Adamo's Pasta: fresh-made pasta goodness

I'm a total pasta fiend and seem to be able to eat endless amounts of it. In fact, I'm thinking about smashing a bowl of orecchiette bolognese as I write this post on Adamo's Pasta in Beaconsfield/Alexandria.

Located on a busy main road in a quasi-industrial area, Adamo's first started out selling a wide range of fresh uncooked pasta. It piqued a lot more interest when the narrow store added a dining area and started selling hot pasta meals to the local workforce that's rather starved of lunch options.

Beetroot gnocchi with gorgonzola sauce from Adamo's Pasta, Botany Road, Beaconsfield

I always tend to go for more exotic pasta options when I'm out, leaving the likes of spaghetti and fusilli for at-home cooking. The generously-sized dish of beetroot gnocchi certainly fit the bill with its ruby-red hue, served with our chosen sauce of gorgonzola and peas, freshened up with plenty of fresh chopped parsley.

There wasn't much beetroot flavour to the pasta, although its appearance compensated somewhat, while the rich gorgonzola sauce with bits of pancetta was a good match to the unique gnocchi.

Porcini mushroom agnoletti with ragu

Filled pasta like agnoletti are always a delight when done well, and these filled with a smooth filling of porcini mushroom certainly were. Perfectly al dente, the pasta parcels were plentiful amid the deep red ragu, with visible bits of soft beef and vegetables enhancing the pasta.

Pumpkin gnocchi with amatriciana sauce

Another option from the exotic gnocchi range was a pumpkin variety that was softer and sweeter than the usual potato version. With our chosen amatriciana sauce of tomato, bacon and chilli, the pumpkin gnocchi was a vividly filling lunch.

It's a shame that there aren't more places like Adamo's in the CBD where a quick, fresh, reasonably priced pasta offering would really be appreciated at lunch, as well as the opportunity to buy fresh pasta, sauces and other related grocery items before the commute home. So for now, I'll have to keep heading to Beaconsfield for fresh-made pasta goodness.

Keeping up with Jones the Grocer

Posted by Kath

Tucked away in the north corner of Westfield Sydney's Level 5 food court, Jones the Grocer has been in its expansive restaurant space for over a year now, and recently re-vamped its menu offering with a new attitude: good food, served fast.

Shopping aisle at Jones the Grocer, Level 5, Westfield Sydney

One might have thought that a focus on speedy delivery would mean the need to condense the menu, but this is far from the case.

Jones the Grocer has a wide variety of breakfast options (available until 3pm on weekends), while the lunch and dinner menu offers a range from antipasto boards and salads to heartier options like burgers, pasta and steaks.

Cheese cabinet

On entry into Jones the Grocer diners are greeted by a designer shopping aisle with rows of prettily bottled beverages, pasta and condiments to the left, and further on in, a magnificent cheese and cured meat filled cabinet.

Front counter patisserie selection

There's more temptation of the sweet variety from the patisserie counter where diners can choose a quick pick-me-up to have with a coffee in the front lounge and waiting area.

Beloka water still mineral water

The dining space out the back is the real haven from the hustle and bustle of the food court outside.

A cruisey weekend lunch started with mineral water from Beloka Water, sourced from Kosciuszko National Park in our own state backyard.

Black forest double smoked ham, spinach, two free-range poached eggs,truffled hollandaise, house baked muffin

Being a lover of breakfast I couldn't go past the eggs Benedict from the breakfast menu, especially when it involved a truffled hollandaise sauce.

True to their new motto, the glorious English muffin tower of eggs, thinly-shaved ham, gooey hollandaise and wilted spinach was brought out in a flash.

The eggs were perfectly soft poached, spilling a river of orange-gold yolk goodness all over the plate. The house-baked English muffins were soft and fluffy, and the ham smokily tasty but the promised truffle infusion in the sauce could have been a little more generous.

