Italian Cooking from Scratch
Laundry Day or Nonna's Kitchen?
Well actually this glorious sight is the star of our "cooking from scratch evening" the Italian way! These wonderful strips of handmade pasta are the result of a mucking together of egg and flour, occasionally spilling onto the floor, kneading, rolling and finally cranking it out. A bit frustrating at first, but wonderfully satisfying in the end. Not exactly one of Jamie Oliver's 30 minute meals!
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| Nancy and Cathy churning out! |
Our plan to try our hand at preparing an authentic Italian dinner was hatched by my friend Juliette and I. Juliette is quite a "foodie" and very knowledgeable when it comes to cooking techniques and ingredients. We both were hankering homemade pasta as well as other Italian dishes, so we recruited our friends put on our aprons!
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| Top: Heather and Juliette preparing tiramisu Bottom left: Cathy and Juliette arranging the caprese salad Bottom right: Donna and Nancy churning out pasta. |
Our menu:
- Antipasto (salami, prosciutto, olives, cheese etc.)
- Caprese salad
- pasta with Nonna's tomato sauce and/or pesto
- meatballs
- Tiramisu
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| Calabrese Salad - tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, fresh basil, olive oil and balsamic vinegar |
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| Juliette creating Tiramisu. Delicious!! Tiramisu recipe from "Will Cook for Smiles" |
Some Great Resources:
Between the Internet, Pinterest and our local library we found a wealth of information on Italian cooking and particularly, homemade pasta. You can't beat a video for learning how to actually mix, roll, and use a pasta maker. Both the links below were great. "Tasty 101" shows how to make and roll pasta without using a machine and "Fine Cooking" demonstrates how to use a pasta maker. (We had one from years ago, but you see them from time to time at places like Value Village)
I had an arm load of books from the library on Italian cooking (plus one of mine called Entertaining with the Sopranos!). One book, however was a clear winner for us..... Cooking With Nonna by Rossella Rago. We used her recipe for marinara sauce and it was superb! So simple to make - whole peeled tomatoes (one can above, product of Italy), one onion, 3 gloves of garlic, fresh basil, salt & red pepper flakes …. wonderfully fresh and thick! Best I've ever had (sorry Mom!) We also had great success with her pasta recipe and there are loads of recipes in the book from other "nonnas" that I am inspired by.
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