Cooking School with Loretta Paganini

OK, Ok... so this is an incredibly old post.  But it is one I have been meaning to write about but needed to get the pictures off my camera first.

Back in October, Sandy took me to my very first Hand's On cooking class at Loretta Paganini's School of Cooking.  Oh my goodness it was so much fun!!!  I loved it so much.  I could very easily see myself gong back to school one day to become a chef- very cool.  The class we were taking was A Day in the Kitchen: Pizza, Focaccia & Calzone.  This was a 4 hour class where we learned how to do everything, from making homemade dough (with and without yeast) and using it then to create a huge variety of yummy food.

Our full menu was:

• Pizza Margherita with Fresh Mozzarella, Tomato and Basil
• White Cheese Pizza
• Baker's Articoke & Roasted Red Pepper Pizza
• Rosemary Focaccia
• Focaccia di Recco
• Piedine Stuffed with Buffalo Mozzarella, Arugula & Prosciutto
• Prosciutto & Mozzarella Stuffed Calzone
• Pepperoni Rolls
• Nodini
• Antipasti Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette
• Streghe with Caponata Salad
• Sticky Buns and Steaming Cappuccino

We made pretty much everything ourself.  And what we didn't completely make we assisted Loretta Paganini with.  One of the weirdest things we did in this class though was create a Biga.  A Biga is an Italian Starter that you make with yeast, flour and water.  It is added to your dough to make the rising process go faster, therefore making it possible to make your breads, doughs, etc. faster.  The funniest thing about this is that after the class was over Loretta handed out jars for us to take our Biga home with us.  This wasn't the weird part.  The weird part is that she told us we had to feed it every 3 days or it will die.  And how you feed it isn't so important; a pinch of salt one day, a spoonfull of flour next time.  You know, whatever.  Sandy and I just looked at eachother, like... "Oh boy, here we go..."  Once we got home, for the next two weeks we would email and call eachother to compaire notes on the life of our Bigas.  Things were going pretty good and then at just about the same time they both died.  R.I.P Biga.  Don't feel bad for us though, it was inevitable.  I was hopeful at first about the project of keeping it alive.  But that tired very quickly.  It was fun while it lasted!

This was hands down one of the most fun days I have had.  It was so great being able to share this experience with Sandy.  She a veteran to Cooking School and she knew that I would love this and she was right!  Everything we made was so delicious.  By the time class was over we were all so stuffed.  But boy it was worth it!  Plus whatever we didn't eat in class we got to take home with us, so Scott and Don were excited with our class too!  Sandy, thank you so much for taking me along!

For my birthday this year, Sandy and Don got me a gift certificate to go to another one of her classes and also a cookbook of Loretta's so I can get it signed myself when I go this time.  I am so excited!  Thank you, thank you!  Receiving this gift is actually what reminded me that I never did get my first class posted online here. Please go take a look at the pictures from our day.  They are located in My Family Albums.  There are some great ones in there!