Premium 100% Australian wagyu patty, bacon, melted Swiss cheese, truffled mayonnaise, pickles, yellow mustard, caramelised onions, house made bun, rustic chips

With a burger lover amongst us, the signature Jones Burger was ordered and is definitely one we'd return for. A lot of burgers these days tend towards brioche buns, but we found the house-made white bun to be pleasantly savoury and soft.

The wagyu beef patty was well seasoned, tender and not at all greasy, which made the act of eating a lot neater than expected. The pickles were a great, balanced addition, not being overly tart, while the truffle intensity in the mayonnaise was spot on.

Twice cooked pork belly, caramel apple, prune puree, pickled fennel and walnut salad

Our lovely maitre d' Macey also recommended the twice-cooked pork belly - a dish worth foregoing dinner for.

Topped with golden, crisp crackling, the sticky chewiness of the pork belly and the fact that it wasn't too fatty made this a real joy to eat. The caramelised half apple on the side complemented the dish well, as did the fennel and walnut salad which offered respite from the rich flavours.

Confit Atlantic salmon, roast beetroot, baked tomato, baby spinach, goat's feta, honey mustard vinaigrette

In an attempt at looking at least a little healthy, we also had a salad of beautifully soft confit Atlantic salmon with sweet roasted beetroot, goat's cheese and crunchy walnuts in a vinaigrette dressing.

Lemon verbena pana cotta with granita, strawberries and almonds

To a necessarily shared dessert, but never have I seen a panna cotta with a wobble so gloriously mesmerising that we almost forgot to dig in to dessert as we played, granita melting away.

The simple refreshing flavours of lemon verbena, strawberries and the silky smooth texture of the milky pudding made this a delightful way to end our meal.

Jones the Grocer's varied menu manages to achieve their new goal of "good food, served fast" with aplomb. With customers seated closer to the kitchen and an increased pool of chefs to meet the demand of hungry shoppers, Jones the Grocer is certainly keeping up with clean modern Australian fare, fast.

Food, booze and shoes dined at Jones the Grocer as a guest, with thanks to CavCon.

Sydney Royal Easter Show 2014 - a quick look

It's been years - perhaps getting close to 10 years, if not more - since I went to the Sydney Royal Easter Show in Olympic Park.

I'm one of those who reminisce about the good ol' days of the Show in Moore Park, but I had to share this very quick post about this year's Show. It's unbelievably large and pretty awesome.

A friendly goat at the Farmyard Nursery at the Sydney Royal Easter Show,
Showground Road, Olympic Park

There is so much to see and do that I think one full day doesn't actually cover it. The larger showgrounds have made this possible with a 'something for everyone' ethos - and there's lots to enjoy.

Arm yourself with comfortable shoes, water, sun protection, clothing as it gets pretty chilly at sundown and the showground map, which is necessary to map out the hit list.

Central District display in the Fresh Food Dome

The Fresh Food Dome has always been the place to start for me. It was always my dad's first stop when we went as kids, and I think it may just have the slightest bit to do with my appreciation for food today.

Northern District display in the Fresh Food Dome

In its current form, the Fresh Food Dome combines the regional districts' fruit, vegetable and grain displays with a more commercially-minded food stall exhibition part and cooking demonstrations.

Natural oysters in the Fresh Food Dome

Packed as it was, I managed a sample of tomato soup with a cheese toastie and a half dozen of natural Sydney rock and Pacific oysters for morning tea in the Fresh Food Dome.

Alpaca

For the kids, and the kids within, the Show is about animals, games and rides - in about that order. There are plenty of horses on show, as well as cats, dogs, sheep, pigs and an entire pavilion dedicated to alpacas, if you can believe.

Walking a small, shaggy Suri alapaca on a leash was right up there with my highlights of the day.

Food Farm pavilion

The Farmyard Nursery is just about the most fantastic thing I remember from the Easter Show in recent history.

Not only does its entrance cleverly force children and all through the Food Farm pavilion where they learn about where various food items come from, it's just a spectacular experience and logistical feat.

