STORY BY KAREN BOSSICK

PHOTOS BY MUFFY RITZ AND KAREN BOSSICK

Mindy Meads removed her dinner--Spiced Lava Lake Lamb Meatballs with Morels, Marsala and Oven Dried Roma Tomatoes situated in a tin foil package--from the oven.

She set it on the kitchen table next to the Rosemary Au Gratin Potatoes and Arugula and Cress Salad made with Cold Smoked Salmon, Toasted Almonds, Feta and a Lemon-Honey Dressing. Then she set a small plastic dish of Buttermilk Panna Cotta with Strawberry Rhubarb Compote in the corner opposite her glass of wine.

She draped her napkin over her lap, then turned her laptop on.

As she picked up her fork and began eating her salad, others began joining in the Sun Valley Supper Club via Zoom. Rich and Terri LaFaivre could be seen around their kitchen bar, sharing their meal with a couple friends.

Penny Weiss, and Nancie Tatum joined in with her friends. So did Kim Nalen, Glo Kimball, Lucy Bourret and Muffy Ritz—each from their respective kitchens. Sheila Witmer placed her wine glass where it would later get kudos for best placement of a wine glass.  Even Sun Valley Mayor Peter Hendricks’ puppy seemed to relish the occasion.

Last but not least appeared the man of the hour—Ketchum Grill’s Scott Mason, who had prepared the meal that all were eating, served via takeout in the age of coronavirus.

He was joined by Sun Valley Culinary Institute Chef Chris Koetke, who would pepper him with questions about the meal and how he got started in the food business over the next 45 minutes.

“The No. 1 purpose of the Supper Club is to help restaurants during this time when they might not be able to do the business they’re accustomed to,” said Meads. “And everyone seems to love it--it’s fun to hear about the chefs’ preparation and how they started.”

Indeed, the Sun Valley Supper Club started with a question posed by the Sun Valley Culinary Institute board: How can we as the Sun Valley Culinary Institute help in these times?

“We’re a culinary resource for the community. How do we do that when everyone is sheltered in place?” said Koetke. “This helps drive revenue to local restaurants, which have had empty dining rooms they haven’t been able to use. And it addresses how we can help foster community when no one can get together. So much community happens around food, around the table. Maybe we can’t be together at a physical table. But we can be together at a virtual table.”

The board of the Sun Valley Culinary Institute tested the waters first, then began inviting others to join in. As many as 40 diners joined at the last table.

“I love food and I love learning so when they started these instead of cooking classes I jumped at it. It’s like eating at a big dinner table with the chefs, the organizers and your friends. But all you have to do is wear a shirt, no pants!” quipped Muffy Ritz.

Ritz gushed about Rasberrys’ Lamb Asado Adobo, a fusion of Argentinean and Indian flavors. And CK’s beef stew inspired in the south of France, cooked for a very long time and flavored with fennel, orange zest and other spices.

“The beef was the most tender I’ve ever eaten—it just fell apart. And it was so interesting listening to Chris Kastner talk about picking watercress while hiking. And the strawberry rhubarb gelato with whipped cream that Rasberrys created was so good, although I’ve only tasted with my eyes since I lost my taste and smell to the coronavirus 60 days ago,” she said.

As Koetke joined the group he scanned the number of people on the screen.

“This must be getting more popular because all of you are getting smaller,” he said.

Under Koetke’s questioning, Mason related how he started out in the food business as a bus boy at 14, meeting his wife Anne in a hotel restaurant at Santa Barbara, Calif.

He talked about how he prepared his salmon in a cold smoker with Kosher salt, sugar, paprika and parsley. And he described some of his favorite places to hunt for mushrooms, which in turn generated further questions from viewers.

Mason recounted how he’d found morels at Disneyland and “just over the fence” in Bruce Willis’ yard. He was not brave enough to hop the fence he admitted, even though he was sorely tempted.

“We see a lot of brown morels, grey morels and black morels,” said Mason. “I love the giant meaty ones that grow along the river.”

As talk turned to dessert, Mason noted that some judge restaurants by how well they do Crème Brulee. The same can be said for panna cotta, he said, which should not taste like it has flour in it.

“If it’s too firm or thick, that’s the bad panna cotta. If it jiggles, that’s good.”

Asked about how his restaurants had done during quarantine, Mason said that only three or four of 60 staff had tested positive. The Town Square Tavern, he said has done well selling Meal Kits and filling a niche sourcing cheeses and other items that have been hard to get at the grocery.

Mason, who alerted local restaurateurs to what was coming based on his conversations with those from Seattle, added that he was not eager to reopen his restaurants before June.

“I’ll wait and learn from others,” he said. “But I don’t want to do takeout forever.”

The Culinary Institute’s Karl Uri said he wasn’t quite sure how he’d feel about eating on Zoom.

“But I like it. There are no rules—you can eat dinner before or after--it’s up to you. It’s a fun way to get people involved, and I think we will continue to do it for a while.”

Koetke said the Supper Club conversations have reaffirmed for him the amount of local food—make that, quality local food—available at the fingertips of those in the Wood River Valley as documented by the fresh mushrooms and watercress.

“All the chefs have expressed a real sense of gratitude for the people tuning in because they know the mission is to help them,” he said. “And then you get these gems, like when Maeme and Callie Rasberry were talking about their rhubarb dessert and all of a sudden began discussing how they put rhubarb in drinks and cocktails, salsa and other things. People got a glimpse into the creativity of our local chefs.”

WANT TO GET INVOLVED?

Week Four, which took place Tuesday, featured Cookbook’s Butternut Squash with Ginger Tomatoes and Lime Yogurt, Roasted Chicken with Puy Lentils and House Cured Pancetta and Becky’s Buttermillk Pound Cake with Chocolate Drizzle.

Dinners cost $45 per person. Suggested wines can be purchased, as well.

For more information, email info@sunvalleyculinary.org. Or, call 208-309-2700.

WHEN WILL IN-PERSON COOKING CLASSES START?

The Sun Valley Culinary Institute hopes to begin offering small cooking classes for up to eight people by mid-June. The Institute is working with the Centers for Disease Control to map out protocols that will allow it to do so safely.

Chef Chris Koetke says he plans to return to Sun Valley in June from Chicago where he has been sheltering in place and living life on a computer.

“Despite this strange world we’re living in, we continue to move forward. But, like everyone else, we have to be creative,” he said.