The Sun Valley Culinary Institute (SVCI) is gearing up for a sensational summer of delectable dinners, engaging classes and unique chef experiences that can only happen at SVCI. From a classic Italian dinner to pie making and worldly Japanese cuisine, global and local food has never been so appealing.
To start the month off in style, join Rico for a Saturday Night Supper on June 8, 6:30-8:30 p.m., for delicious Italian cuisine as Rico shares his favorite recipes, including tomato bruschetta, Caesar salad, chicken piccata with fresh linguine and a warm chocolate chip cookie served with vanilla ice cream.
On Tuesday, June 11, at 4 p.m., join Rebecca Bloom of Piedaho for a pie-baking workshop at SVCI. Experience a hands-on class and learn the secrets behind Rebecca’s acclaimed pie crust and two delicious fillings. Attendees will leave with a five-inch mini pie ready to bake at home, along with Rebecca’s recipes and expert baking tips to ensure your success in making pies at home—a gift that will continue to give.
As the summer season kicks in, SVCI Chef Melissa Mauselle will present a class on light summer fare to prepare you for a Sun Valley summer, whether you are entertaining guests and family or enjoy summer evenings with a loved one. Join Chef Melissa on Friday, June 14, 6:30-8:30 p.m. for a cooking class designed to infuse your summer meals with simplicity and elegance with tomato watermelon gazpacho with green apple and mint, grilled shrimp with mango pico de gallo, zucchini fritters with dill sour cream sauce, grilled Alaska salmon with chimichurri sauce on spring greens with fresh herbs and orange supremes with a Meyer lemon, golden balsamic vinaigrette.
For an exciting and exotic evening of Japanese cuisine, Chef Nadina Keller presents a Teishoku dinner on Saturday, June 15, from 6-8 p.m. Chef Nadina shares her years of studying and cooking foods from around the world with SVCI for a special traditional Japanese dinner. Teishoku, a set meal or meal set, is a traditional, balanced Japanese meal steeped in history and family traditions. It is a food platter embodying the essence of Japanese dining.
Chef Nadina will present scallops lightly grilled with pea purée, shaved seaweed and wasabi lemon aioli, brown butter chawanmushi, ember grilled prawns, flying fish roe and ginger sabayon. To follow, there will be Wagyu Teishoku, Wagyu gyoza from ribeye, Japanese Yakitori “Bonjiri” chicken, Balinese sea salt, Wagyu infused shichimi, Cucumber sunomono, Kohishikari rice, a Japanese-style rice, fermented turnips and Enoki mushrooms sauteed with sweet black garlic with fresh mint, ginger and red chili Thai peppers. Enjoy a chocolate bliss cake mousse with a white chocolate matcha tea ganache and Japanese whisky infusion for a final course.
Kicking off Sun Valley’s summer gala season, the Sun Valley Culinary Institute (SVCI) presents The Welcome Party, “A Summer Soiree,” on Saturday, June 22, at 6 p.m. This exciting fundraiser features celebrity Chef Art Smith and Food Network insider Chef Bruce Seidel. At a private Sun Valley home, Chef Smith and Seidel will prepare a sensational family-style seated dinner with cuisine from their original recipes, which catapulted them into culinary stardom.
The Welcome Party will include passed appetizers, signature cocktails, silent and live auctions, and music by DJ SID3S. The main course will include Chef Smith’s signature fare, including Oprah Winfrey’s favorite, Hummingbird cake, for dessert. For tickets, visit sunvalleyculinary.org.
The Sun Valley Culinary Institute is thrilled to welcome back Chef Cynthia Nims, who returns for a July residency. Earning a Grand Diplôme d’Etudes Culinaires from La Varenne, Nims has decades of experience as a cookbook author, recipe developer, cooking instructor, food tech consultant, and writer for various publications. She has contributed to “Seattle magazine,” “Modernist Cuisine” and many others, and taught classes in diverse settings, including online for “Craftsy.” Her nonprofit work includes leadership roles in the International Association of Culinary Professionals and the Seattle chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier, along with a certificate in nonprofit management from the University of Washington.
Save the date for several classes and events with Nims, including A Taste of the South of France on Wednesday, July 24, from 6-8 p.m. With a lovely chilled glass of rosé, learn to sauté vegetables, work with a fennel bulb, prep and cook mussels, work with chickpea flour and make tartlets—all for ratatouille, steamed mussels with fennel and pastis, chickpea fries and goat cheese tartlets with summer fruit.
On Friday, July 26, from 6-8 p.m., enjoy Trivia & Bites with Nims, an avid game player and trivia buff. Nims will play quiz master as SVCI serves delicious food from her cookbooks “Salty Snacks” and “Gourmet Game Night!” There will be prizes to win. On Saturday, July 27, from 6-8 p.m., Nims will present Fish Four Ways, exploring seafood techniques and the countless possibilities of serving and enjoying fish. Learn to cook small whole fish, pan-fry fish, cook in parchment paper, and shallow-poach fish for halibut en papillote with carrots and orange, baked whole trout with ginger, herb-tattooed salmon, and shallow-poached sole with dilled butter sauce.
SVCI is an adventure waiting to happen, but classes and dinners do sell out, so plan to enjoy the wonderful wide world of cuisine only available at the Sun Valley Culinary Institute in Sun Valley, Idaho.
About Sun Valley Culinary Institute
Established in 2019, the Sun Valley Culinary Institute (SVCI) is a nonprofit organization with a unique mission to foster careers in the food service industry for a new generation of culinary artists. SVCI provides professional culinary education to students and food enthusiasts and recruits and develops culinary workforce talent in partnership with restaurant and hospitality leaders in the Wood River Valley. While strengthening the local economy, the Institute promotes community health and wellness, focusing on local food sources and sustainability.
The Sun Valley Culinary Institute is the historic Lewis & Lemon brick building at 211 Main Street in Ketchum, Idaho. To learn more, visit SunValleyCulinary.org or email info@SunValleyCulinary.org.
