For the last three weeks I have been taking Italian cooking classes at a restaurant a little over a block from our condo.  I am still amazed whenever I process that sentence — I have never lived somewhere with a good restaurant only a block away (let alone the 20 or so we now have), and certainly not one that would give excellent cooking lessons.  Three weeks for $80 including all materials, and a dinner to take home each time.

L’aperitivo is a relatively new restaurant, only open for the past six months.  It is on Benigno Malo, just a couple doors downhill from Calle Larga in Centro portion of Cuenca.  Rafaela is the owner, chef, and sometimes pastry instructor.  She speaks English quite well, and tells stories of her parents and their olive oil presses, as she reaches under the counter and brings up a 2 liter coke bottle filled with olive oil from her father’s press and lets you sample it.

The first week we made Pizza Margherita, which is a simple pizza with dough (made from scratch, of course), mozzarella cheese, tomato, and basil — giving the red, green and white of the Italian flag.  The second week, we made fresh lasagna, fettuccine,  and spaghetti.  The final week, we made an Italian dessert, shown above, and which I must admit I forgot the name of…  I plan on dropping by next week and getting that name written down, as the Italian name just didn’t stick in my mind as I had hoped.

Note that all this was being taught to a gringo that had never used yeast before, and normally only used the oven for a final crisping touch after slow cooking ribs (recipe coming soon — just realized now that I haven’t written it up yet).  After Only Three Lessons (!), I am now an accomplished Italian pasta chef! 🙂