Tipped

Giancarlo con cioccolata

April 18, 2009

I took my hubby to La Cucina Caldesi for a Friday evening with Giancarlo Caldesi - a 4 hour cooking and dining experience. I can't believe what we squeezed into 3 hours of cooking and an hour of eating. We made a carrot and spinach sformato, which is sort of like a layered vegetable souffle. A dark chocolate flourless torte was super quick to get into the oven.

A few potatoes and garlic went in to bake, which would later be a side for our main course. So we then got our own poussin and were instructed on how to spatch-cock the bird. Yes we deboned a small chicken with just a few minutes instruction! And a lot of coaching :) We stuffed the poussin with a lovely mix of fresh herbs and breadcrumbs, tied it and stuck it in the oven will a liberal coating of olive oil.

Finally - fresh pasta!! This was the most fun, and I never realised how easy it is to make your own pasta and how great the taste is. We stuffed the pasta with spinach and ricotta to make lovely ravioli and tortellini. I'm not about ready to race out and buy a pasta rolling machine - unfortunately you do need a decent working surface in your kitchen, which we lack.

It was a fun night, we really enjoyed eating our own cooking, served with some lovely italian wines. The food tasted extra nice since we made it ourselves, and we were entertained throughout by Giancarlo's comedic ramblings with a good dash of his chef's ego. Its a pricey night out but a great experience and makes an excellent gift.