Ongi etorri! Welcome! Thank you for finding your way here!

Cooking Elkarrekin is a collection of recipes, stories, photographs and information gathered from my experiences cooking, teaching, living and learning in the Basque Country.

Elkarrekin – together – with family, friends, kitchen professionals and students of all ages – in our homes, in gastronomic societies, in classrooms, in bars and restaurants, in culinary centers, and in open air – we discover, we create, we enjoy and we share.

I am a professional chef and teacher originally from Boston, Massachusetts. Along my journey from Boston through Providence, San Francisco and New York, I created a Children’s Garden educational program, earned a B.A. in Environmental Studies at Brown University, and received a Classic Culinary Arts degree from the French Culinary Institute (now the International Culinary Center). I worked as sous chef at The Spotted Pig and Cocotte restaurants in New York, and I apprenticed at Chez Panisse Restaurant and Café in Berkeley, California and at Caretaker Farm in Williamstown, Massachusetts.

My adventures in the Basque Country began in the kitchen of La Cuchara de San Telmo, where to this day, even after working there myself, I find it nearly impossible to fathom how such an immense volume of extraordinary food pours out of one of the smallest kitchens you could imagine. It’s not magic, and thankfully it has nothing to do with alchemy, but everything works and flows together, and the results are exquisite.

I teach cooking classes, sometimes combined with English language lessons, to children and adults through my Txikicooks project. And I recently began offering workshops and classes to cooking enthusiasts and international students through the BCulinary Club of the Basque Culinary Center.

The rest of the story unfolds here, one bite (of squid, of anchovies, of bacalao, of artichokes, of sheep’s milk cheese, of beef cheeks…) at a time. Please join us! Cooking together! Elkarrekin! On Egin!