Petey Pie beef pie from inside the Food Farm

Farmyard Nursery

The Farmyard Nursery is a huge, open space where goats, sheep, lambs, chickens and even a dog roam free amongst Show-goers. An inclusion as part of the Show entry, it's like a pimped up petting zoo and I, probably like most city folk, have never experienced anything like it.

With $1 cups of feed for sale, it's a frenzy of feeding activity with smiles all round. Kids are happily petting and timidly feeding while the animals are most certainly enjoying the abundance of food. Indeed, most of the farmyard animals looked rather plump.

Chickens hatching from eggs

Feeding lamb

The best feeling would have to be the feel of tongues on your hand as goats and sheep inhaled their feed straight from hands, large or small. The cow's tongue was probably less pleasant but hilarious nonetheless.

Watch for the larger, slightly more aggressive animals - like some of the goats with horns - while keeping in mind not to chase or catch the animals, despite how silky soft the chickens' feathers are.

Carnival section

There are plenty of rides and sideshow games on offer as always, ready to swap your dollars for use-challenged toys, but then, it's not the Easter Show without a game of the Laughing Clowns. Some things just don't change.

See more photos on my Facebook page.

The Stinking Bishops: Smells good to the cheese fiends

Cheese fiends. There are lots of us out there. We will happily eat a hunk of cheese with crackers or bread and some fresh or dried fruit, and call that a meal. Add a glass of red wine and it's a complete, balanced meal.

The cheese fiends of the inner west are rejoicing with the recent opening of The Stinking Bishops at the Newtown end of Enmore Road. Cheese, charcuterie, wine - it's like they've recreated my last meal in a new, hip shop space beneath a block of low-rise apartments.

Cheese from The Stinking Bishops, Enmore Road, Newtown

Named after Britain's smelliest cheese, The Stinking Bishops is a neighbourhood cheese and wine bar and retailer that exudes a passion for cheese and all the great eats that belong alongside a cheesy feast.

Cheese menu board

A chalk board displays a changing menu of more than 20 imported and Australian cheeses - all available for consumption in the venue or for take-home indulgence.

Cheese fridge

An open cheese fridge behind the counter seating displays a delectable range of curd offerings alongside Salumi Australia and other hanging charcuterie.

Seating for groups is a little limited with just one larger table and a table for two up the front, while counter seating and and a bench table up against the wall offer stool seating, ideal for lazy Golden Cobra coffees, glasses of wine and of course, cheese nibbling.

Duck liver pate

At the counter, we started with the full range of red wines by the glass among four of us, accompanied by a brick of duck liver pate.

With credit given to Redfern's Eathouse Diner, the creamy, liver-y pate was densely flavoured with a nicely contrasting jelly layer; served with fresh Grain Organic sourdough bread and a sweet jammy condiment.

Cheese board

The main game has to be the cheese boards, which come in two, three or four cheese sizes. Diners can choose any of the cheeses from the menu to have on their board, with the serving sizes adjusted for any of the more expensive, imported cheeses.

Choosing one from each white mould, washed rind, hard and blue mould categories, we had a rather French board of the deliciously nutty Marcel Petite comte, not-so-stinky Époisses, Delice du Cremier, and the Irish Grubb Cashel Blue.

The cheeses are served with a fabric basket generously filled with more sourdough bread, fancily branded crackers, dried muscatels and a slice of a jammy fig and walnut log. In all, happiness on a wooden board.

Charcuterie board

There is more wine and happiness to be had with the charcuterie selection that showcases some fine Aussie produce. I can never go past the Salumi Australia nduja spicy salami paste, even though the chilli heat is absolutely ferocious.

Also available in two, three or four meat selections, we added to our charcuterie board fennel salami, fat-edged cured pork cheek and streaky smoked wagyu whichwas like a creamy, fatty corned beef that was made to be with sliced pickled gherkins.

Comte at home

Over a few boards of food and glasses of red, we whiled away a rainy afternoon quite idyllically at The Stinking Bishops. It has got its positioning down pat: cheese, wine, charcuterie and more substantial eats that are simple and soulful; all extremely well designed for the so-hip-it's-not neighbourhood.

