I had been looking forward to this day of a couple of weeks, and it was finally here. My dear friend Becky invited me and another friend, Jennifer, to her home for a private cooking class. I couldn’t wait to get started.
Our Chef, Giusy was wonderful, she explained exactly what she was doing and why. We made pasta and ragu (sauce); I love learning the ingredients that different regions in Italy put in their sauce. Here is how Guisy makes the pasta and the ragu.
First we started with the pasta…
In a food processor we mixed together the flour, spelt flour, eggs, olive oil, a pinch of salt and a splash of white wine.
Once mixed together, we knead it a bit, cut the dough in half and wrapped each half in plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator while we started the ragu.
The sauce…
In the food processor we added garlic, carrots, celery, and onions and pulsed until the mixture resembled canned pumpkin.
We put olive oil in a pan and added the vegetable mixture.
Then, we added the pork and ground sirloin to the vegetable mixture.
Next we added, the tomato paste, red wine, nutmeg, red chili pepper, ground cumin and italian seasonings. Cook until the sauce thickens, about 10 minutes.
Then add, the tomato sauce, chopped basil and rock salt.
Back to the pasta…
Take dough out of the refrigerator and place on to a floured surface. Roll dough with a rolling pin until about a ½ inch thick.
If you are using a kitchen aid attachment, run dough through setting #1 once. Then, on setting #3, this setting should make the dough very long, cut the long sheet of pasta in half, fold the half and run the pasta through #3 again.
Now, change the setting to #5. #5 will cut the pasta in to tagliatelle.
Carefully hang pasta on a pasta tree or place on a dishtowel to dry.
**If you don’t have a pasta cutting attachment, roll pasta dough to desired thickness and cut pasta dough into long strips. Place on dishtowels to dry.
Dry pasta at least 3 hours, then store in a air tight container for up to 4 days.
To serve, cook pasta in boiling salted water for 3 to 4 minutes. Drain well and add sauce and grated Parmesan cheese.
What a wonderful morning we had cooking together. Thank you Becky. Actually, we were having so much fun, stayed talking until late afternoon.
Check your local area for private chefs who do in home classes.
If you would like to contact Giusy, you can find her at www.Massarifoods.com
Today, I leave you with Giusy motto ~ “From my kitchen to your table”
- 2 pound of mix ground meat (Lamb, pork, and beef)
- 1 large onions
- 4 gloves of garlic,
- 3 celery stalk, diced
- 3 carrots, diced
- A bunch of fresh basil
- Salt & pepper to taste
- 1 tbs. each of mix seasoning (Italian, cumin, nutmeg)
- ½ Glass of good red wine
- 4 tbs. of tomato paste
- 6 can of tomato sauce
- ½ cup of extra virgin olive
- In a food processor put the onion, the garlic, the celery stalk, and the carrots, ground all the ingredients very fine. In a saucepan put the olive oil and the ground meat. Sauté for about 5 minute until the meat is brown. Add the vegetable mix in to the meat and cook for another 5 minutes. Add to the ingredients the seasonings, the wine, and the tomatoes paste, and let cook until the tomato paste dissolves. Open the tomato sauce cans and pour it in to the saucepan, rinsing the can with some water. Chop the fresh basil and add it to the sauce along with salt & pepper. Cook for about one hour or so… Put the sauce over spaghetti or any kind of homemade pasta, and add same fresh grated Parmesan. Delizioso!
Ciao~
Mary