Italy-Cooking School #1

We love food, love to cook and wanted to learn more about how to make great Italian food. So, we signed up for a class that indicated it would be taught in English. We made the assumption the class would also come with printed recipes. We had a blast, learned a lot, and our English speaking instructor mostly left us with our Italian speaking cooks. They were so welcoming and friendly, starting with our names. They quickly called Laurence, Lorenzo, and Jennifer well there is no translation.

We started with helping with the Tiramisu. But quickly learned they had a plan to keep us BUSY.


Tiramisu under construction


Final product - off to the fridge to "settle"


We moved onto the tortellini and, um, one of us, was never very good at art (Jennifer!!) so hers looked funny. We were amazed by how much the filling was "left overs" and how practical they are with the whole cooking process. Laurence Mom would feel quite at home, no recipes were used, just pour, roll and taste. Oh, when in doubt add some Parmesan!



After rolling out the fresh pasta, we added the leftover meat mixture


First batch of Tortellini


In the end we made appetizers (puff pastry with sage), tortellini (pork sausage, chicken, and other left overs), spinach & cheese ravioli (ours were considered huge, they kept calling them American Ravioli), chicken stuffed with sausage and herbs, potatoes au gratin, & tiramisu. All in all cooking is a universal language no translation is really required and yes Lorenzo is very good in the kitchen, just like the Italian cooks declared.


Jenn wrapping up the chicken stuffed with parsley, sausage & salt/pepper


The chicken was cooked on the stove for an hour, first sauted in olive oil, then covered with some water added


We used bread dough and rolled it out like pasta through the pasta machine for the puff pastry


We put a 2nd layer on top and cut them out


After a quick fry in olive oil, they puff up. Add sea salt and eat warm!


Jennifer showing off her work