Learning how to make pasta in Bologna, Italy
The day after my gelato-making class in Bologna, I took a pasta-making class at Il Salotto di Penelope. And once again, I was the only student! Even though August is peak tourist season in Italy with Florence being particularly crowded on this trip, Bologna is truly off-the-beaten-path. But it is well worth it if you are into food, because Bologna is where that famous ragú, called bolognese outside of Italy, originated, as well as mortadella, known as, well, bologna, in the United States.
I knew I wanted to try making pasta in Bologna too, because here it is traditional to roll it out by hand (instead of a machine). The class started out with the teacher, Barbara, giving a tour of the grocery stores around the city center. Since it was August, unfortunately some of the stores were closed for summer holiday.
It turns out pasta is very simple here - just flour and egg!
After mixing and kneading comes the rolling-out part. They use these long rolling pins, and I can tell you that all of the leverage that the length gives you is needed to make the dough paper thin. I haven't been able to replicate the thinness at home, without these.
Filling some of the pasta with a ricotta-parsley mixture for tortelloni. The other pasta would be sliced into tagliatelle.
I also learned how to make gnocchi, which we made with only potato and egg yolk! Turns out the flour is needed only if you want to freeze them.
Making the gnocchi form involved making the dough into a tube, then cutting the tube into sections. Take a section, and roll it on a fork, then press down.
Ready to cook! The little bowtie pasta in the bottom left corner is how to use the excess dough.
One secret to cooking the pasta is to finish cooking it in the sauté pan with the sauce and a little bit of the cooking water to make the flavors cling to the pasta.
The finished product. I can't believe you can make the pasta so thin, just by hand!
The gnocchi, sans flour, were a revelation, like little pillows of air. Not at all like the chewy larvae that I have eaten in the past.
Always top with more cheese, Barbara said.
The results tasted very professional, if I may say so myself!
