We were lucky enough to be the first to experience the new Radford Community Kitchen at Exeter Community Centre on Saturday 12th February.
Valentina Todino from the Italian Cultural Association Exeter with her sous chef Ivan Cipriani ran through some Italian staples that were truly delightful. If we could bottle the smell that filled the kitchen, we would have.
First up was making fresh pasta, which you can freeze if you make in a batch, and then the puttanescsa sauce. We all learnt a valuable tip of adding capers that come in salt rather than brine, although these can be hard to come by (let us know if you spot them anywhere!). Following that came sautéing purple sprouting broccoli for bruschetta bread. For pudding, torta biscotti e crema pasticciera with Marsala wine (biscuits and Italian ‘custard cream’ cake), aka. Torta Della Nonna (Grandma’s Cake).
What is fantastic about Italian cuisine is that everyone has their own spin and concoct different versions to taste. It is a very freeing form of cooking, although everyone will have their own idea of what the right way is.
We are looking forward to hosting more of these Italian Cooking Workshops at the fabulous Radford Community Kitchen. Make sure to follow the Italian Cultural Association or sign up to our ECT newsletter today to be the first to know about our next sessions. Until then, happy cooking and even happier eating!
