Fancy Pasta Shapes @ Las Cosas

I attended the Fancy Pasta Shapes class on Saturday morning at Las Cosas. I am always excited about learning how to make basic/fundamental things like crackers, pasta, and marshmallows.

Class description: Join this pasta master class as we prepare a variety of special shapes and create delicious sauces to serve with them. Both hand-rolled and pasta machine techniques will be practiced. Our menu includes: Farfalle with Sunflower Seed Pesto, Pappardelle in a Rich Lamb Ragu, Potato & Spinach Cappelletti with Smoked Tomato Sauce, and Spaghetti alla Carbonara. Don’t miss this tasty celebration of one of the world’s most beloved dish. Delicioso! (Hands-On)

Per usual the menu items are split up among class members. I worked on the Pappardelle in Rich Lamb Ragu with two other class members – one being my husband Shawn. We all got a chance to roll out some pasta dough and make some special shapes. Except I did not get a chance to make the pappardelle shape which was the pasta that went with our ragu.

Pappardelle in Rich Lamb Ragu

This sauce was all made in one pan. It began with olive and butter and then the diced onions were added.

Followed by diced celery.

And then diced carrots.

Followed by diced mushrooms.

Then the lamb was added.

Next we added the white wine, tomatoes, beef stock, and reserved mushroom liquid. Also the sachet filled with juniper berries and rosemary that we made at the beginning of this was put into the pan. It was then set to simmer for 40 minutes.

The sauce was tossed with pappardelle and served on a large platter.

The Other Menu Items

Insalata Mista – red onion, radicchio, carrots, scallions, fennel, red bell pepper, Frisee lettuce, baby spinach, Roma tomatoes, olive oil, red wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper.

Farfalle with Pumpkin Seed Pesto – included pumpkin seed pesto and farfalle.

Pumpkin Seed Pesto – basil, garlic, parmesan, pumpkin seeds, olive oil, lemon zest, lemon juice, salt, and pepper.

Farfalle – pasta dough flattened out, cut into rectangles and pinched into bows.

Potato & Spinach Cappelleti included potato/spinach filling, smoked tomato sauce with basil, and cappelleti.

Potato & Spinach Filling – Yukon potato, salt, garlic, olive oil, chili flakes, spinach, and pepper.

Smoked Tomato Sauce with Basil – garlic, olive oil, smoked tomatoes, basil, and pepper.

Cappelleti – pasta dough flattened out, cut into circles, filled potato/spinach mixture, and folded into a dumpling shaped

Spaghetti alla Carbonara – dried spaghetti, olive oil, butter, bacon, dry white wine, egg yolk, parmesan, pecorino, parsley, salt, and pepper.

Pasta Making

We made the following three kinds of pasta in the class:

• Farfalle
• Pappardelle
• Cappelleti

Pasta dough was made in a food processor. It contained flour and eggs. and was allowed to rest for 15 minutes before we started rolling it out into thin sheets with a pasta rolling machine.

Then the necessary beginning shapes were cut into the dough.

For farfalle, we rolled out rectangles, created a moist line in the center and then pinched the pasta to make a bow-tie shape.

For the cappelleti, we used a biscuit cutter to make circles. We moistened the circumference, put the potato/spinach filling inside, folded each into a half moon shape, moistened the tips, and then folded the half moon so the tips touched each other.

For the pappardelle, we cut the flattened pasta dough into long strips of 3/4 inch to 1 inch wide.

All pastas were boiled in salted water until al dente and drained. Then they were tossed with the appropriate sauce.