Cooking Up Some Creativity

Anyone can learn to cook. All you need is a good knife, quality ingredients and a lot of imagination.

That’s the gospel Jerry Toews preaches during his cooking classes every Wednesday evening at Huckleberry’s Fresh Market in the Spokane Valley.

Toews, executive chef in the Bistro at the Sprague and Sullivan store (928-3687), hands out recipes at the beginning of the class. He then clues in the crowd that he will most likely veer off-track.

“I might get an inspiration and try something new,” Toews said. “I want people to realize they don’t have to follow the recipe. They can alter it to suit their tastes. They shouldn’t feel intimidated.”

Of course, the 35-year-old Toews has logged a few years in the art of impromptu seasoning and recipe revisionism.

The Nebraska native learned to love cooking in his grandmother’s kitchen. When his family relocated to Spokane in the late ‘70s, he hooked up with a chef at the St. Regis Cafe who had been schooled in classic French techniques.

Toews learned traditional stock- and sauce-making skills while working at the now-defunct St. Regis. He later went to Patsy Clark’s and then to The Osprey in Coeur d’Alene. When he landed a job cooking and teaching low-fat food classes at Sacred Heart Medical Center, Toews decided to get some formal training in nutrition.

“You just learn to do things a little differently when you’re trying to cut the fat,” he said.

For instance, instead of drizzling cooked pasta with oil, spritz it with cooking spray to keep it from sticking.

“I also tell people to read labels and buy the no-salt products,” Toews said. “You’re not going to miss the salt in tuna, tomato-based products or beans. And you can always add your own.”

Rather than reach for the salt shaker, Toews relies on lots of garlic and fresh herbs to season food.

If Toews is looking for inspiration for the Bistro’s menu, he has to walk only a few feet to Huckleberry’s produce or meat departments, or over to the bulk spices section.

“I like picking out spices I’ve never heard of and playing around with them,” Toews said.

One such foraging trip around the store led to one of the Bistro’s most innovative items: a salad made with black rice.

“It was around Thanksgiving and I was looking to do something other than the traditional stuffing,” Toews said.

The colorful mixture contains roasted butternut squash, dried cranberries, sliced red onion and oven-toasted pumpkin seeds tossed in a house-made cran-raspberry vinaigrette.

Toews is a big believer in tasting as you go along. His apron jangles with the sound of spoons he keeps in his pocket for that purpose. When he gets stuck, wondering what seasoning will make a dish even better, Toews solicits suggestions from his colleagues.

“If something doesn’t work, you can always fix it,” he said.

That might mean doctoring a cream sauce with some port or sherry, or taking the vegetables out of a soup and starting from scratch with the base.

“I never get tired of trying new things,” he said. “In this business, you can’t stay the same.”

Working with the organic ingredients Huckleberry’s stocks has been a real education for Toews.

“It’s interesting because their shelf life is so limited, but the quality is exceptional,” he said.

When he’s off the clock, Toews still thinks about food. He likes to hang out with his 10- and 12-year-old daughters and has taught them some basic cooking skills.

“They have their own knives and cutting boards,” he said.

Blue Cheese-Stuffed New York Steak

Toews said the natural Coleman beef at Huckleberry’s is similar to the Nebraska beef he grew up with, “tender and flavorful without all the fat.” Of course, the fat content rises when you slip in some of this blue cheese blend.

1 tablespoon chopped garlic

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

1/4 pound blue cheese (preferably Maytag), crumbled

Salt and pepper to taste

2 (8- to 10-ounce) New York steaks

Combine the garlic, walnuts, balsamic vinegar and cheese in a small mixing bowl; add salt and pepper to taste.

Make a small cut into the side of each steak; work the knife to open up space inside the meat. Stuff the cheese mixture into the steak.

Season the steak with salt and pepper to taste and grill or broil until done to your liking.

Yield: 2 servings.

Nutrition information per serving: 769 calories, 43 grams fat (50 percent fat calories), 7 grams carbohydrate, 86 grams protein, 244 milligrams cholesterol, 923 milligrams sodium.