L'atelier des Chefs

Fresh Pasta Class

So after deciding not to sign up for the certificate course at Leiths Cooking School (for various reasons) I decided to just sign up for a lot of different classes at different places...

First up, was a deal I got through Groupon at L'atelier des Chefs located near Bond Street Station at 19 Wigmore Street.  It was "Fresh Pasta" where I learned how to make fresh tagliatelle (ribbon type noodles) and ravioli.

I did no research on this place and didn't know what to expect. I get there all by my lonesome and have a seat next to a lady that only spoke Italian.  Uh oh.

Later the chef/teacher arrived and he spoke in what sounded like an Indian/Middle Eastern accent. It took me until the end of the class to really be able to fully understand what he was saying. For the first part of the class I was catching about every 4th word. Not good.

We walk into the professional kitchen (Cool!) and he split the 9 of us into 2 teams. I'm already unhappy. I am not going to have these other people with me at home when I make this so I was hoping for more of a solo experience. Oh well...had to roll with it...

He also did not provide a printed recipe/instructions so that we could read while also listening to him.  Although he was helpful the accent caused a problem.  I was put on a team of 4. Me, a New Yorker, the Italian speaking only lady, a guy who could speak Italian and English and then the Indian accent chef. All this and no printed instructions was a struggle at times, but I pulled through.

We started with the flour, eggs, oil, water/milk, dumped it into the mixer, later did some kneading on the dough which I was awful at, and then the fun began, we were broken into pairs (much better) for the pasta machine pressing fun...this was time consuming but very amazing to watch.  We made ravioli's and tagliatelle out of dough creation.

To go with the ravioli we made salmon & dill filled ravioli. I was hesitant about the salmon because its just too fishy tasting for me, but up against the dill I had no problem eating it. It was actually pretty good.  The making it process was pretty easy as well.

My first ever fresh ravioli. How cute!

When it came time for the 2 teams to make the pasta primavera things started getting hectic on the learning side... In my opinion to many "irons in the fire"... It was not a good learning environment especially when you paid to learn.  I actually only volunteered for easy tasks so that I could see what was going on at all times at all the different working stations, but even this was hard because you are constantly missing what's going on at the other station.

Salmon & Dill Ravioli

I also learned that pine nuts are not even a nut. It's a seed. All this time I've tried my best to avoid pine nut based pesto and I didn't even have too... Now I know. Thank you Chef!

I look a little crazy in this picture. Kitchen stress maybe?

My Fresh Pasta Primavera with rocket salad on top

Besides learning how to make fresh pasta what did I learn?
How to properly cut something with a knife. I have been a "bruiser" all these years, but now I'm not. Thank you Chef.
That a pine nut is not a nut at all.
That ceramic knives are fantastic to use, but make sure you only use them on their special cutting surfaces or you will ruin them. You never have to sharpen a ceramic knife.
I learned that I could stomach a salmon & dill ravioli.
I learned that I can go anywhere and do about anything by myself and have a great time.


Will I go to another class at this cooking school?
I'm not sure. It would definitely have to be on sale.
In these cases I prefer more of a solo experience since that's who I will be with at home when I'm cooking...  I feel that the 2 hour class should be more of a 2.5-3 hours class to really grasp what in the hell you are doing because the way this class was set up I felt like you needed to do some speed first to keep up. The way this class is set up, you are constantly missing things a long the way and to me that's just not a good way to learn...

At one point when we finished making and plating the ravioli (LOVED THEIR PLATES!) we had 7 minutes to eat it and get back in the kitchen. Anyone who knows me knows that I've never eaten anything in 7 minutes.

Was it a good time? Yes!
Am I glad I did it? Yes!
Am I glad that I did not pay full price for the class? Yes!
Would I take another class at this place? Maybe. Maybe not.

P.S. The chef asked me at one point if I was a "jew"... I have never been asked that before.

Cheers,
WMMc