Culinary Adventures with Camilla

Tonight was the final week of my Artisan Pasta Class. Boo. But, I am a better pasta maker because of it...and it was nice to spend three evenings with a friend from college who is now teaching Culinary Arts at a local high school. She's amazing!  Today we made gnocchi which is technically not a pasta, but it's definitely under the pasta umbrella. We made Gnocchi with Gorgonzola Cream and Sweet Potato Gnocchi in a Brown Butter-Sage Sauce. Ummm...yum. We were split into different teams. Carolyn, Regina, and I were Team Gorgonzola Cream. So, I'm sharing that recipe. But first, a word about potatoes. I learned that there are three categories of potatoes: waxy, starchy, and all-purpose.  Starchy, namely russet potatoes, are perfect for gnocchi. Waxy potatoes, such as fingerlings and baby red potatoes, are the ones to use for potato salad. And all-purpose potatoes, such as Yukon gold, red potatoes, and white potatoes, are the ones to use for scalloped potatoes an...

Last night at my artisan pasta class, we made a trio of doughs that looked like a Tequila Sunrise   - a basic dough with a slightly golden hue, a beet dough that was beautifully rosy and pink, and a red pepper dough that was sort of a saffron orange. So gorgeous! Then we laminated them together. Procedure Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and flour it liberally. Cut each dough ball into quarters and wrap the piece you aren't using in plastic. One quarter at a time, roll the dough through the machine. Using the widest setting, form a tongue and press it through the machine. Fold the dough into thirds and run it through again. Fold the dough in thirds one more time and run it through. Lay that on the floured parchment and repeat with the different colors. Before laying the next dough on top of the pile, spritz it with water and gently press the doughs together. At the end, your dough stack will look like this. Trim the uneven edges of the dough an...

Last night was my second artisan pasta class with Jenn, the Culinary Arts guru at a local high school and friend from college. Remember the first session when we made Hand-Rolled, Hand-Cut Spinach Papardelle ? Yesterday we made 3 different pasta doughs and laminated them together - basic dough, pink beet dough, and red pepper dough. Jenn jokingly called it a 'Tequila Sunrise' dough when we laminated it all together. So pretty! On another note: I am blown away by how quickly you can put a dough together with a food processor. I don't have any space in my cabinets for one, but- wow! - I'm impressed. Basic Pasta Dough adapted from Making Artisan Pasta (my review of that cookbook  here ) Ingredients 350 g pasta flour 3 eggs, room temperature 1 egg yolk 2 to 3 T tepid water Roasted Red Pepper Pasta Dough Ingredients 350 g pasta flour 2 ounces red pepper puree 3 eggs 1 T sweet red paprika Beet Pasta Dough Ingredients 275 g pasta f...

I am taking a three-part artisan pasta class. Yesterday was our first session. My über-talented and amazing friend from college is now leading future culinary artists at a local high school. So, for three Wednesdays, I'll be there with other pasta-loving gals, learning to make pasta. Jenn teased about me taking her class; "You could teach this class," she joked. Nah...there's always something to learn and I was quite inspired last night.  In roughly three hours we made two different kinds of homemade pasta, two different kinds of homemade sauce, we socialized, we drank coffee and tea, and we ate a plate of pasta before we all went our separate ways. Did I mention she's amazing?!? She provided recipes from Making Artisan Pasta by Aliza Green. Click to read my post about that: here . I went home, dug my copy off the shelf and read it, cover to cover, last night. But what I'm sharing here is because I learned three things last night. Or rather because ...