La Cucina Italiana Cooking Class – September 11, 2014

The Italian kitchen is where everyone dreams of being. That’s why the La Cucina Italiana cooking class scheduled for September 11, 2014 at the Holy Nativity Community Hall will be so popular. We will make delicious authentic recipes from the pages of La Cucina Italiana magazine. I had the good fortune of working for this beautiful and inspiring magazine for a few years until it closed down in January of this year. The mother ship in Milan, Italy, now 85 years old keeps authentic Italian recipes and culture alive in the Italian language. But, my Italian is not so good these days. I did learn some Italian years ago when I travelled to the tiny town of Frosolone in the mountains east of Naples during a snowstorm (a great story for another time) where my grandfather was born. It does help me with Italian menus, but reading whole recipes – still difficult for me.

I am very excited to grace our table with these dishes that I promise will be outrageously good. Take the Silk Handkerchief Pasta with Genovese Basil Pesto. Look at the picture above. It’s a photo of the signature dish served at the popular Factory Kitchen restaurant in downtown Los Angeles. One bite of this is like a bite from heaven. Silky smooth and layered with simple Italian flavors. As soon as I was served this dish at Factory Kitchen, I recognized it from the magazine and knew we had to make it. The Chef at Factory Kitchen worked in San Francisco with Paola Laboa, who was interviewed for the story in La Cucina Italiana. It’s a dish that anyone with a pasta machine is going to want to try to emulate. So we’re going to do it on Thursday, September 11. Come join us for the experience.

Here’s the full menu:

Antipasti: Pumpkin Salad with fresh Mozarella and Pistachio Pesto
Primi: Silk Handkerchief Pasta with Genovese Basil Pesto
Secondi: Picatta di Pollo or Chicken Picatta
Contorni: Marinated Roasted Peppers with Anchovy and Basil
Dolce: Ricotta Cheesecake with Pear and Grappa Sauce

Patricia K. Rose, of Fresh Food in a Flash will lead this hands-on cooking class on Thursday, September 11, 2014, 6:00-9:00 at the Holy Nativity Community Hall in Westchester. Once we complete the cooking, sit down and enjoy a meal you and your new friends made together with a glass of wine.

Cooking Class fee $40 when you reserve by September 8, $45 at the door. To reserve your spot, email Patricia@FreshFoodinaFlash.com. Then write a check to “Fresh Food in a Flash”; mail it to Holy Nativity Episcopal Church, Cooking Class, 6700 West 83rd Street, Westchester, CA 90045.