Woke up to the first sunny day in a week, Ahhhhh so NICE!!!!!
I was sure I never took a clear day for granted in LA, but after living in Vancouver, I have never appreciated a day of sun more! EVERYONE is out running, biking, scooting and strolling-I almost got run over by a pack of serious cyclists; it seems that everyone has an extra spring in their step today and it is awesome!
So, I put on my shades (that I have missed oh so much), grabbed our Sunday Starbucks and hit the park. While we were there we met a nice guy, Ivo Staiano, who owns a restaurant called New Bohemian, which sounds AMAZING! He started talking about all the Italian, Mediterranean and Spanish fusion involved and it got us stoked to try it... especially after acquiring my Italian culinary expertise, which brings me to my subject at hand- serious Italian cooking!
Okay, so a few nights ago I kicked some serious Italian ass! My fist course, homemade pasta tortellinis stuffed with arugula goat cheese filling in a walnut & sage butter sauce. That was followed by a homemade herb ricotta Gnocchi in a chanterelle mushroom cream sauce with a marinated grilled lamb sirloin sliced on top. And for dessert, a lemon panna cotta with lemon zest, candied lemon rhine, topped with a maple brandi sauce with a white chocolate and almond biscotti - it was totally low fat :-)
I in no way did this on my own, so let me back up and explain how this menu of decadence conspired. Since I moved to Vancouver I have been dying to take cooking classes. I am an okay cook but have the will to be so much better- exposure is what I lack the most. To be perfectly honest, I spend so much time watching what I eat and agonizing if I eat it, that cooking scrumptious food kind of seems slightly sadistic. But the realization of this is such a buzz kill (since I love food too much) that I vowed "to hell with that! I will cook, I will indulge, I will work out hard and work it off!" So my plan was to get a few tips on how to make some really fabulous dishes that had some real sophistication. For example, I made a burrito this morning for Eric with left over cold pizza and eggs. Good? Yes. Sophisticated?.... Umm, no. So for Christmas I hinted that cooking classes from the local cooking school, The Dirty Apron is all I really wanted (amongst a few other things) and my fabulous in-laws delivered!
When I say cooking class, it is an experience of 5 1/2 hours in the kitchen. I mean I have my own file, my own state of the art stove, knives, cooking tools, ingredients- this is no joke! As soon as you check in they give you your apron, a file with all your recipes inside, and a pen to take notes. (I tried to be all tech savvy and recorded on my iphone only to find out that there was no sound and the phone had neglected to be fully charged, so it died half way through). I had no notes, but made it happen.
The Head Chef, David Robertson, was so amazing. He and his staff were really really cool. He started out with a lecture and overview of what we were going to do, talked about the region in Italy where we were cooking from (northern, which has more cream and butter than southern) and chatted about oils, balsamic and salts-when to use expensive and when to not. He cooked with much ease and made it look super easy... and it was....sort of! He was extremely helpful but didn't hover- he let me do my thing.
I have come to realize that whenever I am in a timed situation you can pretty much count on me to be running in circles. This was no different, flower was flying, eggs were cracking, pans were dropping- I mean I was Rachel Ray as far as I was concerned but far less elegant.
We started out making ravioli from scratch which sounds daunting but it totally was not. We made the dough first - eggs, flower and oil and worked it into a blob. We put it through a press like 6 times to flatten it out while continuing to add flower so it didn't stick and that's it. You put little balls of whatever you want inside (I did arugula goat cheese filling) and then fold over the extra dough and press down the edges. You drop'em in boiling water for 4 minutes and boom, ready! I mean that is a pretty impressive thing to do in such a short period of time! We made a sage walnut and tomato butter sauce which sounds really heavy and I would NEVER order this in a restaurant, but it was actually very light. So light in-fact that the flavor did not over power the raviolis at all, but complemented it-subtle is certainly the key here. Less is more so to speak. And the great part is, after you have eaten 3, your good. Bring on the next meal!
That is my dough all pressed out
That is my goat cheese arugula filling
Placed on the dough before I cover it with the other side of the dough
Once folded over I had a round cookie cutter so they look pretty
My sage walnut butter sauce (see how little amount of butter there is)
WOW Delish! Put aged balsamic around the edges for flair!
I made three other beautiful dishes but this was my favorite (and the others were all taken on a camera that I do not have a cord for me to upload... so this will be it for y'all). I will e-mail recipes to anyone who wants to take it on- I highly recommend it as each meal was such a treat. And the best part was, after we made each coarse, everyone went into the formal dining room with one long table to sip on fabulous red wine specially paired with each dish to savor our creation. It was truly a wonderful experience! I met some friends, exchanged numbers and really learned how to make some fun dishes that I am so exited to make when I am back in LA!
This was a great thing for anyone to do visiting Van, or local! I would kill to have it in LA! I loved it and can't wait for my next class!
xo,
Katy
When I say cooking class, it is an experience of 5 1/2 hours in the kitchen. I mean I have my own file, my own state of the art stove, knives, cooking tools, ingredients- this is no joke! As soon as you check in they give you your apron, a file with all your recipes inside, and a pen to take notes. (I tried to be all tech savvy and recorded on my iphone only to find out that there was no sound and the phone had neglected to be fully charged, so it died half way through). I had no notes, but made it happen.
The Head Chef, David Robertson, was so amazing. He and his staff were really really cool. He started out with a lecture and overview of what we were going to do, talked about the region in Italy where we were cooking from (northern, which has more cream and butter than southern) and chatted about oils, balsamic and salts-when to use expensive and when to not. He cooked with much ease and made it look super easy... and it was....sort of! He was extremely helpful but didn't hover- he let me do my thing.
I have come to realize that whenever I am in a timed situation you can pretty much count on me to be running in circles. This was no different, flower was flying, eggs were cracking, pans were dropping- I mean I was Rachel Ray as far as I was concerned but far less elegant.
We started out making ravioli from scratch which sounds daunting but it totally was not. We made the dough first - eggs, flower and oil and worked it into a blob. We put it through a press like 6 times to flatten it out while continuing to add flower so it didn't stick and that's it. You put little balls of whatever you want inside (I did arugula goat cheese filling) and then fold over the extra dough and press down the edges. You drop'em in boiling water for 4 minutes and boom, ready! I mean that is a pretty impressive thing to do in such a short period of time! We made a sage walnut and tomato butter sauce which sounds really heavy and I would NEVER order this in a restaurant, but it was actually very light. So light in-fact that the flavor did not over power the raviolis at all, but complemented it-subtle is certainly the key here. Less is more so to speak. And the great part is, after you have eaten 3, your good. Bring on the next meal!
I made three other beautiful dishes but this was my favorite (and the others were all taken on a camera that I do not have a cord for me to upload... so this will be it for y'all). I will e-mail recipes to anyone who wants to take it on- I highly recommend it as each meal was such a treat. And the best part was, after we made each coarse, everyone went into the formal dining room with one long table to sip on fabulous red wine specially paired with each dish to savor our creation. It was truly a wonderful experience! I met some friends, exchanged numbers and really learned how to make some fun dishes that I am so exited to make when I am back in LA!
This was a great thing for anyone to do visiting Van, or local! I would kill to have it in LA! I loved it and can't wait for my next class!
xo,
Katy
Love it! I need to start cooking again. if only I had the time!
ReplyDeleteKeep them coming Katy!!
xoxo
Love it!! So beautiful!!! xx
ReplyDeleteHi Kate! Looks so beautiful there and sounds like you are having a blast! Love you!
ReplyDelete