The Nimble Cook Toolkit Online Cooking Class
Learn how to become a more intuitive, off-the-cuff kind of cook with this flagship online cooking class by chef and author Ronna Welsh. Be a more creative cook. Cook sustainably. Reduce food waste.
The Nimble Cook Toolkit
A masterclass in its own class
The Nimble Cook Toolkit is a different kind of cooking class.
The Toolkit will help you become immediately more resourceful and creative in the kitchen, whether you are working with recipes you love (including those from other cooking classes!) or if you have no idea what to cook.
The Toolkit is suited to all kinds of cooks, because it targets the skills you already have to help you become the kind of cook you want to be.
Your Toolkit
Lesson One: Chart and Recharge Your Recipes
Be efficient. Break down recipes into basic elements and create a framework for making other dishes: all cuisines and dietary choices welcome.
Lesson Two: Make Starting Points
Be resourceful. Use Starting Points, or ready-to-go ingredients, to create a personalized pantry and discover an easier way to prep your meals.
Lesson Three: Turn Starting Points into Endless Dishes
Be creative. Learn dozens of different, proven strategies for turning your Starting Points into original, delicious dishes.
Lesson Four: Leave the Recipe Behind
Be free. Follow three simple steps to make a meal from scratch, even when you have no recipe to start with, no ingredients prepared, and no specific dish in mind.
Lesson Five: Sustain Your New Way to Cook
Be nimble. Discover new ways to tweak your current kitchen practices and sustain a new, nimble way to shop, stock up, and cook, for life
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Worksheets include:
• Three original recipes to jump-start your cooking
• Templates for “charting” your recipes
• Worksheets for building a personal pantry (What are Starting Points?)
• 6 different types of Starting Points
• 18 prompts for creating your own dishes
• A worksheet for improvising in the kitchen
• How and why to rethink what makes a meal
• Dozens of doable strategies for sustaining your nimble way to cook
• A kitchen "office" supply list
• 8 weeks to a nimble kitchen
and more.
Dishes include:
• Roasted parsnips with many herb salad
• Sauteed romaine with poached garlic vinegar
• Poached chicken with ginger and scallion sauce
• Potatoes with spice salt, ginger, and rosemary
• Deviled eggs with crispy chicken skin and anchovy
• Parsnip, peas, and scallion soup
• Grilled toasts with white beans and garlic spice oil
• Kale with bacon, Parmesan, and spicy mustard dressing
• Risotto with potato and chicken skin
• Chicken, parsnip, bacon, and kale soup
and more.
What a nimble cook can do
Let’s say you have a favorite soup. You could follow the recipe for making the soup and prepare a big batch of it that will last a few days. OR you could focus on making the soup’s individual ingredients “ready” for many different meals.
Imagine turning the same set of ingredients for a single soup into a sandwich, a few salads, and much more. What if you could use those leftover herbs to make a vibrant, quick dressing, or could turn neglected spices into easy-to-use condiments? And imagine if you could do all this, without sacrificing a whole day off to prep for the week.
Once you start to creatively, individually-prepare your ingredients (I call these preparations Starting Points), you’ll begin to see all of these options in front of you. You’re no longer making a single recipe, you’re creating a personalized pantry that is just steps away from endless things to eat.
Be more creative in the kitchen.
Get better organized.
Waste less food.
Be the kind of cook who can walk into her kitchen and toss together something delicious to eat—and to do this, everyday, no matter your level of cooking skill, how much (or little) time you have, what ingredients are lying around, or how many people you want to feed.
This is all possible, whether you’ve been cooking for a lifetime or a short while. Because this kind of everyday improvisation depends less on experience or skill and more on new ways to think about and work with your ingredients.
A hard lesson for me became a great course for you.
Hi, I’m Ronna.
I am the chef and founder of Purple Kale Kitchenworks in Brooklyn NY, and author of The Nimble Cook.
I created The Toolkit for you, from a very challenging time for me.
