So I got a little behind on my culinary school adventures so this last week we learned how to make pasta and pasta sauces and this week we covered seafood and shellfish. I decided to go back and talk about pasta, well because I can, and because it is pretty much one of my favorite foods. I have to mention that between the last 2 weeks I have been teased in school because everyone has said that they have never seen me eat so much. Haha I know what I like, right? And seriously who is going to turn down homemade pasta and seafood? I am not a dumb girl.



I digress...back to pasta. I have to admit this was one of those classes where I didn't learn a ton. I have kind of always prided myself on being a pasta connoisseur, I was born with spaghetti in my mouth and I was raised by a family with Italian roots so it was just what I knew. Plus I had already tried to make homemade pasta and although I was pretty proud of my dough, I do have to admit that when I tried to make it into raviolis they became extremely large when I put them in water. I am talking VERY LARGE!!! Plate sized!! I even asked the Chef about why my raviolis grew to gargantuan size and he just kind of looked at me and laughed. Hmmm....


I did learn a valuable little trick about eggplant. Did you know that if you slice it, salt it and let it sit the water content will be reduced? This is a valuable little trick when making things like eggplant Parmesan or when you want to grill it,  so I will definitely remember this little tidbit.

On pasta night I was responsible for the pasta with wild mushroom sauce. I was pretty friggin excited by this assignment because I LOVE mushrooms! Honestly the class got damn lucky I hadn't picked all of the mushrooms out of the sauce before I served it, but I was trying to be good. I did, however, get teased about the size of the spoon I chose to use on my recipe. What can I say, I am one of those girls who just believes that size matters...just sayin'...


We also learned how to make gnocchi and I was pretty excited about this process especially since the week before I had purchased packaged gnocchi and I just wasn't very impressed. And let me just say, making the gnocchi dough, was not hard at all. It can actually be made in the food processor. However, shaping the dough is very time consuming. You roll the dough into ropes, ya know kind of like dough snakes. Then you cut the snake into gnocchi sized bites. Finally, you leave marks in them by rolling it on a gnocchi shaping tool (don't know what this is called) or the tines of a fork to give it ridges. This is the tough part because you have to be gentle enough not to mush the hell out of it, but firm enough so it actually leaves a mark. My culinary buddy was kind of like a bull in a china shop with this process and I kept reminding him to be gentle...for some reason his mind seemed to end up in the gutter and as you can imagine I was only talking about pasta.


And although I don't have a wealth of amazing knowledge to share with you from this class, I do have some great food porn. So feast your eyes on this pasta loveliness:

Penne Pasta w/Roasted Shallot Puree, Sun Dried Tomatoes, Feta Cheese and Thyme w/Grilled Chicken

Papardelle Bolognese

Sugo de Pomodoro Fresco

Potato/Cauliflower Gnocchi with Gorgonzola

Strawberry Tiramisu