Pasta: check!
It's been a few weeks since I accomplished #5: Learn to make homemade pasta, but I did it! As previously mentioned, the UVA alumni club organized a homemade pasta class at Casa Italiana, which is apparently only a few blocks from my apartment. They teach language courses* and various social and cultural events, but it appears that they only have cooking classes for organized groups or they sponsor cooking classes held at various area Italian restaurants. So on May 31, Erica and I ventured to Third Street for some pasta-making.
I forget most details about our host, Daniele, but he was (is, I suppose) Italian, and is planning to open a casual Italian restaurant in the area this fall. He currently works at Mezza Luna.** Daniele had a full menu planned for us, and it was yummy and filling. Six pasta courses*** can do that to you. It wasn't completely a hands-on demonstration, but due to an opportune elbow jab from Erica, I was pushed to the front of the line and got to mix the dough for the dessert pasta, and do some chopping for the cold pasta salad. We all got to stuff and seal ravioli.
Making the dough was so much easier than I had anticipated! I was also pleased to hear Daniele recommend the Kitchenaid stand mixer pasta maker attachment I purchased earlier this year. Basically, all you do is make a well in a pile of flour and a little salt, and blend in some eggs. The eggs will only accept as much flour as they can handle, so you really can't screw up. Then you let the dough sit for a bit, run it through the pasta press, and then either make ravioli or run it through the pasta cutter to make uniform pieces. While regular pasta uses about 4 eggs per pound of flour, I was somewhat dismayed to hear that egg pasta requires, like, 30 egg yolks. My arteries hurt just thinking about it.
Daniele shuffled us all in to a large dining hall eith a glass of wine and cooked the food we had made, and more. As I recall, the menu included:
--Cold penne pasta salad with sundried tomatoes, kalamata olives, and some sort of semi-soft cheese in a pesto sauce
--Regular and egg fettuccini with asparagus
--Smoked salmon ravioli
--Spinach and ricotta ravioli
--Italian sausage lasagna (that Daniele had prepared before we arrived -- because we were probably going to go home hungry if we just ate the other courses)
--Ricotta (& marscapone?) chocolate-chip ravioli with strawberry sauce. YUM.
So, I accomplished #5: Learn to make homemade pasta, by attending and participating in the class, but I topped it off by trying it out at home the following weekend. I will say that it went very well for a first attempt! I made ricotta-spinach-garlic ravioli and fettucini with a simple marinara sauce. The pasta was a little doughy, but I do love dough, and the second day, it was actually awesome. But I think I do like food I make myself more than if someone else made it. The fruits of my labor :)
* The very-pierced manager-type dude did not seem impressed when I told him I was listening to Italian lessons on my ipod.
** Again, I forget most details about him. This could not be true, or it could even not be a restaurant.
*** But seven types of pasta! So much flour.
I forget most details about our host, Daniele, but he was (is, I suppose) Italian, and is planning to open a casual Italian restaurant in the area this fall. He currently works at Mezza Luna.** Daniele had a full menu planned for us, and it was yummy and filling. Six pasta courses*** can do that to you. It wasn't completely a hands-on demonstration, but due to an opportune elbow jab from Erica, I was pushed to the front of the line and got to mix the dough for the dessert pasta, and do some chopping for the cold pasta salad. We all got to stuff and seal ravioli.
Making the dough was so much easier than I had anticipated! I was also pleased to hear Daniele recommend the Kitchenaid stand mixer pasta maker attachment I purchased earlier this year. Basically, all you do is make a well in a pile of flour and a little salt, and blend in some eggs. The eggs will only accept as much flour as they can handle, so you really can't screw up. Then you let the dough sit for a bit, run it through the pasta press, and then either make ravioli or run it through the pasta cutter to make uniform pieces. While regular pasta uses about 4 eggs per pound of flour, I was somewhat dismayed to hear that egg pasta requires, like, 30 egg yolks. My arteries hurt just thinking about it.
Daniele shuffled us all in to a large dining hall eith a glass of wine and cooked the food we had made, and more. As I recall, the menu included:
--Cold penne pasta salad with sundried tomatoes, kalamata olives, and some sort of semi-soft cheese in a pesto sauce
--Regular and egg fettuccini with asparagus
--Smoked salmon ravioli
--Spinach and ricotta ravioli
--Italian sausage lasagna (that Daniele had prepared before we arrived -- because we were probably going to go home hungry if we just ate the other courses)
--Ricotta (& marscapone?) chocolate-chip ravioli with strawberry sauce. YUM.
So, I accomplished #5: Learn to make homemade pasta, by attending and participating in the class, but I topped it off by trying it out at home the following weekend. I will say that it went very well for a first attempt! I made ricotta-spinach-garlic ravioli and fettucini with a simple marinara sauce. The pasta was a little doughy, but I do love dough, and the second day, it was actually awesome. But I think I do like food I make myself more than if someone else made it. The fruits of my labor :)
* The very-pierced manager-type dude did not seem impressed when I told him I was listening to Italian lessons on my ipod.
** Again, I forget most details about him. This could not be true, or it could even not be a restaurant.
*** But seven types of pasta! So much flour.
posted by becky at
25.6.06
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