Making Pasta Food Lab

March 28, 2022

Who would have thought? Making your own pasta in Italy from a real Italian chef. Sounds too good to be true, it turned out even better than that. One thing Michelle always wanted to do was for us to cook together, heck that is probably the only thing we have in common as a couple. The idea came up when researching things to do in Santorini. Since it was down season in Santorini, the cooking classes were unavailable. Continuing on that idea, when researching for things to do in Rome I looked for cooking classes. There were many cooking classes available, but I was determine to find a good one. The best thing to do is read the reviews. Reviews build trust. Upon doing the research, there was this class available and it only had 5 star reviews which seemed skeptical at first, but I think I read every review and this guy seemed legit. A lot of the reviews were in great detail talking about the nuisances of the cooking class. The price was cheap too 50 euros for 3 hours, seemed to good to be true.

From our hotel near the Pantheon, we had to catch a bus to the meeting point. The meeting point was on the other side of town, more towards the eastern part of Rome. We waited at the bus stop near our hotel but there was no place to buy a bus ticket. Michelle asked the tourist office nearby and we had to go to a liquor store to get a day pass (14 euros for 2). It was rush hour and the bus was packed with people, presumeably getting off work.

After about a 30 minute ride, we got off the bus and went to the meeting point. It was a bit early, but that was a good thing because we knew where it was. Instead of waiting around there, we walked up the street to a neighborhood park. The park was packed with parents and kids. It was so cute to see the Italian kids play in the park. Really nothing beats trying to understand a culture in how parents treat their little ones.

At 4:55pm, we went to the meeting point and went inside the restuarnat. We waited for 5 couples to arrive. One couple two men, they seemed to be dating, but also seemed straight. I can't tell if men or straight or gay. Everyone was really nice and respectful and we were all over the world. One couple was from India, Austria, France, and the United States.

Our chef was Emmanuel. He was very personable and ran a perfect class. His explaination were perfect. He explained everything from the history of pasta in Rome to the techniques that makes a good pasta. He also mentioned that we will be doing the highest level of pasta today and that is rolling it with a rolling pin not a machine.

The ingredients were preset. After a quick explanation we started making the dough for the pasta. Some of the techniques we learned was to use 100g of flour for 1 egg. We placed the egg in the well and started mixing with a fork. When the dough looks like scrambled egg, we switched to rolling the dough by hand. The key is gently roll the dough with the bottom of your hand and to make sure the middle isn't sticky. We added flour if it got too sticky. After rolling we used a piece of saran wrap to cover the pasta and started the mix. For the ravioli mix we used spinach, ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese.

After the mix, we started rolling the pasta. I felt a bit nervous because rolling pasta seems a bit difficult, but it wasn't. Chef explained subtle techniques to use so we could find success. One technique is to start in the middle and roll out, then turn. I've always wondered why every time I made dough it would come out in an oval shape instead of a circle. Once the pasta got too long to fit on the cutting board, Chef showed another technique of rolling the pasta within the rolling pin and then hanging the long part off the cutting board. This technique blew my mind.

The last part was to add the filling to the pasta. The key is pinching all sides of the pasta so the filling won't escape during cooking. The only thing I'm not sure of is the boiling of the water. Chef gave us a paper with all the information on it, so I'll have to read it to see if the water has to be at a rolling boil or a simmer.

The Chef and his team cooked the sauces and the pasta while we waited in the dining room. After about 10 minutes we ate the fruits of our labor. The first dish was the ravioli with the tomato sauce, that was excellent. The second dish was the carbonara which was a bit salty. In this dish you can't add any salt because the base sauce is the pecorino ramano and the meat is the guanciale and that is super salty as well.

To top the meal off, Chef made a tiramisu for us. What a perfect evening. Michelle and I walked to the bus stop full as fu*k and caught the bus back to the hotel.