If I tell you what I did today, you will be totally jealous. Ready? I took a pasta making class with Mrs. Wheelbarrow. Taking a class with Cathy was on my culinary resolutions list from 2011. So, finally, a few years later, I can check it off. It was totally fun, informative, and tasty. Cathy really knows her stuff and shared lots of helpful tips. We made pasta dough, ricotta and potato gnocchi, and, my favorite, spinach and ricotta gnudi. Oh, and how could I almost forget? We also made super fancy raviolis with spinach, ricotta, and a soft boiled egg gently placed inside. You cut into the ravioli and it runs a river of creamy, yolky deliciousness through your pasta, creating a creamy sauce. How impressive is that?
Cathy showed us how to roll out pasta the old fashion way with a hand crank contraption and with a kitchen aid mixer attachment.
Here are a few of the raviolis. It's hard to resist stuffing these little pockets with too much filling. I just couldn't help myself.
The best, though? Using the leftover filling to make gnudi. Little balls of ricotta and spinach that you roll in flour, boil, toss with yummy sauce and then get ready to smile, die, and go to heaven, by which I mean take an afternoon nap.
Lovely.
If you live in the DC area, I highly recommend Cathy's classes. Sign up early, though, the limited spots go fast. Word in the kitchen is that there are only a few left for her master pasta class with my other favorite pasta lady, Domenica Marchetti, author of The Glorious Pasta of Italy.
If you don't live in the DC area, visit Cathy's kitchen through her blog and find her writing in the New York Times.
