Argentine Steakhouse Cooking w Top Chef Finalist Casey Thompson and Viking's Chef Shawn Fair

On Monday afternoon I had the opportunity to attend a 3-hour Argentine Steakhouse Cooking class with Top Chef finalist Casey Thompson and Viking Cooking School's Chef Shawn Fair at Harrah's AC. Our task was to make the following goodies under their guidance and instruction: Argentine Empanadas, Grilled Skirt Steak with Chimicurri Sauce, Roasted Marinated Sweet Peppers, Oven Roasted Potatoes and Flan.

Before starting our 3-hour culinary adventure,Viking prepared Grilled Chorizo on Crusty Bread with Chimichurri Sauce to fill our bellies in the meantime paired with Terrazas de los Andes Malbec.

Chef Casey then talked to us about Argentinian wine and pairing with Malbec.

Chef Shawn first had us prepare the flan, a chilled custard topped with caramel. Flan is made by blending condensed and evaporated milk, eggs, vanilla extract and nutmeg. We made the caramel by simply boiling sugar and water which naturally turns into caramel. We poured the caramel into ramekins (or flan molds) and then poured into our custard. In Argentina, the caramel sauce used for flan is called "dulce de leche."

Ahh, now time for the Argentine Empanadas. There are many versions of empanadas and they are specific to how families choose to make them. Instead of minced steaks which are normally used for the filling, we used ground beef. In Argentina, they place the whole olive and an hard boiled egg wedge inside the empanada. However, we chopped up our olive and egg, then mixed it in with the filling. We put our ingredients in the pan: ground beef, onions, garlic cloves, rehydrated raisins, crushed red pepper flakes, cumin, oregano, paprika,red wine vinegar and more. Afterwards, we placed the filling in the middle of an empanada shell and sealed and tucked it.

Finally, the main course: Grilled Skirt Steak with Chimichurri Sauce and marinated roasted pepper! First we started with the chimichurri sauce which we made with fresh cilantro, flat leaf parsley, oregano, garlic, lemon, olive oil and other ingredients. We mixed the ingredients in the Viking food processor--and that's it!- done for the chimichuri! Next, we roasted a pepper on the stove to make our marinated sweet pepper in balsamic vinegar to compliment our steak once it was served. We poured the chimichurri sauce on the raw steak and gave it a good rub so the flavor can seep inside. Afterwards, we grilled up the steak.

Now the best part, food is served. I have to thank my fellow team members, Sarah, Kay and Maggie of Tasteful Living for our delicious meal. We did good! (Sorry no picture of the potatoes. I ate them all before snapping a pic :)

...By the way a quick little trick from Chef Shawn on how to separate eggs.