THE MINTY: COOKING CLASSES AT EATZ + RECAP OF MAKING PASTA BY HAND
EATZ on La Brea offers a variety of cooking classes that would be fun for friends, couples, parents and kids, showers, bachelorette (and bachelor!) parties or anyone who wants to learn how to cook. Check out their list of classes to find something fun to do soon.
I grabbed my best friend for a pasta making class. First the instructor teaches you a few basics on holding a knife and then we dove right into making dough which we turned into lasagna, linguine and ravioli. We also made cauliflower gratin and stuffed cannoli shells.
One of the chopping tricks I learned was to hold the knife not just by the handle but to pinch the knife itself. You also form a claw with your other hand to hold whatever you’re chopping or cutting so you don’t accidentally cut yourself.
Although I’ve seen people make dough (and I helped make it once before), it’s still incredible to me a few simple ingredients turn into my favorite thing- noodles.
Once the dough was made and rested, we started rolling. Making pasta by hand builds up muscles! But I can see why people love pasta makers now. We did a number of things with our dough but making sure it was evenly rolled out was key.
I learned a neat trick with herbs like thyme and tarragon. Rather than plucking each individual leaf, simply hold the stem and run your fingers down and the leaves will just pop off.
For the lasagna, we took turns cutting up veggies and adding to our sauce. I loved the lasagna as it hid all my silly shaped pasta sheets!
One of the easiest things is to make your own fresh pasta noodles. I made sure I cut these to “linguine” size but try making them thinner or thicker based on your preference.
Fresh pasta cooks so quickly! We ate this straight from the pan (well, we did put our pasta into bowls).
When we were done with it all, we enjoyed our food immediately after the class but some opted to take home their creations. EATZ also provides wine as part of their beverages.
Although we didn’t make our own cannoli shells, we had fun stuffing these with whipped cream infused with Kahlua and chocolate chips!
I would love to take a French cooking class, street food or maybe learn a new dish for Thanksgiving. How about this Southern Thanksgiving class? Or there’s a Fall one as well. Sushi would be fun as well!
So what cooking class are you going to take?