Cooking Lessons

Coming back to New York for our second round of cooking lessons, Chef Andrea Sposini of Alta Società and I hosted 5 lessons this time around. Four of the classes were in our kitchen in Blauvelt and one in a private home on Central Park West in the city.

The classes were mostly hands on and each followed by a meal of what we had just learned to prepare. Everything was delicious and everyone had a splendid time.

For antipasti we made brioche rosettes filled with mushrooms one night and radicchio and prosciutto another night; several rounds of fritelli with red onions, and a gorgonzola and walnut torte. For first courses we did some traditional fresh pastas which everyone got to try their hand at. We even learned how to make perfect orecchetti — a special request that was great fun. We also tried potato gnocchi with a meat sauce and then —something I was looking forward to — riccotta gnocchi with spinach.

For main courses we learned how to debone a chicken. Andrea made it look so easy I’m sure everyone has already tried it at home. Stuffing differed, due to dietary restrictions on various nights, but included ground meat, roasted chestnuts, ham or prosciutto. For the dinner party in New York, we made a roast lamb stuffed with a spinach frittata that was out of this world.

I requested cabbage and potatoes for one of the vegetables because I had had them at a restaurant in Perugia and they were extraordinary. While we couldn’t find the right kind of cabbage, we substituted cauliflower and kale one night and it was delicious. As it happened, we went into the city to check out Eataly and stopped by the farmers market on 14th Street. There we found the Savoy cabbage we had been looking for. (In Italy they just called it cabbage —cavolo.) It was even better the second time around.

Desserts were an amazing chocolate mousse (one night with Vin Santo from Bettona, and another night with Cointreau) and a riccotta cake that was light and almost fluffy.

Hopefully we will be able to do the classes again before I head back to Umbria. If not, there is always the option of coming and taking them there. Andrea and I offer packages which can include a week stay in Bettona and three to five cooking lessons. We’re flexible so just ask about it.