It's only improved with, say, a huge chunk of the Marcel Petite comte to take home - with that, The Stinking Bishops sure smell good to me.

Jonesing for Jones the Grocer, Westfield Sydney

The breadth of the Level 5 food offerings at Westfield Sydney means that there's always something I haven't yet tried.

Jones the Grocer took over the prime restaurant spot on Level 5 about a year ago with a luxury grocery offering, bakery and restaurant – and I've been jonesing to get there to see how the space has changed.

Restaurant dining area at Jones the Grocer, Level 5, Westfield Sydney

I visited for a pre-Christmas dinner last year when the shopping centre was filled with retail frenzy and the dining space at Jones the Grocer was a haven from most of it; a frazzled staff member aside.

The well-spaced restaurant area behind the food "emporium" is a particularly warm and inviting setting with the feeling of a posh home highlighted by a long open kitchen and dark timber furniture.

Seats by the window have the added benefit, or distraction, of looking across into a gym where classes take place while you eat and drink.

Shiraz and Pipsqueak apple cider

Maybe it's just all in my head but I think wine always looks and tastes better out of Plumm wine glasses, especially when it’s a bold Aussie shiraz.

There are, rightfully, a lot of Australian options on the drinks list and the food menu follows with a modern Australian bent (read: a bit of Asian, a bit of Mediterranean, a bit of this and that – all tempting and delicious-sounding).

Angel hair pasta with blue swimmer crab, chilli, rocket, garlic and grana padano

A popular starter is surprisingly a pasta entrée, with its promise of picked blue swimmer crab in a classic and fresh combination of rocket, garlic, chilli and parmesan cheese.

The thin angel hair pasta noodles, almost resembling vermicelli, were a good, light carrier for the quintessentially Australian yet Italian flavours.

Salt and pepper squid, yuzu mayonnaise, Thai herb salad dressed
with tamarind, chilli and lime sauce

I went for Sydney’s ubiquitous salt and pepper squid with south-east Asian influences. Crumbed curls of a dark, deep fried squid were plentiful among a Thai-inspired salad with plenty of green herbs, bean sprouts and a light dressing of sweet tamarind, chilli and lime.

Both entrées were very generous in size and at the height of freshness; embracing a modern Australian ethos with flavours from around the world.

Duck leg confit with French lentils, apple and spinach salad with grape seed dressing

To France for my main with the most perfect confit duck Maryland, hidden beneath a pile of spinach and apple salad.

The duck was probably one of the best renditions of confit I've had: crisp skin, perfectly rendered, and soft, yielding flesh that was not too salty, paired classically with braised lentils.

The leafy, dressed salad with apple matchsticks – admittedly, presented all over the top of the duck – added a required sweet and tart lightness to the overall dish.

Free-range slow roasted pork cutlet with carrot puree, poached prune and shaved cabbage pangrattato salad

An impressively-sized pork cutlet was our other main, served with a creamy carrot puree, a few plumply poached prunes and a salad of shaved cabbage, fresh herbs and toasted breadcrumbs. Presentation seemed to follow a somewhat haphazard philosophy, with the salad again all over the top.

There was a sad lack of crackling, with a rubbery, fatty rind of skin attached to the thick pork cutlet instead although the pork was at least juicy and tender.

Stir fried broccolini

While the main dishes are quite complete with vegetable additions, we upped the green count with broccolini stems, stir fried with simply with oil.

Glazed lemon tart with confit citrus and creme fraiche

Dessert was probably not necessary following the big meals but we were tempted enough to try the glazed lemon tart. With burnished lemon curd top in a short pastry crust, the tart wedge was served with a variety of citrus segments and a quenelle of crème fraiche.

We also had a trio of sorbets as another dessert with refreshing renditions of each passionfruit, raspberry and mango sorbets.

