I had the pleasure of participating in a cooking class/dinner party with vegan chef, Karim Gwaduri.

Karim hails from Florida, where he studied fine dining and French cooking at Le Cordon Bleu. He has shown his cooking prowess at many kinds of bars and restaurants, as to broaden his perspective and knowledge–from sports bars to a stylish, David Bowie-themed bar called Life On Mars here in Seattle, where he prepares delectable vegan appetizers.

While he has a slender build, Karim’s affectionate nickname growing up was “Fat Boy.”

“There’s a fat kid inside me that wants to eat everything,” gushes Karim. “I just always want to eat and cook all of this good food. I don’t think I’ll ever leave the food industry. And, while I’m a frugal shopper for ingredients, some of the tools I use for cooking are on the higher end. I want to invest in good equipment to make higher quality food.”

His passion for food matches his zest for life, and he wants to share that with people. So, he invited a select group of friends to join him on a cooking adventure. I was honored to be one of his guests.

Italian food was the cuisine of choice at this dinner party. Italian can be considered “soul food,” because it’s often made with love and is embodied with richness. The Italians traditionally don’t follow recipes. Instead, they follow aromas and flavor profiles. It’s an art, a following of an internal culinary compass. You’ll know it when you put it together.

Course 1: Bruschetta

Bruschetta is an appetizer consisting of bread grilled with olive oil and topped with garlic, salt, basil, and crushed tomatoes. The basil was smacked in the hands in order to intensify the flavor, then sliced into thin ribbons. We let the tomatoes sit for 15 minutes, as the salt draws the water out of the tomatoes. Tomatoes are acidic, and while balsamic vinegar is another acid, it still cuts the acidity of the tomatoes. The salad catches the toppings that fall off the bread.

Course 2: Stuffed lasagna

We made our own sauces and cashew ricotta for the stuffed lasagna.

Cashew ricotta

For the cashew ricotta, we added cashews, nutritional yeast, garlic, and salt. Cashews mimic the creamy texture of the fat content of dairy. We put all of the ingredients into a Ninja blender.

Sauce from scratch

With the sauce, we sautéd some veggies and tomatoes before blending them together. Then it was time to layer them onto the lasagna noodles and then roll them up. The dish was then topped with plant-based cheese.

Course 2.5: Palate cleanser

This drink is meant to clear the palate so that the flavors from the previous course aren’t lingering when dessert comes. This drink was made with lime juice, mint leaves, thinly sliced ginger, and seltzer water.

Karim’s techniques involved rolling the lime for a few minutes. This massages the pulp inside, which helps release more juices. The mint leaves are smacked in the hands some; this brings the flavor out more, just like the basil in the bruschetta.

Course 3: Banana Foster

This was a special treat.

Sometimes cooking is an experiment. The first time, Karim attempted to melt butter with the brown sugar to make a caramel sauce. It unfortunately heated too quickly and burned on the first attempt.

He had to start over, first using the rum for flavor. I don’t drink alcohol, but he assured me that it would be burnt off from the heat. He showed how to set the rum on fire. I have never handled flames while cooking before! We all got to handle the pan, and no one burned the house down.

The bananas were sliced on a bias. Doing so makes the biggest pieces, so that they take up more space. He added the sliced bananas, walnuts, and spices, and cooked until the bananas started to melt. It pairs very well with coconut-based vanilla ice cream.

Let’s do this again!

This dinner party/cooking class was highly informative and loads of fun! We learned new techniques that we’ve never tried before. There are talks about having another one. I cannot wait. It has been an honor being able to participate in something like this, while learning new things about food.

If you’re interested in getting to know Karim, follow him on Instagram: @plantpoweredfatboy