On Saturday night, I attended a BiteUnite cooking class. This was an experience like no other! We cooked and ate a delicious meal alongside other attendees with Chef Lyuba instructing us every step of the way. We came out of this class with extremely satiated bellies, and knowing how to make fresh pasta, homemade pesto sauce, bruschetta with various toppings, and even how to flambée!
When we entered the Bite Unite space on the LES of Manhattan, we were greeted by Chef Lyuba, and two other attendees. Chef made us Bellini’s with a fresh strawberry garnish as a welcome drink, and let us know what we would be making that evening.
We started by making the dough for our fresh pasta! Combining flour and eggs to make the dough. We kneaded the dough by hand until it was ready to put through the pasta machine to get thin enough for a Tagliatelle style shape. We also made Pesto sauce by cutting up garlic, ripping Basil leaves off of a fresh Basil plant, tossing in toasted Pine nuts, and mixing all together in a mortar and pestle. Once the ingredients mixed together into a thick paste, Chef added olive oil and Parmigiano Reggiano to bring our Pesto sauce together.
While we were putting the pasta dough into the machine, Chef Lyuba showed us how to press Basil leaves into the pasta for a cool design!
we used the traditional Chitarra past cutter to cut our pasta dough into Tagliatelle sized pieces after it was rolled through the pasta machine.
Next, we hung our pasta to be dried! We cut up and sauteed mushrooms, chopped up some tomatoes with garlic, and used some pesto sauce to create three variations of bruschetta. Chef toasted up some bread for us, and we each made our own delicious Bruschetta.
by the time we ate a few pieces of Bruchetta, Chef Lyuba had boiled our fresh pasta and combined with our Pesto sauce, as well as her own Bolognese that was prepaid ahead of time. We sat down to eat both delicious pastas- they were SO good! And somehow even tastier knowing we had put in the work to make the dough, Pesto, and Bruschetta!
After we ate as much pasta as our stomachs could fit, Chef Lyuba showed us how to flambée! Flambée is when a dish is covered with an alcohol or liquor and set aflame, delivering an extra level of flavor to the dish. Chef flambéed strawberries for us, and served them with cream for a sweet dessert.
We ended our evening toasting to Chef Lyuba, to BiteUnite, and to delicious food! We loved getting to participate and learn about pasta. I highly recommend to try this as a date night, a get together with friends, or as fun experience with your family! BiteUnite classes are global, and you can take classes in cities San Francisco, Hong Kong, Boston, Phuket, New Delhi (just to name a few!) and learn to make Sushi, Dumplings, Thai food, or pasta like us! Find out more about BiteUnite, and book your class here!
