Italian Way of Cooking by Casa Artusi

Cooking is a fun activity.

Last 10th of March 2015,  I joined a cooking class by Casa Artusi in Manila. It was held at the recently opened Alta restaurant in Ascott hotel BGC(Bonifacio Global City). Two culinary experts, Margarita Fores and Carla Brigliadori, from Casa Artusi conducted the cooking class.

Casa Artusi, is a culinary cooking school that was named after Pellegrino Artusi, the father of modern Italian cooking. Artusi compiled recipes from the home cooks in Italy. 

During the class, Margarita Fores mentioned that Mr. Artusi even got an Italian woman to test the recipes that come from the home cooks of Italy and  the recipe was only included in the book if it passes their test and standards.  

Casa Artusi Philippines, was established by Margarita Fores, a successful restaurateur who has a passion for Italian cuisine. It is  her way of sharing the best home cook Italian recipes and techniques to both locals and foreigners based in the Philippines who enjoy Italian cuisine and want to learn how to cook delicious and traditional Italian dishes.

Margarita Fores talks about the places in Italy where the best
ingredients come from.

While the two chefs were cooking, we were given the chance to taste various dishes and see, smell, and touch some of the ingredients too. 

Piadina, fresh mango jam, and the coppa ham that was
brought by Chef Carla from Italy

Local fish roe also known as "bihod" locally.
This was included in the marinara pasta sauce.

The chefs cooked various dishes and one of the interesting parts of the class was seeing them make piadina and fresh pasta.

Freshly made dough for piadina made by Chef Carla.

The students viewed the actual cooking techniques on a TV screen
 placed at the left side of the open kitchen.

Freshly made piadina

This is the cooking pan made from clay that  is used by Italians to cook piadina

The chefs cooked a nice and tasty bean soup and several pasta dishes that everyone truly enjoyed.

The "Marie Louise" bean soup with pama coppa (air-cured meat from Italy)

Tripe alla Parmigiana

A tasting portion of the soft and tasty Tripe alla Parmigiana

 While we were tasting the dishes we also got to watch the chefs prepare various pasta shapes from freshly made pasta.

Various pasta shapes prepared by the chefs 

After getting so much inspiration it was time for us to make our own pasta from scratch. Each student got a chance to make their own pasta dough and make various pasta shapes.

My masterpiece... pasta dough that I made by hand. Not bad for a
first timer.

We tasted several freshly made pasta dishes.

Pasta made with some meat, tomatoes and fresh parmigiano

Black squid ink pasta with shrimps

Pasta marinara with clams, shrimps, fish roe, tuna and fresh tomatoes.

Fresh "chicharo" was used as a replacement for fresh peas

Fonduta pasta with  4 kinds of cheese: gorgonzola, fontina, parmigiano and asiago 

Really very good butter.

Apart from eating we also got to learn about wine pairing. Chef Carla is also a Sommelier and she was able to share the best wines to pair with the dishes made.

Red wine paired with the Tripe alla Parmigiana and pasta with meat

White chardonnay paired with marinara pasta, and the fonduta pasta

The nice table top decor  made from fresh veggies

It was certainly a good experience to see and learn from two passionate chefs who love to share their love for Italian cuisine. Two important things I learned from them is that there are 2 things that must not be brown when you are cooking: butter and garlic. Apparently, Italians use garlic more for the flavor and taste for their cooking and is not cooked until it becomes brown.

I am certainly looking forward to learning more Italian cooking techniques and dishes in the future. I will definitely join other Casa Artusi classes. Plus, Margarita Fores mentioned that she is also organizing a food tour in Italy so that's another interesting activity to consider.

The Italians certainly know the art of eating well. Now I must start cooking some of the recipes I learned which are certainly Buonissimo!