Couple shares skills at Pacific Culinary School in Everett

When you’re trying to evaluate a wine, here are three things to consider:

Nose: Does the wine have an inviting, beautiful smell? Is it fruity, floral, spicy, earthy?

Taste: How does it feel in your mouth? Sweet? Dry? Full-bodied or light?

Finish: Does the flavor linger or disappear immediately?

Rarely does a wine excel at all three, said wine guru Dewey McCandlis, swirling an Oregon pinot gris in front of a class of 14 foodies.

“Every great wine has a long finish,” he added, as his wife, Lindalee McCandlis, buzzed around behind him in a state-of-the-art kitchen, searing sea scallops.

Searing, Lindalee McCandlis explained, is not a way to seal in juices as many people believe.

“It’s a caramelization of protein with fat,” she said. “You want a nice, caramelized brown crust.”

Such easy-to-grasp lessons are commonplace here at Pacific Culinary Studio in Everett, where the husband-and-wife co-owners of Pacific Wine & Kitchen are changing the way people cook, eat and drink.

Though the couple opened their store and cooking studio six years ago, this is the first time they are teaching classes as a team.

Dewey McCandlis, 61, regularly lectures on wine and pairs sips with food prepared at the studio by guest chefs.

This past fall, however, his wife stepped in to teach classes two or three nights a week, too.

“I woke up and decided that’s what I wanted to do,” Lindalee McCandlis, 43, said. “It’s been a total joy.”

Her husband of 17 years had been encouraging her to do it, especially after her decades of successful cooking at home and a handful of classes at the Culinary Institute of America.

“He fully believes I should have a show on the Food Network,” she said.

Though Dewey and Lindalee McCandlis are teaching the majority of the classes, they also call on local culinary experts.

Local personal chef Lesa Sullivan, for example, will teach “An Evening With Julie and Julia” on Thursday. Students will learn how to prepare sole meuniere, a culinary touchstone for Julia Child.

In the coming weeks, aspiring home cooks at the studio will learn how to make homemade gnocchi, one-pot Sunday suppers and, during a noon-hour class, Venetian espresso fondue.

It’s all exactly what Lindalee McCandlis wanted.

Inspired by her love of all things culinary, she and her husband opened their first kitchen shop in Mukilteo in 1996.

In 2006, looking to spend more time in their newly acquired vacation home in McMinnville, Ore., in the heart of wine country, they closed their Mukilteo store and focused on their Everett efforts.

She took a month off to train at Nick’s Italian Cafe in McMinnville, which focuses on sustainable and local ingredients.

Now, she shares her love of local ingredients and sustainable cooking with students, works on newly built gardens at the cooking school and composts kitchen waste from classes.

With the renewed focus, Lindalee McCandlis hopes their business can become a hub for local farmers and ranchers offering community supported agriculture deliveries.

Their winter class schedule features Shelly Muzzall of 3 Sisters Cattle Co., a grass-feed beef operation on Whidbey Island; and chef Eric Wright, a founding member of Slow Food Snoqualmie Valley, a nonprofit group focused on local food.

In a recent class, Lindalee McCandlis urged students to make homemade stock.

“A lot of the good cooking tricks are actually very eco-friendly,” she told the class, while serving stock- enhanced portions of braised lamb shank with roasted shallot and dried cherries. “You use the whole animal.”

Lindalee McCandlis, however, also appealed to the time-strapped cooks in the class, recommending Glace De Viande Gold, a commercially available gel form of veal stock.

“Lindalee is always experimenting with new dishes,” said Dewey McCandlis. “We are so fortunate to do what we do. It’s just a nice match.”

That’s true even when things don’t go perfectly.

During a recent classes’ dessert course, Lindalee McCandlis remained perfectly calm even when a slip of her wrist sent an apple torte flying across the prep table.

“Every move is planned,” she joked, recovering instantly.

“Except that one,” he countered, with a grin.

Sarah Jackson: 425-339-3037, sjackson@heraldnet.com.

Braised lamb shanks with roasted shallot and dried cherries

2 tablespoons olive oil

8 shallots, peeled

6 whole garlic cloves, peeled

6 10- to 12-ounce lamb shanks

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup red wine

21/2 cups lamb or veal stock (recipe below)

4 teaspoons balsamic vinegar

1 cup dried cherries

1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Put olive oil, shallots and garlic in a large roasting pan, cover with a lid and place in the oven. Roast for about 1 hour or until the shallots are garlic are soft to the touch.

Remove the pan from the oven and place it on the stovetop.

Remove shallots and garlic and set aside. Season the shanks with salt and pepper.

Spread the flour out on a large plate and dredge the lamb in it. Place the shanks in the pan and sear well, about 2 minutes on each side over high heat.

Add the wine and reduce by about half over high heat. Add the stock, vinegar, cherries, thyme and reserved shallots and garlic. Cover and place in the oven.

Cook until tender, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Remove the pan from the oven and season the broth to taste with salt and pepper, reducing the broth if necessary. Place the lamb on a severing platter.

Slice and serve hot with the sauce spooned over.

Serves 6.

Beef, veal or lamb stock

5 pounds beef, veal or lamb bones (see note below)

2 onions, coarsely chopped

1 carrot, coarsely chopped

3 stalks celery, coarsely chopped

3 cloves garlic, chopped

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 cup dry red wine

2 quarts water

1 bay leaf

Preheat over to 450 degrees.

In a roasting pan, place bones, onions, carrots, celery and garlic and roast for about 1 hour or until the bones turn golden brown.

Spread the tomato paste over the mixture and roast for 10 more minutes.

Transfer the mixture to a large stockpot. Add the wine to the roasting pan and scrape up all of the brown bits from the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Pour this liquid into the stockpot. Add the water and bay leaf. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat and simmer for 6 to 8 hours or until the stock is full flavored. Strain through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl and use immediately or allow to cool before refrigerating.

This stock keeps in the refrigerator for up to 1 week and can be frozen.

Makes about 4 cups.

Notes: Lindalee McCandlis adapted this recipe from the book, “Caprial’s Bistro-Style Cuisine” by Caprial Pence of Portland.

To make richer stock, reduce the liquid over high heat until about 2 cups remain and the flavor has intensified.

Ask your local butcher for bones, which are sometimes sold by the pound upon request. Double DD Meats of Mountlake Terrace, for example, sells bones for about $1 a pound. See doubleddmeats.com or call 425-778-7363.