I'm not sure if it is intended, but there's an air of 'something for everyone' at Jones the Grocer. Even the kids menu was impressive and clearly not an afterthought; hence, quite a few tables of families with young children.

And then there's food for take-home purchase, the bakery offerings and an impressive cheese cabinet that has me jonesing to get back for more.

Food, booze and shoes dined at Jones the Grocer as a guest, with thanks to Cav Con.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a happy pavlova

It's most certainly that wonderful time of the year: Christmas is almost here and even closer for the lucky ones who don't have to be at work these next two days.

Christmas in Sydney is synonymous with summer, cold prawns, mango and pavlova for me, and I'm planning to have all this on the lunch table in two days' time for Christmas.

Pavlova, made with ingredients courtesy of Aldi Australia

I've had all sorts of pavlovas: completely store bought and dressed; store-bought bases and self-dressed; ones made from those little plastic egg things; and this year, one made from scratch by yours truly.

Aldi ingredients (eggs excluded) mise en place

Earlier this month I was sent a package of Christmas goodies from Aldi Australia supermarkets, with thanks to PPR.

Aside from a huge range of Aldi's Christmas products like fruit cake, panettone, fruit mince pies and German specialties like marzipan stollen, glazed lebkuchen (so addictive) and pfeffernüsse, I also received most of the ingredients to make a pavlova - that iconic Australasian fluffy meringue cake, topped with cream and fresh fruit.

Whipped meringue

Having had some disastrous experiences previously with various types of meringues, there was trepidation and fairly exact measuring of caster sugar, corn flour and white vinegar into the stiffly beaten egg whites.

In the end, I think I beat the egg whites on higher speed and for longer than the Aldi recipe suggested, but I felt safer for it.

Meringue tower

The very stiff, glossy peaks meant that I could pile the meringue high without it foaming and collapsing on me - and for me, that's an achievement.

Shaped meringue in oven

In any case it needed to be shaped as a round cake to fit into a new cake carrier I have, and so it was flattened and gingerly rounded before entering a low heat oven for an hour and a half.

I seem to have issues following recipes but despite a slight hiccup in the cooking timing, upon removing the meringue after overnight cooling in the turned-off oven, it looked like a proper pavlova with a crisp outer shell, and soft, marshmallow-y insides.

Finished pavlova

However, it would need to be decorated and served up at a gathering before I could really know what the insides would be like - much more nerve-racking than normal cakes where you can just stick in a skewer.

I was supplied with thickened cream for whipping, and punnets of raspberries, blueberries, strawberries and white peaches for decorating my pavlova - that skill of which needs a little work yet.

And to the all-important fluffy centre and taste test?

Pavlova innards (all that was left at the picnic!)

Success. It was perfectly soft and fluffy within, and even a little densely so which is how I like my pav. There was a decent thickness to the crisp outside shell, which had gained just a little colour in the oven.

The soft meringue itself was sweet, but not overly so while some commented that there was no minerally flavour that sometimes comes from the eggs.

In all, a win - a great, simple recipe that with a bit of refining on my behalf will be perfect for Christmas Day.

I'd like to wish everyone a very happy, merry and stress-free Christmas - I hope it's filled with great food and booze, presents, laughter and the love of family, friends and the jolly man in red.

Food, booze and shoes received pavlova ingredients and Christmas products from Aldi Australia, with thanks to PPR.

Visiting Calabria via Casa Barilla Cooking Class

Barilla tagliatelle with fresh ricotta, asparagus, nduja and salted ricotta made at
Casa Barilla, Annandale Street, Annandale

The furthest south I went during my time in Italy was the Amalfi Coast in the Campania region, which also hosts the ancient town of Pompeii and the region’s capital, Naples.

Executive Chef Luca Ciano of Casa Barilla Cooking School

The Calabria region is further south; the toe of the boot that is the shape of Italy, if you will.

It's known for specialties like my favourite salumi, nduja Calabrian spicy salami paste and caciocavallo cheese, with a cuisine that's a blend of meat and fish offerings as is characteristic of many regions of Italy that have a sea border as well as inland areas.

