BACKYARD 06.09.18 ... "Cooking In 'The County'- Part 2"

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Part 6 in the Series, Exploring Our Backyard

... learning to make pasta a mano (by hand) ...

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While trying to explore some of the many things that our new stomping ground (aka 'The County') has to offer (and also to stay out of Crusty's hair), I came across Angelo Bean, Artisan sausage maker and Italian Cooking Studio.  A quick search of his website  found his 'Pasta 101' class, an introduction on how to make pasta a mano (by hand) using the old Italian techniques. I quickly signed up for the class and was certainly glad I did.

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You arrive at a lovingly restored home, tucked in the trees on a back country road near Bloomfield, Ontario.  You are greeted at the door by Angelo's wife Karen, followed quickly by Angelo. The first thing you notice is how beautiful and quirky the cooking studio is. Filled with work by local artisans and pieces created by Angelo himself, it is a warm welcoming spot. A cup of tea, some Italian pastries and then off to learn how to make pasta the old fashioned way. 

I am joined by 5 other students - my partner Lauren, who is Angelo's neighbour. Lauren and her hubby Rod recently moved into his grandparent's farm and have created a water buffalo and hop farm called Hops and Heifers.  They are supplying the buffalo mozzarella for our class. We were also joined by Sandy & her hubby Doug and sisters Michelle & Rollande. After a cup of tea, some Italian pastries and we're off to learn how to make pasta the old fashioned way. 

After a demo by Angelo we got down to the business of making our own pasta dough. Since it had to 'rest' before we could roll it out, we decided to 'rest' too, with a glass of wine, some of Angelo's handmade artisan sausage, quail eggs and risotto balls. 

Next step, learn how to roll out the dough and the various techniques on how to cut it to form a few types of pasta.  While the pasta is drying sauces are made using Angelo's spices (aka his bar).  

Using a 'guitar' to cut the pasta into strips of linguine

After all that hard work it's time to let the feast begin. Angelo must have been cooking for days ahead of time, home made sausage soup (made of course from Angelo's sausage), selection of sausages, bread, olive salad, vegetable salad (with buffalo mozzarella), and two types of pasta - with of course wine!  Thank you Angelo for the wonderful day, I will return!

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All photos by LOAFin Around unless otherwise credited.

To read all posts in this series click Exploring Our Backyard.

....Wry Reporting

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