Pasta-Making Machines

For our mom's 60th birthday Rachel and I treated her (and ourselves) to a Homemade Pasta workshop at the Viking Cooking School in Peapack-Gladstone, NJ. I know, I know, this blog is where Ronak and I write only about our joint culinary experiences, but on this occasion we're making an exception because 1) this workshop was far too amazing not to record and 2) I recreated two of the dishes for Ronak so he has already benefited from the recipes learned. Here's what we made that day:

Lobster Bolognese Sauce with Fettucine
Pansotti with Tomato, Onion, Basil Sauce
Lasagna with Tomatoes, Mushrooms and Bechamel Sauce
Fennel Salad with Red Peppers and Cerignola Olives
Lemon Walnut Biscotti

We had our hands in preparing all the dishes on the menu, though some more than others. For instance, we were more than happy to pass off the job of shelling the lobsters to the Fish Monger on staff. The class was 3 hours long and because we were making our own lunch (and were very hungry), we felt motivated to produce quickly and boost the quantities wherever possible- especially when it came to the pansotti. Once the dishes were plated and served, we ate every last bit but still yearned for a just a small hunk of bread to wipe our plates clean. The lack of bread however did not prevent us from resorting to use our fingers to get those last drops of sauce.