Cooking Classes at Dave's Fresh Pasta—Eat While You Learn!

A few weeks ago I went with a couple of friends to Dave's Fresh Pasta in Davis Square for one of their cooking classes. This is definitey worth doing! We took the Gnocchi and Risotto class. Our teacher/chef, Jason, was super friendly and as we all gathered around the cooking area he made sure everyone had a glass of white wine before getting started. The ingredients were all from Dave's, down to the fiddleheads, and they were crazy fresh!

Jason explained the process of the risotto, described all the ingredients he had, and after prepping everything got some volunteers to assist in making three different types of risotto. There was a fiddlehead, roasted eggplant, and mushroom risotto; a super cheesy and saffron risotto; and a fontina and tomato risotto. I loved when Jason put the eggplant directly on the stove flame- it scented the entire room and definitely got our taste buds ready. This brought us to the best part ... getting to eat! There was plenty for everyone—even enough for seconds—which we all totally went for. It was hard to pick a favorite, they were all so delicious, but the cheesy saffron was definitely at the top of my list!

After the risotto we got to taste a red wine as we moved on to the gnocchis. We were taught a recipe for a ricotta-based gnocchi as potato ones are much more complicated and the ricotta-based recipe is great for beginners. This particular recipe incorporated spinach and was topped with a brown butter sauce ... I can taste them now! Sooo good! And they were definitely simple and relatively fool-proof. The fun part was watching all the volunteers get in there and roll dough and cut off little pieces to make the gnocchi. Of course, again the best part was getting to eat!

We sampled one more wine, a red prosecco, which was a great way to finish off the evening. We even got an impromptu recipe on fried chicken! All and all it was a great way to spend an evening. The classes run around $50 and fill up quickly. If you go to a class, get there a little early so that you can wander around the market and see (and possibly buy) all the fresh produce, homemade fresh pastas, sauces, and cheeses. There's so much in there that looked so good! The classes are over for the summer, which makes sense as they are taught in the kitchen and it gets wicked hot in there! But classes will be starting up in the fall, so keep an eye out. Plus they also do private classes and wine tastings in your home. All fun ideas for celebrations, holidays, of just because! If you're looking for something to do with your gals, want a fun bday celebration with your significant other, or have family visiting, this is a great activity and you walk away full of great food and some recipes to try out at home.