Before starting my own cooking school in 2010, I racked up years in the restaurant world, finding myself at the helm of a quirky and beloved collection of restaurants in NYC and abroad. Like many chefs, I had rarely cooked for my tiny household of two, saving my ideas and energies for work.
I had no real home cooking habit.
Then, I became a parent, and this lack of a habit, combined with the nuttiness of my new home life, had me struggling to make even the humblest dish for my young family to eat. While i could cook elaborate meals every night for dozens of restaurant customers, I struggled to cook well for my young family of four.
Turns out, my professional skills were no match for the relentless distractions and ceaseless demands of new parenthood.
+ Click here to read my story
Humbled by my many burned pots and terrible meals, I had to rethink some of what I learned in the restaurant world, whose success depends on a sophisticated system of food deliveries, cooks, and dishwashers. At the same time, I couldn't warm up to meal plans that promised predictability and organization, because they were too much work and inflexible.
Hoping to salvage what I could from my years of kitchen work, I tried to adapt important restaurant practices to my constantly changing life. This meant, rather than have a set menu to cook for my family for the week, I would focus instead on quickly and easily turning small sets of versatile ingredients that I liked, were accessible, and affordable, into many different, delicious plates of food. This allowed me to accommodate the whims, mishaps, and changing circumstance of daily life. I soon regained confidence and joy in cooking again, and fed my family the way I had always imagined.
This ingredient-first way of cooking was intuitive for me, but I realized it was not for most home cooks, who were more comfortable buying groceries for a week of set meals. I soon stepped away from work in restaurants, and worked to turn my "nimble" methods into groundbreaking cooking classes, and eventually into an acclaimed cookbook, The Nimble Cook.
My instruction was hailed as both approachable and revolutionary. As my community of home cooks grew, I found more opportunities to teach. The Nimble Cook Toolkit was born. With my collection of online courses, alongside my cookbook, I can now help anyone, anywhere become a more resourceful, creative cook.
A sneak peak
Register now, then start the course only when you’re good and ready.
(This makes it easy to give the course as a gift!)
$149
Frequently Asked Questions
+ I do not have advanced kitchen skills. Is this course for me?
Yes. The methods in this course fit any skill level or circumstance. If all you know how to do is boil and egg and roast a potato, you have a home here, as will a more accomplished cook. For The Nimble Cook, improvisation starts with the right perspective (more important than advanced skills), which means looking at the potential in each ingredient to create many meals. Improvisation is available to even the beginner cook. That is the conceit, and gift, of this course.
However, if you are looking for a solid techniques review, check out the Starting Points Series.
+ This is a cooking class. Why do I choose my own ingredients?
Day to day, you cook with ingredients you love; why not for this course, too? This course teaches you how to work with what you have, accommodating to all lifestyles and eating preferences.
+ How much time will this course take?
You'll have access to the entire course at once, as soon as you register. This means, you can view all of the video lessons and dig into the accompany workbook at your own pace. The assignment in Lesson Three will take you into your kitchen for an extended cooking session, which you can do over a weekend, with the hours you allow. You'll also have access to the course for a lifetime, so if you want, you can breeze through the lessons with a new set of ingredients, each time. This course is designed to be transformative, but not disruptive.
+ Do I need to buy your cookbook for this course?
My cookbook, The Nimble Cook, is not required for this course, though it is a great companion for it. Here's how to get your copy.
+ What if I already have your cookbook? What if I've taken one of your classes before?
If you have my book or have taken any of my studio classes, the themes in The Nimble Cook Toolkit will be familiar to you. But this class explores the methods and philosophy that guide all my instruction in greater depth and detail. It is packed with material that couldn't fit into one book or a single class. You'll find the content isn't repetitive, but supportive and affirming. Plus, this class gives you continuous and live support while you cook and learn at home.
+ I have more questions. Who can I reach out to?
Email me directly with any questions you have about this course. Let's make sure it's a good fit for you. You'll reach me at ronna@purplekale.com