This past week I had the great pleasure of joining Helene Henderson, founder and chef at Malibu Farm for a cooking lesson and lunch.  Malibu Farm is off of Pacific Coast Highway, in a rural surprise called Point Dume.  Helene tends to the farm and its habitants: goats, chickens, and a sweet little pig.  When she’s not tending the farm, she is a private chef for a notable Hollywood family.  However, her passion for healthy, local, organic food is expressed mostly while she is teaching local women her tricks.  Her philosophy is simple: small portions of real food will make you feel real good.  She is “afraid of anything labeled “non,” “low” or “free” and she has a witty website where you can gain further insight about all of these philosophies.  

Each Malibu Farm cooking class has a theme and ours was “Rosemary.”  With 6-8 women in each class, each person creates a dish.

There is a choreographed chaos to it all and although a couple of times there may have been butt bumps, I never felt that there were “too many chefs in the kitchen.” We were all afforded plenty of one-on-one attention.   After all of the dishes were done, we gathered around to “recap” and teach the others our individual dish, as well as any tricks we learned.  

The cooking lesson is then followed by a beautiful, rustic lunch outside, adjacent to the wine grapes.  Heaven.  My dish was a simple Roasted Beet Salad, so I wanted to share this recipe with you.  Enjoy!

Roast your beets (whole) in a couple Tbs. of olive oil and sprigs of rosemary in an oven on 375 for 30 minutes.  They will peel easily with a paper towel and a twist of the wrist. Quarter the beets and arrange on the platter.  Season with salt and pepper, olive oil, splash of lemon, and red wine vinegar.  Add cheese of your choice: goat cheese, mozzarella, burrata, ricotta… and your salad choice!  Add arugula.  Then garnish with sunflower seeds.  For the full rosemary recipe list, class information, catering, and Farm Dinner reservations, please visit Malibu Farm online!  Want more pictures?  Visit my scrapbook! 

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