Tomatoes fresh from the garden and an expert on growing and cooking them come together for a summer celebration in one of our favorite summer classes. Join tomato expert Miriam Rubin (who wrote a book on tomatoes) in our Hudson Valley/Berkshire kitchen for this seasonal class. We begin with a tomato tasting so you can understand the distinctions of some of Miriam’s favorite varieties, then the cooking begins as she demonstrates delectable recipes that celebrate this glorious fruit. After the cooking we’ll all have lunch together.
Miriam will bring a large sampling of tomatoes from her own garden and will answer your questions about how best to use each in the kitchen, with some serious gardening advice on the side for the advanced or just-starting tomato grower. Keep your notes for your tomato garden in 2026!
This demonstration class (plus lunch) is limited to ten people.
A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, Miriam was the first woman in the kitchens of NYC’s famed Four Seasons Restaurant. She’s a former food editor of Weight Watchers Magazine. Her first cookbook, Grains, was published in 1995. For nine years, she wrote a food and garden column “Miriam’s Garden” for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and has contributed features to their food pages for about two decades.
Her work has appeared in Prevention, Organic Gardening, Redbook, Working Woman, Working Mother and Woman’s Day. She was line-editor for Gil Marks’ Encyclopedia of Jewish Food and has contributed to The Encyclopedia of Appalachia and The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink Vol. 2. She’s Americanized several cookbooks and reworked and Americanized British recipes for websites.
Her book, Tomatoes, grew out of a love of planting and devouring a favorite vegetable (fruit). She presented on the book at the Harvest Festival at Monticello and at Beard on Books at the Beard House. Miriam and her husband have recently relocated to the Hudson Valley from Southwestern Pennsylvania.
Cancellation policy: We do not offer refunds on purchased tickets.
Cooking class attendees receive 10% discount on kitchenware purchases on class day.
HGS Home Chef is a member of TheWorkshopExperience.org, a group of friends who produce an annual festival of creative workshops on a wide variety of topics in and around Hillsdale, NY – at the crossroads of the Hudson Valley and Berkshires.