Casa Barilla Cooking School, Annandale Street

While I've not been to Calabria, I got a glimpse into the food culture through a cooking class at Casa Barilla in Annandale, with thanks to a fellow blogger.

The cooking school of the Italian Barilla brand, the setup at Casa Barilla is great: parking out front, coffee and cake to start (or an Aperol spritz for those inclined at 11am) and casual yet intimate classes with Barilla Executive Chef Luca Ciano leading demonstrations and hands-on, interactive sessions.

In the cooking school kitchen

Our Calabrian cooking class featured three dishes; two that we would be making ourselves following a demonstration from Chef Ciano, who has worked in Sydney restaurants including Mosaic at The Westin and at Sheraton on the Park over the last 12 years.

He has much respect for the Sydney restaurant scene in general, but especially the high end Italian restaurants whose chefs’ portraits adorn the walls of the class kitchen. Ciano cites the lack of good mid-range dining in Sydney as one of our city's weaknesses compared to Italy.

Chef Ciano cutting dough for crostoli

As seems to be the case when cooking a three-course meal, we started with making dessert, which in this case was more of a snack or treat to have with coffee.

Crostoli or chiacchiere are fried pieces of lightly sweetened dough, dusted liberally with icing sugar. It's similar to the dough used in making cannoli shells, just shaped differently and easier for it.

There's also the savoury version gnocco fritto which I had in Bologna in the north of Italy, alongside various cured meats and cheeses.

Deep frying crostoli

With a simple recipe for dough, it was a case of bringing the ingredients together by kneading into a smooth ball, and then resting the dough in the fridge before rolling through the pasta maker later.

Chef Ciano did a quick demonstration before we returned to our kitchen stations to make our own dough.

Crostoli - traditional Easter fritters

The end result of the demonstration was pretty impressive for such a simple recipe. Crisp, golden cards of puffy pastry that crumbled on bite with a shower of icing sugar for sweetening.

Chef Ciano admits to using his chiacchiere as a base for plenty of Nutella, straight from the jar.

Deep frying croquettes

The entrée portion of the three courses was a demonstration and tasting only, which was a bit of a shame as I've never made croquettes before, despite eating plenty of the crunchy, crumbed morsels.

The eggplant "meatless meatballs" comprised roasted and mashed eggplant flesh, various cheeses including fresh mozzarella, and egg and breadcrumbs to bind the mixture. Coated in flour, egg then breadcrumbs, the croquettes were expertly shaped into cylinders (which is the part of the recipe I think I would have eggplant mash falling through my fingers).

Eggplant croquette with crisp eggplant skins and Barilla tomato and basil sauce

Deep fried until golden brown, Ciano served the croquettes on Barilla Tomato & Basil sauce, and garnished with the most fantastic, crisp threads of eggplant skin – cut off from the vegetable, dried, coated in flour and deep fried until crisp-hard.

Chef Ciano joked that Australian eateries offered freshly cracked pepper with everything, "even on your cappuccino!" as he added pepper and olive oil to finish. I can’t disagree – cracked black pepper is one of my favourite spices.

The eggplant croquettes were excellent: piping hot, stringy with cheese and enhanced with both the Barilla sauce and eggplant skins. It’s also a versatile recipe as almost any vegetable can be used (as long as it’s not too wet) and any type of meat can be added (mince, prosciutto, seafood).

Cooking in the kitchen

Mise en place

Chef Ciano adding tagliatelle to the sauce

We moved on to the main meal featuring Barilla's egg tagliatelle. Ciano shared some of Barilla's 135-year history to today's achievement of being the biggest food company in Italy.

In Australia, we have their pasta and sauces range; however, in Italy they offer much more under a variety of brands.

Barilla egg tagliatelle

It was an educational session for some when it came to cooking dried pasta. The tried and tested way is to add 7 grams of salt per litre of water for cooking pasta, adding in the pasta when the water is boiled.

