About – Cuisine Claire

FAQ

chefclaire — Tue, 10 Nov 2015 19:56:29 +0000

Update Summer 2019: Cuisine Claire suspended home meal delivery in late 2017, but continues to offer demo and hands-on classes (including one-day multi-meal prep, such as the menus archived below). I love to invite old and new clients alike into my Cuisine Claire kitchen for a morning, afternoon or full day of cooking! Please call (360-389-3731) or email ([email protected]) with questions.

To see actual past menus, click here.

About the cook

chefclaire — Wed, 04 Sep 2013 23:05:22 +0000

Claire began cooking for private clients in Bellingham in 2003. She’s been a personal chef, caterer and instructor ever since, with the occasional hiatus for travel and family priorities. Several years earlier she’d left a career in marketing to raise her kids and quickly realized she didn’t want to return to an office. That’s when she decided to turn a lifelong culinary hobby into a business. Already an accomplished home cook, she gained a solid foundation in classical as well as contemporary styles at Seattle’s Bon Vivant School of Cooking, completing its five intensive certificate courses and becoming an assistant.

Additionally, Claire grew her knowledge of regional and international cuisines as a class assistant to many professional chefs; as a cookbook junkie who reads them like novels; and as an enthusiastic improvisational cook who simply trusts her good instincts around food. She’s been lucky enough to live in France on two occasions: a full year in Provence in ’80-’81 and six months in the Languedoc in 2010. During these stays, she had several opportunities to cook with French and Spanish chefs in their restaurant kitchens. Both sojourns provided a base camp for extended travel, and culinary experiences in Spain, Italy, Greece, Israel, Germany, Croatia, Hungary and elsewhere have influenced and informed her cooking.

Claire has always encouraged clients to ‘slow down and eat local,’ to enjoy the seasons of Whatcom and Skagit Counties’ agricultural bounty, and to strengthen connections with family and community over a good meal. As a long-term breast cancer survivor, she is especially eager to share her knowledge of nutrition, cooking methods and meal planning that do not compromise taste or enjoyment, but support a healthy lifestyle.

Cuisine Claire is a proud member of Sus tainable Connections and its Food & Farming program, and SC’s Eat Local First, Toward Zero Waste, and Bank Local First initiatives. Cuisine Claire was also a longtime member of the United States Personal Chef Association.

Media

chefclaire — Wed, 04 Sep 2013 16:14:23 +0000

Click the thumbnail or live link:

Bellingham Herald “Prime Time” feature, January 2017

Take the chill out of Whatcom winter wi…ally grown produce | Bellingham Herald

Cuisine Claire featured in the Skagit Valley Food Coop Newsletter, February 2013

Click the live link below:

Bellingham Herald “Prime Time”, September 2013

Cuisine Claire (formerly Cuisine by Claire), featured in The Bellingham Herald “Prime Time”, July 2011, below:

Local Heroes

chefclaire — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 02:49:13 +0000

Listed below are some favorite local and regional growers, fishers, producers and purveyors whose goods appear in Cuisine Claire meals as well as my own home cooking. (Click on underlined names for links to more info on these folks and their work.)

Vegetables, herbs, berries:

Terra Verde Farm, Broadleaf Farm, Springtime Farm, Rabbit Fields Farm, Spring Frog Farm@ Holistic Homestead, Joe’s Gardens, Cedarville Farm, Bow Hill Blueberries, Hedlin Farms, Ralph’s Greenhouse, Hayton Farms

Apples, Pears, Stone fruit

Bellewood Acres, Cloud Mountain Farm, Joe’s Gardens (organic peaches, cherries, apricots grown in Eastern WA by Smallwood Orchards)

Beef, Pork, Lamb, Goat:

Jack Mountain Meats, Skiyou Ranch, Skagit Angus Beef, Skagit River Ranch, Umpqua Valley (Oregon), North Cascade Meats

Chicken, Turkey, Eggs:

Osprey Hill Farm (chicken, turkey, eggs), Cedarville Farm (turkey), Brittle Barn Farms, Sky Valley Farm, Misty Meadows Farm (eggs)

Fish and Seafood:

Taylor Shellfish, Lummi Island Wild, Nerka, Carne Butcher. (And we miss you, Vis Seafood!)

Milk, Cream, Cheese and Yogurt:

Acme cheese, Ferndale Farmstead, Twin Sisters Creamery, Samish Bay Cheese, Gothberg Farms (goat cheese), Grace Harbor Farms, Silver Springs Creamery, Twin Brooks Creamery, Harmony Fields (sheep cheese), Fresh Breeze Organic, Beecher’s, Tillamook, Ring of Trees Farm

Pantry items: e.g. honey, vinegars, storage beans, spice blends, pasta, bread, etc.

Bellingham Pasta, Backyard Bees, Spice Hut, Dona Flora, BreadFarm, Avenue Bread, Bellewood Acres, Henry’s Humdingers, Bluebird Grain Farms

Markets, Groceries, Butchers

The Bellingham Farmers Market, Community Food Co-op, Skagit Valley Food Co-op, Mt. Vernon Farmer’s Market, Carne butcher shop

Cuisine Claire can also help you get the most benefit from your CSA; call or email to learn about private cooking instruction and quick home cooking consults.