Chef of all foods

Lara Ritchie is the culinary director at Nothing To It! Culinary Center, where she teaches the majority of the cooking classes that range from Thai, Tuscan or Indian cooking to techniques series and couples classes.

Want to tell me a little bit about what you do?

Well, Nothing To It! is a cooking school, a retail store, we have a gourmet deli, and then we cater, so it’s a four-part business.

And what about your personal background?

I went to culinary school at New England Culinary Institute, and since then I’ve worked around the United States. I’ve worked in San Francisco at a place called La Folie. I was with the Four Seasons in Seattle and then opened up the Atlanta property where we gained five stars, five diamonds. I designed a brunch in Atlanta at the Four Seasons and that was written up in the Zagat Guide. In San Francisco, when I was at La Folie, I was voted best chocolate dessert in the city. I’ve cooked in various places, but I’ve been here since 2002.

What brought you to Reno?

It was twofold. I was looking to get back to the West Coast because I grew up on the West Coast. I was in Atlanta at the Four Seasons. It was a great experience. It was just time to come back to the West Coast. My mom and her husband had moved back here, so I wanted to be closer to her. So it was kind of a twofold purpose. I came directly to Nothing To It!

What’s your favorite thing to cook or make?

You know, I don’t really have a favorite thing. As long as somebody does the grocery shopping and the dishes, I’m happy to cook anything. There’s definitely stuff I don’t like to eat, but I love to cook it all. I think sauce making is wildly fascinating. I love it. I think the great thing about being in the cooking school is last night we did shortcut vegan, so totally a different cuisine. Tonight, it’s Thai. Tomorrow, we’re grilling. Friday, we’re in Tuscany. So we really get to exercise every bit of the culinary world. That’s what great about my job. I don’t get stuck with a particular cuisine.

What is your specialty?

I don’t know that I would say that I have a specialty. My specialty is that I am flexible, I think. Mostly you’re going to find that chefs stay in one category. They’re either savory or they’re sweet, and I feel comfortable going between baking and a savory kitchen. I like doing both. I don’t think I could be a full-time pastry chef. That might be a bit much for me, but I would say that maybe that’s a little bit different about who I am as a chef because most chefs stay in one or the other type of kitchen.

Is that why you’re here teaching the different classes?

I came to teaching a number of ways, but what I love about it, and what I’ve found that’s so interesting, is that we’re really impacting people on a grassroots level. You know, if you think about food, you think about how people interact and so many of our memories are attached to smells and tastes and food and a specific meal. And, truly, if you look at your life, weddings, funerals, job interviews, meeting with friends—so much of it revolves around food. I love being able to connect with people at that level. And I get students of all ranges. I have people that have retired and are like, “Oh my gosh. I’ve never really taken the time to cook.” Or, “This is my new favorite hobby, show me the finer points.” To people who are really just discovering that their house came with a kitchen and they don’t know what to do. Versus, there’s also people who, all of a sudden, their diet had to change because they found out they have to be gluten-free, or in the case of last night, people deciding to go vegan. So how do you make that choice? How do you approach your kitchen? How do you approach your cooking? I think that’s impactful if we look at how people eat. One of the connecting factors when you look at Rhodes Scholars is that 99 percent of all Rhodes Scholars sat down to a family meal. This is where it starts. This is the heart of so many people. There are those people that eat just for sustenance, but they’re still going to connect at the table with somebody.

So you teach all levels here?

Oh, yeah. We really try to hit in every class—if you have a lot of experience or a little bit of experience, we try to make it approachable for everybody.

If someone is just starting out cooking or just discovering they have a kitchen, like you said, what are the kinds of things you start out with?

Oh, definitely we start out with our knife skills. If you’re not comfortable with your knife, you don’t want to be in your kitchen. And that’s the sad part when you look at grocery stores today is the absolute abundance of pre-cut food because people don’t have the skills to be in their kitchen—and we’re not asking people to be, you know, Jacques Pépin, just a basic understanding and ability with their knife. And you really sacrifice flavor and a lot of other things when you buy the pre-cut stuff, but, at any rate, we start with knife skills and how to sauté. Those, I think, are two of the fundamentals of your kitchen, and then we grow it from there. And, you know, how do you stock yourself to cook? Like any other part of your life—if you’re going to go skiing, you’ve got to have a basic level of preparedness. And it’s the same with cooking. If you’re set up to cook, you’re going to cook, but if each time you cook you’ve got to reinvent the wheel, you’re not going to want to do it.

So what are the things you need to have in your kitchen to start cooking?

Well, you know, we’re talking about stocking your pantry and refrigerator with items. Certainly, you always need your flavor agents, whether that’s your dried herbs and spices or your fresh herbs and spices. Your oils, your vinegars and the right equipment. If you don’t have anything to cook with, you’re not going to be there. Or, like I say, if your knife isn’t sharp, and you’re not comfortable with it, it’s not necessarily where you want to be, in the kitchen.

What kind of classes do you focus on?

We don’t have a particular focus. Our focus is about giving you the techniques and how to buy the right ingredients and if the recipes are authentic. Meaning, is the technique authentic to whatever cuisine it is, are the ingredients authentic and are you using the right equipment? And once you figure that equation out, it doesn’t have to be complicated for it to be fantastic and flavorful and healthful. So it goes really hand-in-hand with what’s going on in cooking now and this movement across the nation of eating sustainable, eating local, eating seasonable. I always say, take a tomato. If you cook a tomato in December, you have to do a ton of things to make it taste good. A tomato in the summer, all you have to do is slice it. It’s just learning the right produce, the right ingredients, cooking with wholesome whole ingredients, using the right technique, using the right equipment, and I just don’t think you can fail. And so that’s really what we focus on—that being our core belief, if we were to have a mission statement. Ultimately, what I think we do is not just give you the knowledge and the technique. But I do think being in your kitchen is about being comfortable to be in your kitchen and being OK with making a mistake and scrapping it and saying, “Oh well, I still know how to order for pizza. Tomorrow’s another day.” I think if you go into your kitchen and you’re scared and afraid, that’s really not a good place to be. You really want to have that comfortability to be in your kitchen and be at home and know that sometime’s the best mistake you’re going to make is the best thing you’ve ever done or you might make this horrible horrendous thing and then you know to never do that again. But you have to be OK with that. And I think we add a little bit of that approachability to cooking.