Have you ever wished you could sit down and ask a professional chef — let’s say, for instance, Molly Basile, the executive chef at Marche bistro in Lewiston — for a few of her most favorite recipes and a little cooking advice?

If so, you might want to check out one of Basile’s classes at Life Ideals — a counseling, health and wellness center housed in a bright and airy studio space on the third floor of 178 Lisbon St., Lewiston — in which she will graciously share all the above.

Life Ideals owner Karen Burke Lane is a licensed clinical social worker whose practice focuses on six types of integrative self-care, nutrition being one of them. In collaboration with Basile, Lane hopes the classes will lead people to explore healthier diets or begin to change their eating habits.

As a followup to Basile’s earlier class called “Grains and Greens” (in which she prepared baked quinoa patties with kale, made buckwheat soba noodles with tofu, and created a mint salad with arugula, wheat berries, walnuts and green apples, capped with mint vinaigrette), Basile’s most recent class was all about “superfoods” — something about which she has become quite passionate.

You’ll have to believe me when I say she really packed a lot of “super” into her array of menu items for that class. In developing her recipes, she said, “I took what I knew about superfoods, used my favorite parts of them and put them all together.”

The evening’s menu included nutrient-rich foods from A to Z (well, Y, actually): arugula, avocados, beets, blueberries, broccoli, edamame beans, garlic, macadamia nuts, olive oil, tomatoes, quinoa, watercress, wheatberries, white beans and yogurt.

She was pleased to share two of the numerous recipes she made during the class:

— A lovely, delicate quinoa-crusted salmon, topped with a Dijon dill sauce, served with a side dish of roasted beets;

— A broccoli and white bean ragout with romano cheese, which can be used as an appetizer or side dish. She will often serve it paired with shrimp or sausage, or as the bed beneath a main entree, replacing the more typical rice, potato or pasta. She also loves it topped with crumbled bacon, if you’d like to try something a bit more decadent. While the recipe calls for cannellini beans (white kidney beans), you can substitute large white butter beans (lima beans) instead. With its mixture of roasted broccoli, garlic and romano cheese, it was very well received by the nine class participants.

Because blueberries are at the top of Basile’s list in terms of high nutritional impact (providing potent doses of antioxidants, vitamins C, E and K, manganese and fiber), she began the class by making up a batch of blueberry muffins to use as an accompaniment for dinner, reminding us that “breakfast is something that is overlooked.”

One of her tricks to making a recipe more healthful it to use unbleached flour, and to exchange half of the designated amount for whole wheat flour. Most recipes, she said, will become too tough if you substitute the full amount with whole wheat flour. And because processed white sugar is “too far from the original,” she prefers to use brown or raw.

While the muffins were baking, Basile followed up by preparing the salmon so it could cook in the oven, along with the roasted beets. Basile’s advice on making the salmon: When you pat the quinoa onto the salmon, press quite firmly to make sure it sticks, in what she referred to as a “not too thick, but not too thin” layer. And when it comes to the searing, “be patient,” she said. Lift an edge periodically, to make sure the crust doesn’t burn. The goal, she said, is “to make a light, airy, crispy crust.”

Although salt and pepper are not superfoods, Basile laughingly admitted she is “a firm believer,” and uses both liberally in her cooking — stating the additional seasoning really does help bring out more flavor in the food you’re cooking.

Next up was the salad. “In this salad,” she said, “it’s all superfood!” It was made with tossed watercress (which has more vitamin C than orange juice, she noted), baby spinach and arugula, which she added because “watercress alone can be a little intense.” She also mentioned she prefers baby arugula because it offers a nice, peppery flavor without the bitterness of full-grown arugula. Sprinkled on top were cherry tomatoes, bright green, shelled edamame beans (soybeans), cooked wheatberries and macadamia nuts. Because of the avocado, basil and cilantro, the homemade dressing was a vibrant green, adding a bit of flare to this course.

One class participant was Central Maine Medical Center physician Erica Lovett, whose medical practice is based on the principles of integrative medicine. Integrative medicine, she said, “combines evidence-based conventional and complimentary therapies to help provide a holistic treatment goal.” She said she found Basile’s nutrition information useful for both personal and professional reasons.

I recommend you bring your appetite to one of Basile’s classes: At the end of the class, participants were treated to a full, meal-sized sampling, along with cups of jasmine tea served by Lane.

