Proof is in the Pasta Sauce

“Angie!  Angie!!” bellowed the short, compact man in front of us, adorned in his cooking whites, surrounded by the tools of his trade.  Chef Paulo Monti beckoned his assistant without so much as a second thought, while continuing on with our Tuscan cooking lesson.  Ten expectant and curious pairs of eyes eagerly awaited his next instruction as we peered over each other’s shoulders to catch a view of the next tip or trick our wise leader would share.  Angie, the meek mannered yet agile assistant, raced between our counter and the kitchen 40 feet away, keeping the dishes clean, the food supplies stocked and setting up all sorts of Italian cooking gadgets and utensils. 

            CucinaItaliana, run in the back of a quaint hotel restaurant in the outskirts of Lucca, offers cooking classes that range from half day marathons (as was our adventure) to 7-day treks involving examination of ingredients at local markets within the foods’ natural habitat before finalizing the program with an elegant array of fresh, truly authentic dishes.  A wide variety of culinary options are available within each of the class offerings.  One can strive to learn how to perfect pasta, capture the essence of Italy in breads and dough, or advance their knowledge of Italian cooking with fresh seafood.  With a quick wit and years of experience in the kitchen, Chef Paulo offers the ambitious foody a fun, educational adventure that is sure to be shared with loved ones for years to come.

            Our class took place on a lovely Monday afternoon, in the open-aired kitchen, with travellers from all over the globe – an Australian cookbook author even chose to join our class.  The morning began with receipt a booklet of recipes for the foods we were about to create along with an apron and orders to dive right into the work ahead of us.  Strewn across a large makeshift table larger than a pool table in the center of the room were vegetables to be cut – onions, tomatoes, garlic, and mushrooms.  Our goal was to learn how to make fresh pasta, along with an accompanying sauce for each type. 

            Having been pointedly yelled at by this, by all appearances, kind man for cutting my onion wrong, I was taken aback at first by this seemingly harsh response, but soon realized this discipline was for my benefit.  This new way of cutting onions (and of husking garlic that came later) proved to cut down on the amount of time I had been spending performing the task in the past.  After what seemed like an hour of cutting endless amounts of these staples in Italian cooking, we finally were ready for some true educational wisdom.

            As Chef Paulo worked his way through the steps in making various sauces for our pasta, we were given opportunities to experience a taste, a texture, and a smell that was representative of what the dish would ultimately be once finished.  We learned that a ‘dash’ of olive oil really meant half a bottle, and a ‘pinch’ of salt ended up looking more like the size of a man’s fist, as Chef Paulo eyeballed more measurements than he used utensils for.  This spoke volumes to me, because this is truly how I ‘measure’ my ingredients for most of the dishes I make at home anyway!  But, as they say, the proof is in the pudding, or in our case, the pasta sauce.   As a group, we had cooked a wide variety of pasta sauces – fresh tomato sauce (see my version of this recipe below), cherry tomato sauce, spicy and creamy tomato sauce, mushroom Masala sauce, porcini mushroom and tomato sauce, carbonara, and curry chicken sauce. 

            Next on the agenda was making fresh pasta, and what fun job this turned out to be!  After learning how to mix the ingredients to make the perfect dough, we all giggled and teased each other as we sent our dough through the pasta making machine to make it as flat as possible.  We made regular white pasta, spinach (green) pasta, tomato (red) pasta, and squid ink (black) pasta.  As this was rolled out, the dough was then cut into ravioli and into linguine noodles.  Once our rolled pasta was complete, gnocchi was made, and it was almost time to eat! 

An intriguing concoction during our class was the making of chocolate ravioli.  Adding cocoa powder to the pasta dough, we made a rich brown pasta with a hint of chocolate and filled each ravioli with a caramelized peach mixture.   A fun takeaway from the entire process was the colorful mixture of leftover pasta pieces, discards from the ravioli made earlier, that were cooked together and presented with one of our sauces.  Doesn’t this seem like a great ‘lazy weeknight meal’ idea to you? 

            Finally, the best part of our cooking class arrived.  The group sat down to a beautifully dressed table, complete with linens and all those forks the high-end restaurants try to confuse you with, and began to sample our wonderful creations.  There were definite hits among our group (curry sauce), with the odd miss thrown in for good measure (chocolate ravioli, surprisingly).  Sitting among these interesting strangers with the warm Italian breeze on my skin, laughing and sharing stories as we all enjoyed our scrumptious pasta dishes, the true meaning of Italian cooking, and eating, and its importance to the culture was obvious. 

Homemade Italian Pasta Sauce (very easy):

10 whole tomatoes, preferably vine-ripened and in season (or 6 can of quality chopped tomatoes and juices)

2 large yellow onions, finely chopped

4+ cloves of garlic

½ cup olive oil

fresh basil, fresh Italian parsley, a bay leaf

if desired, spinach, squash, or other vegetables

if desired, chili powder, Mediterranean Spice mixture, etc.

Cut the tomatoes, onion, and garlic.  Add olive oil to a large pot and heat on medium for a few minutes.  Add onion and garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes.  Add in tomatoes, bay leaf, and any extra vegetables you’ve chosen to use.  Add any spices you want to include.  Cook this, stirring frequently, for 20-25 minutes, until the aroma is perfect and tomatoes are softened.  Add ripped up basil and parsley, cook for 5 minutes more, and remove pot from heat. 

You can eat it like this, but I like to take an immersion blender and blend it smooth.  Remember to remove the bay leaf first!