After meeting when their children were in kindergarten, Dana Kotler and Claudine Watt quickly bonded over their shared love for cooking and entertaining. Over the years, as they spent countless hours preparing meals for their friends, the idea for boutique cooking school Abundance + Company was born. Their three-hour classes—set at Watt’s home by the Brentwood Country Club—have quickly gained a cult-following. “Like us, our food is fun! It’s relaxed and completely attainable,” says Kotler. “We want to make our friends feel special through the food we make and vibe we create.” Combining the feel of the English countryside (Watt is a native Londoner) with the warmth of the Midwest (Kotler hails from Michigan), the classes are filled with noise and laughter, with every session ending with a shared meal at a long communal table. “Abundance + Co is not just a cooking class, it is a form of self-care,” says Watt. “It is a warm, welcoming environment that nurtures both body and soul.” And with fresh, seasonal ingredients pulled right from the farmers market, the meals are also deliciously healthy. Here, three of their favorite recipes.
Smoky Roasted Chicken + Potatoes + Lemon
"This is our absolute go-to when people ask us "What should I make for dinner?" Watt says. "It's easy enough to make for your family on a Tuesday night, but special enough to serve to guests on a Saturday.”
Ingredients
4 bone-in skin-on chicken breasts
5 large potatoes
3 red onions, cut into large chunks
1 large fennel bulb, quartered
3 lemons, juiced (don't throw away the actual lemons—after juicing you will use them!)
6 cloves garlic, chopped
½ cup olive oil
2 tablespoons smoked paprika
2 teaspoons salt
1 bunch oregano leaves removed from stem
Handful chopped Italian parsley for serving
Directions
Line a roasting tray with parchment paper. Heat oven to 400°F. Slice the potatoes (don't bother peeling) as finely as you can. In a very large mixing bowl, add the olive oil, lemon juice, smoked paprika, chopped garlic, salt and oregano leaves. Mix well. Add the potatoes, fennel, red onion and the chicken breasts to the bowl and coat all the chicken and the vegetables with the oil mixture. Tip the chicken and potatoes into the roasting tray, arranging the chicken on top of the potatoes and the onions. Add the squeezed lemon rinds to the tray. Roast for an hour to an hour and 15 minutes until chicken is cooked through. If the chicken is cooked but potatoes are not browned, remove the chicken from the roasting tray, set aside and return the potatoes to the oven until well cooked through. Serve with juices from the pan and chopped Italian parsley.
Harvest Rainbow Salad
“The Harvest salad is a ray of sunshine in the winter months,” says Kotler. “Packed with purple cabbage, rainbow carrots and jewel-like pomegranates, it's so beautiful!”
Ingredients
For the salad
½ red cabbage, finely sliced
4 candy cane beets, scrubbed well and finely sliced into rounds
3 rainbow carrots, peeled into ribbons with vegetable peeler
2 apples, cored, quartered and finely sliced
1 bunch parsley, chopped
1 pomegranate, seeded
1 cup roasted hazelnuts
For the dressing
⅓ cup white balsamic vinegar or white wine vinegar
⅔ cup extra virgin olive oil
½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon honey
Directions
Mix all the salad ingredients in a large bowl. Mix all the dressing ingredients in a separate small bowl and whisk until well amalgamated. Dress the salad and toss well. This salad does particularly well when dressed in advance, and is even good the next day! Dress at least 30 minutes before eating. Pile the salad high onto a flat plate and serve.
Bouillabaisse
“This lets us feel like we have been whisked away to the South of France,” says Watt. “We love showing people how to cook fresh fish—something they are often intimidated by, but actually is super easy and super healthy."
Ingredients
1 onion, finely diced
2 leeks, white parts only, finely diced
2 sticks celery, finely diced
1 fennel bulb, finely diced
zest orange, 1 long strip
½ teaspoon cayenne
large pinch saffron
4 garlic cloves, minced
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
2 ½ teaspoon salt
pepper
1 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes
1 cup white wine
2 cups fish stock
2 bay leaves
2 pounds firm white fish, i.e. red snapper, halibut, cod, cut into 4-inch pieces
shrimp, shell-on, two per person
mussels, four per person
clams, four per person
parsley, chopped
toasts and rouille to serve
Directions
Peel and devein the shrimp, reserving the shells. Rinse and clean the mussels and clams and keep in a bowl of iced water. In a large casserole pot or soup pan, add the extra virgin olive oil, onions, leeks, fennel, celery, orange zest, cayenne, saffron and the shrimp shells. Sauté the vegetables, spices and shrimp shells for about ten minutes on a low to medium heat until the vegetables are soft and cooked through. Add the garlic and sauté for another couple of minutes. Remove the shrimp shells and the orange zest from the pan and add the white wine. Deglaze the pan by simmering the liquid for a few minutes and scraping the base of the pot well. Add the tomatoes, the fish stock, bay leaves, salt and pepper and simmer for another ten minutes or so. Add the white fish. Place the lid on the pot and on a low heat, poach the fish by simmering gently for 7-8 minutes. Add the shrimp and continue to simmer with the lid on for another couple of minutes. Now add the mussels and clams and place the lid back on. Simmer again for another five minutes until all the shells have opened and the shrimp and the fish are just cooked through. If any shells have not opened, discard. Check for seasoning, adding any salt or pepper if needed. Ladle the bouillabaisse into shallow bowls, scatter with chopped parsley and serve with toasts and rouille.
Abundance + Co offers scheduled classes on weekday mornings throughout the year, as well as private parties and team-building events. Book through abundanceandco.com or email hello@abundanceandco.com.