I learned to make pasta in Florence, Italy. True story. I spent a month taking a class on traditional Italian cooking this September at GiglioCooking School, under the guidance of the schools founder and main teacher, the wonderful Marcella. I gained 5 pounds and some serious culinary skills.
I found a passion there on Via del Ghirlandaio, and that is making fresh pasta. Mixing the egg into the flour, patiently waiting for it to become a sticky blob and then folding the dough onto and into itself until you have the most lovely dough with a slight yellow tint. Honestly this is the closest I have found to being able to meditate. Rolling out the dough is just as wonderful, slowly feeding this dense dough through a roller, getting it to the perfect thin width… like I said, meditation.
I made tortellini a few days ago to try out the pasta roller my mother purchased for me as an early birthday/Christmas gift (December babies!) and they came out great. I filled them with a simple stuffing of Ricotta, Parmesan, olive oil and nutmeg, then boiled them until they floated to the top. Topped off with some brown butter and fried sage, it really was the perfect lunch.
No Real Job 