Cooking Class- Round II

I've said it again and I'll say it again- I'm not a huge fan of Italian food. It's not that I hate it (I rarely meet anything I won't eat) but it's down my list of picks. Pizza is the only Italian food not part of this list- I can eat that every day of the week. But that doesn't mean I'm going to stick to my typically very American diet while I'm here- if I were to not try real Italian food I'd be missing out on a huge part of the culture.

Even before departing Monterey I had made the decision that I wanted to learn how to cook authentic Italian food (and find a pasta I like) so once again I signed up for a cooking class at La Vigna. Yes, the place I took the last one and probably more familiar sounding from the stomping of grapes adventure. So after work Joe and I headed over to La Vigna to learn how to make gnocchi di patate alla sorrentina and pastiera napoletana. Some faces were the same and others were new. I once again met some really fun people that are civilian, close in age AND only got here a few months prior to when I did. Sweet! New travel buddies.

Chef Raffaele lead us through the first steps of making Pastiera Napolentana, a very eggy cake typically eaten for Easter in Naples. Just like the chocolate cake from last time, we started with a ton of butter. I think it was 2kilos? Granted we ended up making 5 of these things but still, nothing says health food like a slab of butter on the metal counter...unless you toss just under a kilo of sugar on top of it and are told to start mashing it up. Hey, it really was a hands on cooking class! While two people mashed the butter, sugar, and a touch of flour together another person "melted" a huge bowl full of ricotta with more sugar until it was a batter like substance. Once the batter/filling was smooth candied fruit, a ton of eggs (28) and perfume were added. With both portions ready, it was time to roll out the crust. After he demonstrated once, someone did one and I had to laugh at the lack of rolling out dough skills. Granted he was a high school student, but seriously? Once he was done I volunteered to roll out the 3rd crust. I'm a pro- chalk one up to all of those sugar cookies I've made in the last few years. My crust was rolled out within a few minutes and pressed into the round pan. Filled added and then more dough rolled out to cut the lattice for the top. Our group pounded it out pretty fast. While the cakes were taken into the kitchen to bake for 100 minutes we turned our attention to our first plate- gnocchi!

By this time little mounds (okay, 2kilo mounds) of riced potato had been placed around on the work spaces. We worked the potatoes with flour until the flakes turned to a dough. Once that happened eggs (yeah, we must have used about 100 all night) were added to the already sticky dough before just a touch more of flour to make it the proper consistency. Dough done, it was then cut into tablespoon-ish sized clumps and rolled out to equal length "snakies." It was pretty fun, I mean who doesn't like play-dough? Once we had all our snakes lined up, we got to chop them into the little pillows that looked like after dinner mints and toss them in boiling water. When they floated to the top, they were scooped up and tossed into cool water to finish cooking. I'm not sure how many pounds we made, but it was about 3 huge trays full. After the last gnocchi was cooked, they were mixed with a tomato sauce and cheese- lots of cheese.

It was so pretty and smelled amazing! But then again, I think anything would have after working a full day at the office and then cooking for 2 hours? We finally were told to go sit down and were served antipasti and the wine appeared. The first wine we were given was sort of a cider? We were calling it a wine beer since the aftertaste was beer-ish. All was forgiven though when the bottles of red hit the table. The gnocchi was simply fabulous. I'm already trying to figure out when I can make it again because this was the second time I've had it and I still liked it. I think I want a little more cheese on it next time around, but the chewiness factor of it is fabulous and it doesn't seem like a pasta.

The second plate was veal (veal is still not my favorite but it's not raised the same as we do in the states so I'm not so opposed to it here). It was served with a pretty tasty gravy but I almost would have preferred more gnocchi instead. Shoot, I made those by hand so I wanted to enjoy them!

Finally, it was dessert time. The cakes turned out beautifully so of course I still had to taste it. My verdict? The crust was fabulous- it's amazing how butter makes everything taste so fabulous. The filling was rather eggy and the candied fruit pieces (tiny ones) caused texture issues for me. Someone at the table suggested removing the candy and perfume and just adding rum...he may be on to something.

Now I just need to track down the recipes so I can try these again, unsupervised.