more about sunday

 
a few weeks ago i signed up for another online cooking class with fabrizia lanza whose mother began a cooking school in sicily in the 1980's. (i made almond thumbprint cookies with them in 2020.) this time she was making ravioli from her new cookbook the food of sicily.

the ravioli flour needed to sit for 30 minutes before rolling out, so they suggested making it ahead of time. 

i understood the class description to be that fabrizia would show us how she rolls out the dough with a rolling pin, which i was looking forward to seeing . . however, she had a pasta machine into which she dipped her dough, as did the other twenty class participants. i was the lone hand roller. she said i was very brave. i was not amused. nevertheless, i persevered and created very nice ravioli, even if they were a bit lopsided and rough around the edges. 

after the class, i had to quickly pack everything away as we drove out to queens for brunch with korrina and josh . . 

chanda joined us (she had been at a friend's place in brooklyn) at one of my favorite eating spots, dawa.

their dishes are all handmade by a local potter and are beautiful to drink and eat from . . (to the left above is their delicious grapefruit salad).

my fried cauliflower with spicy, crisp chickpea batter and purple rice.

korrina had pulled noodles, beef and daikon in a bone marrow broth and chanda had black chickpeas with sunny side up eggs, fried puff dough and tomato achaar. greg had baked eggs with sour dough bread, potatoes and veggies, and josh had tibetan beef patties.

sharing a mochi-like dessert with a red bean stuffing . .

korrina finished knitting her sweater . . 

it's a quince yarn . . maybe sparrow.

chanda's treats from korrina (from the brooklyn yarn crawl).

we stopped at the new zero waste shop where i bought a few ounces of chili flakes, a vegetable brush and delicious chocolate covered cherries. it was a fun afternoon.

----

back at home . . i put away my ravioli dough . . 

and the ravioli . . 

i'll roll out the remainder tomorrow.

baking class and merriweather cafe

 by 9:30 am i had the kitchen prepped for a baking class with the anna tasca lanza cooking school in sicily.

 chanda let me borrow her computer and she went off to work. today was the re-opening of the cafe she works for. i then talked with morgana until around 10:45, discussing the play greg and i watched last week and the fate of theatres in general amidst covid19.

 it was an extra fun class this time around . . one of the assistants had her mom attending, which caused a little bit of teasing as the mom was having trouble shaping her cookies and the assistant was getting a little annoyed. no one minded . . there was just a lot of laughter.

 bocconcini . . little mouthfuls . . almond flour thumbprint cookies filled with raspberry jam and marmalade and one almond. i added extra almond extract to mine, and they came out incredibly delicious.

 pluto is ever hopeful for a hand out . . 

 these two logs were eventually sliced into cantucci. the marsala wine that was added was not as flavorful as the almond extract used for the bocconcini. i'd love to bake a new batch using vanilla and almond extract (or anise!) rather than the wine.

 it was a very relaxed time and i even got to ask about the language that is spoken most in sicily . . which is sicilian! and not italian. sicilian is not a dialect; it's a whole other language with spanish, arabic and a bit of french influences. neither duolingo or pimsleur offer sicilian online. it's possible i can find a cd from the library when it re-opens.

 a treat for greg . . he was on a conference call that lasted all day.

 the beautiful and delicious bocconcini . . 

 in the afternoon i walked to merriweather cafe and ordered one of their sandwiches for lunch. it was wonderful to see them back in business again, for take out and delivery orders.

 i had avocado and salmon on whole grain toast with a poached egg, capers, radishes and cucumber; along with cold brew coffee and oat milk.

 the finished cookies . . 

and sweet pluto.

a walk by the river and a cooking demonstration

 greg and i braved a walk by the river today. we often avoid it as there can be too many people. however, it wasn't as crowded as we expected, and everyone wore masks.

 everyone was enjoying the sun and the warm weather. those who were sitting in one place took their masks off. it's nice to breathe in the aroma of fresh grass, soil, green leaves and flowers.

 we enjoyed visiting the dog run today . . 

