While visiting my friend in Florence, Italy, we decided to be very Italian and fully immerse ourselves in the culture by taking a pasta making class. We booked a class with a program called Cesarine, which organizes individuals or groups to authentic Italian homes to cook fantastic dishes. The specific class we took was called "Share your Pasta Love: Small group Pasta and Tiramisu class in Florence" and it offered everything we could have ever wanted and more.
***Before booking, you are able list any dietary restrictions or allergies so that the company can pair you with an Italian family that may specialize in certain dishes.***
My friend booked the class so I was trusting her better judgement that she was booking a legitimate class and we were not going to get scammed. To my relief, it was one of the most professional, yet welcoming and relaxed classes I have ever been to. My friend and I were treated like a part of their Italian family and were given food almost immediately after stepping foot into their kitchen.
Our agenda for the night included:
making 'sfoglia' (fresh pasta)
preparing a filled pasta and a simple pasta from scratch
creating the iconic tiramisu dessert.
To begin the night, we made pasta dough that we would be using for the filled and simple pasta. The very basic ingredients included flour and egg. However, you must be very careful when you mix the egg into the flour because if you do it incorrectly the dough will not be soft. To create the dough the ~Italian way~, you create a divot in the flour, crack an egg into the center, and ONLY mix the egg whites into the flour. Once the egg whites are mixed well into the flour, then you are able mix the yolk in. This allows for the dough to be very soft and more manageable to roll later on. Once these steps are completed, you have to play the waiting game and place the dough in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours.
Luckily the host had already pre-refrigerated some dough for us so that we could get to making the pasta immediately! The first pasta we started making was tortellini. In America tortellini is always molded in a crescent or "belly-button shape, but in Italy they come in various shapes like rectangles. The latter is how we would prepare our traditional Italian tortellini.
We began rolling the dough out to be approximately less than a ¼ inches thick, which would allow the pasta to cook quickly.
Remember to sprinkle more flour on the dough and on the surface if the dough starts to feel sticky!
After this, we cut out a whole bunch of rectangles that will eventually form the top and bottom layers of our tortellini.
Unfortunately I was unable to get the exact recipe for the ricotta filling because there were a few ~secret ingredients~ that were not up for grabs. However, I am sure if you look up any ricotta filling recipe it will turn out just as great.
You definitely need to do some taste testing along the way so don't be shy to ask for a spoonful! You won't regret it!
Once we made the filling, we were able to slightly underfill the rectangles with the mixture. I say underfill because we needed to leave some space for us to seal the tortelini together. For this, we used the prongs of a fork, which gave it an aesthetically pleasing and professional look.
We set the pasta we made aside on a metal window screen that was handmade by the family and made specially for pasta drying.
While the pasta was curating, we made the traditional tiramisu dessert. I have a coffee addiction, so it was no surprise to say that I was ecstatic that this was part of the class. We spent a bit too long on perfecting our tortellini so the mother helped us out and made the filling for the tiramisu. Like the ricotta filling, I am sad to report that I did not get the recipe for the scrumptious. The recipes online will be similar to the one we followed, with the exception of the quality of ingredients because ours was made with authentic ingredients ;). My friend and I were allowed to layer the ingredients to our perfection; ladyfingers, coffee, filing, ladyfingers, coffee, filing... We finished the heavenly dessert with a sprinkle of cocoa powder on top to make it look decadent.
We were finally able to put the dough we made earlier to use! We used the same process to roll out the dough, but this time we were a bit less meticulous about our cutting. Maltagliati comes from the Italian term "badly cut" and that is how our pasta was supposed to be. We made random shapes and just had fun with it.
I unfortunately did not get any proof that we made the other type of pasta because I was too focused on the snacks the family kept feeding me. However making the maltagliati was not as exciting or complicated as the tortelini.
To cook the pasta, we were guided over to the stove where a big pot of water was boiling and a skillet with a butter sage sauce was simmering. With both pastas, we plopped a few at a time in the water and waited for them to rise to the surface of the water. This was a relatively quick process and the individual pieces only took 15 seconds to cook. We placed the maltagliati aside in some homemade red sauce while we worked on the more intricate tortellini.
After we we took the tortellini out of the water, we placed them in the skillet with the butter sage sauce. This gave the already flavorful pasta a richer and more savory taste. Once we made sure to flip each tortellini a few times, it was time to serve it to the people!
Drum roll please......
THIS IS THE FINAL RESULT
Mom, Dad, Son 1, Son 2, my friend, and I all sat down at one tiny table and began to eat!
Mangia!
We truly felt right at home with a lovely handmade pasta dinner. I would definitely recommend everyone to look into the food specialties of each country they visit to see if there are any cooking classes you can attend. Cooking classes offer a unique and tasty insight to a country's culture and traditions. Whether it may be chocolatier class in Belgium or paellea class in Spain, I would 100% recommend tasting the local culture to get the full experience of each country.
This is the link we used to book our reservation!
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