Cooking Up In The Mountains Never Tasted So Good

Photos courtesy of Kevin Austin

Welcome back my fellow foodies. Living up in the mountains has its perks. I have witnessed many new businesses open and grow here and that makes my heart happy. I had the opportunity to take a cooking class at the much chatted about Evergreen Cooking School & Market. Evergreen Cooking School & Market opened nine years ago by Chef Mark Pridgen and his wife Sara. Chef Mark has a long history in the food business. He wanted to bring his market and cooking school to Evergreen. This is the place to go for fresh meat, seafood, prepared foods, homemade sauces, and dressings. As the name implies, they also host cooking classes. Chef Mark is a well skilled chef and can recommend something to take home as well as cooking preparations for your meal.

This class was a hands-on pasta making class. I have never made fresh pasta, so I was excited. When you walk into Evergreen Cooling School & Market, you arrive at a gourmet market from heaven. Just the smell alone upon entering will keep you coming back. The shelves are filled with an assortment of pastas, dressings, and spices. The meat and seafood counter are something special, filled with steaks, shrimp, lobster, scallops, and salmon. The counter changes regularly depending on what is freshly available. Then there was the prepared food counter. As a true foodie, I was in my element. I took a deep breath and realized I had found “my place”.

There were 10 of us in the class, and we started with wine and introductions. Next the apron was on and were taught how to make the perfect dough for pasta. While that was resting, we rolled up our sleeves a little more and made a vegetarian ragu with mushrooms, wine, onion, garlic, and Italian tomatoes. As the sauce simmered, we cooked the pasta quickly and topped it with the sauce and some parmesan. It was the best pasta I have ever had, and the sauce, oh the sauce, I wanted to drink it. We sat down and enjoyed the fruits of our labor with the new friends we had made.

Mark and Sara love their community, and it shows. After attending their cooking class I can tell you that the community loves and supports them. I feel very lucky to have a gourmet market so close to home. If you don’t live in the area, make the trip to attend a cooking class or go pick up something for dinner. Once you walk in the door to Evergreen Cooking School & Market, you will be hooked, I promise. This place is a little slice of heaven, so foodies REJOICE! Until next time my fellow foodies, eat well, drink well, and be well.