Italian Cooking
Learn To Cook Italian!
A 4-Week Course with Instructor Nilla Spark
Begins Fall 2011
Course Information:
How often have you been to an Italian Restaurant and wished you could re-create the Pasta you have just eaten…MAKING PASTA 101 will teach you the basic techniques and sauces for making gnocchi in this lesson.
My goal is to teach you how to prepare gnocchi with confidence, and I would recommend so that you get the most out of this course that you practice, practice and more practice. Don’t fret if the gnocchi you’ve prepared isn’t perfect, as you become more confident and experiment with the ingredients your gnocchi will get better and even more delicious with time. Before you know it your gnocchi will taste as good as in your favourite Italian Restaurant…I will let you into a little secret, you will probably not order gnocchi in a restaurant again!!!
By successfully completing this course you will be able to:
- Understand the basic principles of making gnocchi
- Know the basic equipment and cooking techniques that you will require to make gnocchi
- Demonstrate the different types of gnocchi that can be made
- Demonstrate the various types of sauces that will compliment the gnocchi that you have mastered to make
Lesson 1 – Welcome to the World of Pasta Making 101
This lesson will give you a brief overall history of Italian pasta, the various types of pasta and how to prepare yourself and your family for the culinary delights that pasta creates. Pasta making requires a certain amount of fitness especially in the upper body as this is where the strength comes from for kneading, also getting to understand the movement and why it is important to bring love and passion into the pasta that you are going to create. You are about to embark on a love affair with pasta…
Lesson 2 – Basic Equipment and Ingredients
I will share the basic equipment and ingredients that you will require to make the perfect gnocchi, simple techniques and also the different ways of making gnocchi.
Lesson 3 – Preparing the Perfect Gnocchi
Now we are going to prepare and make the perfect gnocchi. Pasta as well as family is such an important part in the Italian kitchen, gnocchi is a wonderful way of bringing the family together. The reason being is that gnocchi is so hands on that everyone can contribute in some way, you will see how the communication flows. Because of this gnocchi is the easiest pasta to teach as there is hardly any equipment that is needed other than your hands or fork.
Lesson 4 – Complimentary Sauces For Your Pasta
Now that you have had lots of fun learning the art of making gnocchi I will share different sauces that will compliment those tiny morsels of potato and flour (well that’s one form of gnocchi, I have others that I will teach you).
You have now totally fallen in love with Pasta Making 101, have been lured into the simplicity of the making of gnocchi, entranced by the flavours that you have created…GO SHOW OFF YOUR NEW TALENT. Be prepared to never order pasta in a restaurant again.
BON APPETITO!!!