 i'd love to have a french bulldog to take to the dog run . . we could never take jack as he would beat up all the other dogs. he was one of those dogs who always had to show that he was top dog . . he always had to fight.

 the roses are all in bloom . . 

 beautiful blue asters . . i'm just not sure of the specific name.

 sweet pansies . . 

 and the allium on the corner are in bloom . . 

i don't know how i managed to get on the mailing list for the jewish food society, but i did! the last newsletter included a registration link for a cooking demonstration with israeli journalist hila alpert from tel aviv. it was at 10 am this morning, and it was free, as all these classes i find on instagram and zoom are. it was also really fun, and two of the dishes were especially appealing: the spicy cherry salad and the chocolate cheese truffles.

 for the salad, she used fresh cherries, cilantro, a jalapeño pepper, grated fresh garlic, a little sea salt and olive oil.

 for the chocolate cheese truffles, she combined a goat cheese and a blue cheese, softened, and rolled the cheese around a prune soaked in brandy. she then drizzled melted dark chocolate and decorated it with goji berries. here's the link for the recipes. i think i need to go shopping this week for the ingredients!

dinner tonight was lentil soup with potatoes, tomatoes, celery and fresh spinach added at the very end (simmered with a parmesan heel).

making pasta

homemade cavatelli! (very rudimentary, but cavatelli, nevertheless.) a number of years ago i borrowed a book from the library titled, the flavors of sicily (a book that can only be viewed now, on site at the library). from that book i found a website dedicated to sicilian cooking, established by fabrizia lanza, who was maintaining the cooking school her mother had established on the family estate, two hours southeast of palermo. the villa holds workshops with renowned chefs and with fabrizia, who has been an advocate for documenting local sicilian recipes, traditions and native plants that still grow wild around the island. i think of it as the sicilian slow food movement. due to the current pandemic, they are offering online cooking classes via zoom. i've never made fresh pasta before, so i thought it would be fun to try with help from a chef i've always admired.
 

 i was ready to go by 9:45 am . . (the workshop didn't begin until 11). all ingredients were out and measured: flour and one egg (a mix of whole wheat and all purpose as we weren't able to find durum semolina), 1/2 cup water, 1 cup almonds, 6 tablespoons parmesano, 1 1/2 cups olive oil, 1 cup fresh sage leaves and two cloves of garlic. water was in a pot, ready to be heated, and the food processor was out, ready for the sage pesto to be mixed (my breakfast of oatmeal and muscovado sugar is in the bowl on the right).

 there were only eight students in the class, so they were able to check in with each one of us. "dorina, how is your dough. let's see your dough . . " well, my dough was not the best! the whole wheat flour made it a little heavy. it needed a little more water than the recipe called for, and it needed to rest a little longer. i finally just had to work with it as it was. the first time i rolled it a bit too thick; the second and third times were better. after rolling a long tube, you slice pieces off with a sharp knife, and then roll it along a citrus grater to rough it up and curl it in. you could also use a cavatelli board, if you even knew that such a thing as a cavatelli board existed (i didn't).

after rolling out the cavatelli, you place it on a floured cloth until the water is the proper temperature and is at a rolling boil (and after you throw in a good amount of sicilian sea salt). you then boil it until it rises to the top, or until it's a uniform color when cut in half . . or until you think it tastes done! before scooping it out of the pot with a slotted spoon, you mix some of the pesto with cooking water, then add the cooked pasta, followed by more  pesto on top, and then mix everything until combined. 

it was delicious! my word to describe it to the rest of the class was: very hardy. (my enjoyment of whole wheat flour isn't shared by everyone in my family.)

since i wanted greg and chanda to eat the pasta while it was still hot, i brought it to them: greg had his while finishing up work before his lunch break . . 

and chanda had her's while finishing up whatever she was watching . . 

there was so much to clean up after! i don't think i've ever made such a mess in the kitchen before. 

i'd like to try making the dough with spelt flour, and there's still plenty of pesto left for it.