Cooking Classes

MORGAN BAUM

Morgan Baum is the owner of the Clay Coyote in Hutchinson, Minnesota. She and her food-loving team of potters specialize in making handmade vessels to cook traditional meals in clay. The Clay Coyote makes the only handmade, stovetop tagine in the USA and requires no seasoning or diffuser. Morgan has taught cooking with clay courses for the last seven years and is about to release a second Cooking with the Coyote cookbook later in 2023. She regularly cooks live on WCCO and WGN-TV. 

ANNE ANDRUS

Anne Andrus is the owner & founder of Honey & Rye in St. Louis Park, MN. She studied at the San Francisco Baking Institute, then returned to MN where her love of community and butter inspired her to open her own retail bakery in 2013. Le Café, located at Alliance Francaise is also run by her team, a dream come true!

AURELIE HYRIEN

Aurelie Hyrien was born and raised in France. She started her culinary journey in both French and Vietnamese cuisines with her mother and grandmother. After graduating from a food & agriculture engineering school, she worked for many years in a vocational program, teaching organic farmers-to-be. Inspired by her heritage – with a baker grandfather – and after moving to Minnesota, Aurelie embarked on a quest to craft the perfect loaf and master the fundamentals of French Pastry. A dedicated sharer of knowledge, Aurelie has long orchestrated bread baking classes for the Twin Cities francophone community. To broaden her reach, she established a French blog, “Mon Levain”, focusing on sourdough.

As a Deputy Chef for a French cuisine catering company, Aurelie masters a variety of dishes and techniques. She has kept experimenting, refining her savoir-faire and integrating local ingredients. She knows the importance of working with the best products and prioritizes seasonal produce, sourcing from local farmers. Aurelie looks forward to meeting new people and is always excited about sharing her approach of what makes food delicious, nutritious and purposeful.

ARMELLE DEDE EDOH

Armelle Dede Edoh is multidimensional, being a wife, a mother, a digital creator and a Certified Professional Project Manager living in the Minneapolis, Minnesota. She was born in Togo with strong family ties in Ghana and Benin. She passionately loves creating amazing recipes, styling her food, and taking food photography. Her diverse background gives a flavorful fusion to her culinary talent. Having developed food sensitivities over the years, she carefully select the ingredients she cooks with.

SAID ABDELLI

Said Abdelli grew up in Paris and learned how to cook in college. When he arrived in the United States, in quest of adventure, he could make soufflé, crème caramel, and lapin a la moutarde. He then discovered cheeseburgers, pizza, all-you-can-eat buffets, and forgot everything! A few years later and few pounds heavier, he discovered he missed the foods of his childhood and was craving the subtle tastes of homemade mayonnaise. He was ready to come back. Dish by dish, and recipe by recipe he slowly started to reclaim his heritage. He took classes, read, catered birthday desserts, dinner parties, weddings cakes, and finally started teaching Community Ed Cooking Classes in Minneapolis. Teaching the French pastry classes, he realized he could demystify the techniques, and bring them to a small class environment.

JOE & DOTTY ZAHNER

Chef Joe Zahner is a graduate of the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco, California.  Joe graduated in the Top ten percent of his class and was selected by his peers as the class valedictorian.  Joe has over 40 years of experience in all areas of the food service industry. 

Chef Zahner worked at several restaurants in The Twin Cities before accepting a position with Sodexo as The Chef of Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis. During his tenure as Chef for the healthcare division Joe was selected as the Division Chef for the upper Midwest.  He also was selected to compete in the Rave Reviews culinary competition and was awarded a medal for his original recipe for Tuscan white bean soup. In his current position Joe is creating recipes for the Offer Development Center. “The simpler the ingredients the better the meal.   Fresh Dungeness crab, melted butter, a baguette and champagne, nothing more is needed”!

Dotty Zahner has loved cooking since she was ten years old. Her love for food and cooking drove her to the California Culinary Academy. She did not expect to meet her husband, Joe Zahner, there, but it was a nice surprise.

Her greatest pleasure is sharing her craft with others. She has developed classes for students at Cooks of Crocus Hill. Her other greatest pleasure is using her skills to raise funds for various organizations, STEP in St Louis Park, and St. Thomas the Apostle in Minneapolis. She loves to collaborate with Joe to develop menus.

Finally, Dotty has been, and still is, a student of French – the language, the culture, the cuisine. She loves travelling in French-speaking countries and gathering menus and recipes.

MO KOTB

Born in Cairo, Mo Kotb grew up in a loving household where his mother’s cooking, and the surrounding Egyptian culture, etched his worldview. Every morning, his grandfather prepared fūl—a savory stew of fava beans—for the workers at a local textile factory. This nurturing morning ritual of savoring fūl awakened his palette and set his culinary course. His first job was at a French bakery down the street from his childhood home. Later on, Mo's passion for cooking was molded by years in France and nearly two decades at renowned kitchens in New York City. Upon settling in Minneapolis, He founded DervishMazza,an intimate hospitality concept that offers the very best of Mo’s cuisine and warm hospitality, dinner events, private catering and take-out.

Mo presents a Smörgåsbord of Middle Eastern & Mediterranean specialties, many being vegetarian and vegan, from the finest locally sourced, seasonal ingredients. He has a weakness for Lebanese pomegranate molasses and anise liquor, dried hibiscus flowers from Egypt, and French feta cheese. A meal at Mo's typically begins with an Arak aperitif, whetting the appetite for an eclectic spread of Mazza* deftly paired with wine and cocktails. In his free time, he cooks for Minneapolis-based charity Eat for Equity as well as developing side projects, like Saha, a custom ginger elixir and the Mazza retail-line.

RAYMOND ESPUCHE

Raymond Espuche is French and an accomplished chef having graduated from the Culinary and Hotel Management School of Nice in 1976. Following is graduation he held an internship with Thrust House Forte England and for Restaurant Marketing Associates, as well as worked with La Tour Restaurant in Indianapolis, Indiana and The Golden Eagle Phoenix, Arizona, all between 1977-1979. Between all of his cooking adventures in England and the United States, Raymond also served in the French army, and worked in Paris in various Establishments, La closerie des Lilas, Chez Francis. His next adventure in 1987 brought him to work on cruise lines through the Carabeans and Bermuda. In the following years, Raymond worked in NYC for La Tulipe, The Trump Tower, La Goulue, The Water Clu and the River Cafe, Picholine. In 2015, Raymond worked in Plymouth, Massachussets at Mirebeau, before finally landing in Minnesota in 2017 and working at Meritage in St. Paul. In addition to being an accomplished chef, Raymond also helps the Alliance as our resident handy-man.

DIANE & FRITZ EBANDA

Originally from Cameroon, Diane and Fritz Ebanda combined have more than more than 20 years of experience in the pastry world. They learned how to bake at a young age; a passion that brought them to prestigious restaurants and pastry shops on different continents where they learned advanced pastry techniques and developed their management skills that allowed them to create B’beri Desserts. In operation since 2020, you’ve certainly seen Diane and Fritz at farmers markets and they are excited to now call the Alliance Française’s Le Café home!