepare at each station. My co-cook and I selected the flour tortilla and hot and smoky shrimp taco filling table, where we found two perfectly prepped sets of mise en place and a portable burner and got to work.

This recipe for flour tortillas is featured in the “Salsas and Tacos: The Sante Fe School of Cooking” cookbook, available in their delightful on-site store or online at santafeschoolofcooking.com. If you’re visiting the Land of Enchantment and love learning about food as much as I do, I strongly encourage signing up for a class and making these yourself alongside Chef Mica and friends.

Flour tortillas

Yields eight-10 5-inch tortillas

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3 tablespoons vegetable shortening
• 3/4 cup to 1 cup hot water (145° or hotter)

Preheat a comal, griddle, or skillet (preferably cast iron) to 350°, approximately medium-high heat.

Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl, and mix well. Cut the shortening into the dry ingredients until a coarse meal is formed*. Add enough water to make a soft, but not sticky, dough.

Knead about 15 times into a smooth ball.** Cover and let stand to rest for about 20 to 30 minutes.***

Divide the dough equally into about eight to 10 balls. To flatten, take one ball of dough, and beginning in the middle of the ball, roll away from you, turning the dough 1/8 turn after each roll. Tortillas should be about 5 inches in diameter and of a uniform thickness.**** Set aside raw tortillas onto a parchment-lined baking sheet until all are flattened.

Cook each tortilla on your preheated griddle for about 15 to 20 seconds on the first side; flip and cook for 20 seconds more while pressing down with a spatula.

Keep warm in a cloth towel until ready to serve.

Cook’s notes

*This stage should look sort of like wet sand; the smaller the granules, the better.

**Press with your thumb. When it bounces back, it is ready to rest.

***Press again with your thumb. When your thumbprint stays, it’s rested enough and is ready to roll out for cooking.

****Get them as thin as you can without tearing, mine turned out a bit thicker than I envisioned.

Once the approximately 90-minute cooking session was done, my classmates and I were left with dozens of warm, scratch-made flour and corn tortillas, the green salsa, the shrimp taco filling and additional fillings of al pastor with pork and pineapple, chicken al carbon with crema and a cheesy poblano, potato and spinach taco filling — more than enough to feed the room with four tacos each (plus). I also ordered a prickly pear margarita to wash it all down.

While the price isn’t cheap ($130 per person for a three-hour class), it was truly the best cooking class I’ve ever taken, included a very filling lunch and all seven recipes printed out to take home. I’m already dreaming of my next trip to learn something new and also plotting an at-home taco party to warm my heart (and throat) with spicy New Mexican flavors in the meantime.

Katherine Roberts is a midvalley-based writer and marketing professional who ate her weight in enchiladas last week and may stick to sushi for a bit. She can be reached via her marketing and communications firm, Carington Creative, at katherine@caringtoncreative.com.