Use lots of water so that the pasta won’t stick to each other, reducing the starch to water ratio. Never add oil or wash pasta after cooking (perhaps an exception for pasta salad) – both tips of which impact the starch left on pasta which helps sauces stick to the shapes.

Cooking spring onions in olive oil

For the sauce, first we cooked spring onion, garlic (as a whole clove, not chopped bits which tend to burn if added in early) and thinly sliced asparagus spears in some seriously decent extra virgin olive oil under the Academia Barilla brand.

Cooking chopped asparagus

Heating Barilla Ricotta sauce

A jar of  Barilla's Ricotta sauce with tomato was simply added and heated, ready for the addition of pasta and final ingredients.

We were using some amazing fresh ricotta and spicy nduja from Salumi Australia to stir through, simply melting into the sauce, adding flavour and texture. Indeed, the nduja was some of the spiciest I've ever had.

Adding pasta to sauce in the pan

Chef Ciano is all for mixing pasta into the sauce pre serving, and not serving the sauce as a pool atop cooked pasta (I admit to doing the latter when constrained by pan size).

Creating a pasta tower

Ciano also demonstrated the creation of a pasta tower, which I've never really seen outside of styled photographs in cookbooks and magazines.

Twirling the long pasta with a large fork in a ladle, a bit of a pasta nest forms and can be gently placed onto a plate, for garnishing with grated salted ricotta and oregano sprigs.

Tagliatelle

We lunched in the kitchen with convenient pull-out stools and a glass of Sicilian white wine; completely necessary for combating the super-spicy nduja. Our group's pasta was a tad past al dente but the sauce was definitely a saving grace: creamy, sweet with tomato and with a big spice kick from the nduja.

Wine served with lunch

Adding grappa to crostoli dough

After lunch with help clearing dishes, it was time for the fun of rolling and frying the crostoli dough we made earlier, now rested.

For those who haven't used a pasta machine before, this was a great opportunity to sample before making the very easy decision to buy one.

Chef Ciano demonstrating pasta rolling

What I learnt was to resist the urge to flour the dough unless it seems to be sticking at any point. What some of the others learnt is that the dough needs to be a certain thinness to even fit into the roller at the very first stage.

With sheets of pasta rolled, it was simply a matter of cutting them into rectangles with a pastry cutter with a slit in the middle, and getting the frying oil ready.

Deep frying crostoli

Ciano's tip for testing oil heat was to simply test a small piece of dough: if it bubbles and fizzes, the oil is ready. Burning quickly or sinking without bubbles means the oil is not ready.

I loved seeing the dough puff up with bubbles almost as soon as it hit the hot oil, with the grappa and beaten egg in the dough reacting superbly.

In cooking to a golden state, we needed to ensure that the crostoli was cooked for long enough so that it would stay crisp at a later time – an audible crunch when breaking the pastry was the indicator.

Completed crostoli

Drained on paper towels, the crostoli was dusted heavily with icing sugar and best eaten fresh, perhaps with a macchiato on the side. We ended up with so much crostoli we took about five takeaway containers' worth home.

At the end of the 2.5 hour class (which ran a little over time in our case), we received Barilla goodie bags featuring the egg tagliatelle we had used for lunch, a jar of Barilla pesto sauce, recipes incorporating Barilla products and a miniature bottle of Campari.

The classes at Casa Barilla are definitely fun and worthwhile. The kitchen setup is great, chef Ciano and his right-hand-man Angelo are infinitely entertaining and full of knowledge on Italian cuisine, and meanwhile, lunch (or dinner) is sorted.

While it could be considered easy enough to cook dried pasta with a jar of sauce, the Casa Barilla classes take basic supermarket ingredients a step further, with tips and tricks that can be used in the kitchen widely and regularly. And as for my visit to Calabrian cuisine – it was hot but I liked it.

See more photos on my Facebook page (and Like it while you're there!). Casa Barilla hosts hands-on classes, demonstrations and celebrity chef classes throughout the year, with several scheduled as part of next month’s Good Food Month – see the website for details.