Pasta Making in Italy!

I’m just back from a fabulous trip to Italy. My favorite activity was a pasta making class, in Florence.

The kitchen was well appointed and we were greeted by beautiful fresh ingredients.

First, we each made a batch of pasta. It was very easy. Different natural ingredients were used to flavor and color each one. (But, mostly just to color them.) Some flavorings included spinach, beet, turmeric, and even charcoal. After some kneading we wrapped each pasta ball and left them to rest.

Then, we got busy making 3 different sauces. The teacher (in black below) had excellent English skills and kept everything relaxed and fun. We were each assigned a step in the prep of a dish.

The pesto recipe was a complete surprise! We used young celery leaves, an orange, and the usual parmesan and EVOO. I’m not a big pesto fan, but this was delicious!

Next, it was time to shape our dough: the fun part. We used our “sturdy” dough, made with semolina and water to make cavatini. Apparently fancier/bigger shapes require this type of dough.

Shaping the cavatini was so much fun! It was like magic. You just pull a little blob of pasta across and ridged board and “voila,” cavatini! See me trying it below. Isn’t it cool? (No sound on video.)

Here are some of the finished ones.

We used our second dough, made with 00 flour and an egg, to get thin pasta by running it through the pasta maker. That was fun, too, and surprisingly easy.

After getting a thin sheet of dough a “guitar” is used to cut and separate strands into fettucine. You just lay the sheet of dough on top and press it through the strings with your fingers.

Hubby demonstrates:

Having previously made a mixture of ricotta, white asparagus, and shallots, we used little spoonfuls  to make ravioli. Hubby is showing one off below.

Finally, it was time to eat. All three dishes were delicious!

Cavatini with pesto.

Ravioli with white asparagus filling. (Mostly consumed at this point.)

Fettucine with tomatoes, scallions, and pork.

What a feast! And what fun. I’ve already tried a make-your-own-recipe pesto since getting home. Should I try cavatini?

Ellen Lindner
P.S. This is the class we took, if you’re interested. I highly recommend it.