Pasta Day

Pasta, Pasta, Pasta! Pasta day, as Chef DiPerri said, " The Day of Happiness". Today, I had the chance to make Gnocchi, a form of pasta made with potatoes and formed into little dumplings. The whole process of making the gnocchi was beautiful, from the roasting of the potatoes to forming out the dough. I used Yukon gold potatoes, Parmigiano Reggiano and local flours found in Italy. The method for this was to roast the potatoes, remove the skin, and then mix with the flour and Parmigiano until a dough is created. After the dough is formed, you cut off a small portion of dough and roll out in a log. Then, cut and roll onto a gnocchi board.

As the day went on, I began to see that making fresh pasta is a labor of love. It took the whole class over three or four hours just to roll out all of the shapes. This proved to me that the Italian culture is all about beautiful slow foods, and about keeping the culture of Italy alive through the different shapes and types of pasta. From Agnolotti to Gnocchi to Mezzelune, we can see the beautiful culture of Italy preserved in their pasta and the people who make it.

Italian Word of the Day: Tortellini

Tortellini are small pieces of pasta that are shaped and filled with a certain filling, whatever is deemed fit. However, did you know that the tortellini was originally just a shell and the filling was the only thing that was eaten? The filling was also called ravioli, so yeah, pastaception.