Basile has two upcoming classes scheduled at Life Ideals: “Cooking for a Restricted Diet” from 6 to 8 p.m. on July 19, (in which she will delve into gluten and dairy intolerance, as well as sugar substitutes), and a to-be-scheduled “How to Throw a Dinner Party” (in which she will provide both delicious recipes and advice on how to make it stress-free). The two-hour classes cost $35 each, and fill up quickly. To reserve your spot, call Life Ideals at 333-3507.

Food for thought

Chef Molly Basile looked to the Oxford English Dictionary for help in defining a “superfood” to class participants. While mixing up the muffin batter, she explained her findings:

In 1915, superfoods were considered foods that were especially nutritious or otherwise beneficial to health and well being. Nowadays, super foods are loosely defined as “food with a high nutrient or phytochemical content that has many active health benefits and very few health negatives.” There is, however, no legal definition, and many nutritionists and food scientists have called the term nothing more than a marketing tool.

Molly Basile’s Broccoli and White Bean Ragout

1 can butter beans or any other large white bean. Drained and rinsed.

1 head broccoli

2 cloves garlic

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons romano cheese

Chop broccoli into bite sized pieces. Toss in olive oil and season. Roast in 400-degree oven for 5 minutes.

In large skillet, saute garlic in a few tablespoons of olive oil. Add beans, salt and pepper. Cook for about 5 minutes on medium heat. Add roasted broccoli. Cook another 2 minutes. Add butter and serve with grated cheese on top.

Molly Basile’s Quinoa-Crusted Salmon with Roasted Beets

Four 5-ounce salmon fillets, skin removed

1-1/2 cups cooked quinoa, chilled

1/4 cup Dijon mustard

4 medium sized beets

2 large lemons

About 1/8 cup chopped fresh dill, divided into two equal parts

4 garlic cloves, finely chopped, also divided

1/2 cup white wine

1 shallot or very small onion

1 raw egg

Olive oil

2 tablespoons heavy cream or sour cream

Beets

Place beets in pot large enough to cover them with about 3 inches of water. Place over high heat. When the beets come to a boil, turn down to medium heat and let them cook until they are tender enough to put a fork in fairly easily. Basile’s tip to peel the beets: Chill cooked beets overnight. Peel chilled beets by first cutting off the tops and bottoms. You can use a vegetable peeler or, even easier, rub the skin off with a stiff cotton towel. (This can get a little messy). Cut beets into wedges as you would a tomato or lemon, about six wedges per beet. Toss beets in juice of half a lemon, olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast in a 400-degree oven until beets are tender. Finish with some fresh dill and lemon juice.

Salmon

Mix quinoa with half of one beaten egg. Season with salt and pepper. On a cookie sheet, lay out the quinoa in four parts, about half an inch thick, each a little bigger than the size of your salmon fillet. Brush salmon with Dijon mustard and a little beaten egg, season. Place salmon, Dijon side down, on top of each quinoa patch. Press firmly, then lift with spatula and place salmon on a plate quinoa side up. Heat a nonstick or cast iron pan until very hot. Carefully add about 3 tablespoons of olive oil and then lay the salmon, quinoa side down, into the hot pan. Best to do this with only two pieces of salmon at a time. Turn the heat down to medium and watch closely so the quinoa doesn’t burn. Once a crispy crust is formed, use a spatula to flip the salmon; cook one minute; remove from the heat and put on a well-greased baking dish or cookie sheet. Bake at 400 degrees, 10 minutes for every inch of thickness.

Dijon dill sauce

Heat a saucepan on medium heat and add olive oil. When oil is hot, add chopped shallot or onion. Cook until the shallot is soft; add chopped garlic. Turn heat to high, add white wine. Reduce wine by about one-third. Add juice of one lemon, salt and pepper. Cook on medium for about a minute and add cream or sour cream and Dijon one tablespoon at a time. Taste after each addition. Finish sauce with fresh dill.

Another cooking series at Life Ideals

Coming up: The Joyful Kitchen, featuring Amy Brochu-Krikken

June 26: The wonderful world of beans.

July 10: Baking with alternative and lesser-known ingredients

July 14: Whole grains, and how to get more into your diet

Details: Classes are from 6 to 8 p.m. at Life Ideals, 178 Lisbon St., 3rd floor, Lewiston

Cost: $35 per class or $60 for the three-class series.

To register: Call Life Ideals at 333-3507

Holistic services offered by Life Ideals include counseling, massage, acupuncture, yoga, nutrition and cooking classes.

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