Cookery Class at MezzaLuna

As a long term lover of Italian food I was delighted to accept an invitation from the Intercontinental Hotel to join them for a morning's cooking at MezzaLuna which is located in the Residence at Festival City.

The restaurant is located on the ground floor of the residence and serves meals to both residents and guests, from breakfast through to dinner. Chef Marco presides over the kitchen and with a name like that you will be pleased to hear he has the authentic Italian accent!

We were asked to arrive for a 1000 start and what a start…. A large selection of breakfast items was our introduction to the day and although I resisted temptation, as I had already had breakfast, it all looked very good.

Chef Marco ushered us through the service doors to the magic that hides behind - the kitchen where we were all given wonderful large white aprons, less fetching Chef’s hats and a folder with the recipes for the day. We were going to learn how to make pasta (of course!), two starters, a main and dessert, all within three and a half hours.

There were nine of us on the course, eight ladies and one gentleman and over the course of the morning we all had the opportunity to chat and learn more about each other as well as the food.

First up was dessert as we were making Lemon Pannacotta with passion fruit and blueberry sauce which needed more time to set than our others dishes. The Pannacotta itself was relatively easy to make but intrigued some of the group who had not worked with gelatine sheets before. Chef Marco explained how adding lemon rind to the cream mixture whilst it was cooking was the perfect way to add slight flavour without it becoming too much and soon the mixture was being strained into moulds ready for the fridge.

The pasta was next and I was fairly horrified at the amount of eggs that go into fresh pasta, I had always thought it was very healthy but am now not so sure! But, it proves the old saying if you want something to taste good, it has to have some form of fat in it and I would rather eat less of something flavoursome than lots of something that tastes flat.

Marco had great fun showing us how to make various shapes and styles of pasta including ravioli, orchietti, fettucine and tri colour shapes.

Given our dish for the day was Linguine All’Astice we then leant how to cut a lobster in two and prepare the meat for the sauce, not for the squeamish I might add! But really interesting to know how. The sauce was prepared with white wine, garlic and tomatoes and was delicious.

One of the two starters was Pitta di Patate rustica (a potato pie); it was made from that wonderful combination of peppers, parsley, anchovy, olives, tomato sauce and the magic touch wild fennel leaves. The smell was divine. This mixture was sandwiched between potato mashed with parmesan and eggs and the finished dish would have been a perfect main with a good salad or great lunch box food.

Carpaccio alla Cipriani completed the entrees and I have to admit I wasn’t too involved at this stage as I am a non meat eater and the prospect of slicing raw beef was too much. But, those that did get involved said the dish was not only easy to prepare but absolutely delicious.

And, finally we prepared the main course, Filetto di Capriolo di Pian Castagnaio which was Venison Loin marindaed in Nero D’Avola Wine, juniper berries, rosemary, sage and pepper and then seared on a high heat and served with chestnut and potato mash and some of the delicious juices.

Marco was a delightful teacher and we were kept busy throughout the morning. At two we were invited up to eat lunch on the 17th floor where our attempts were accompanied by some beautiful beverage choices, chosen with care to reflect the food on offer.

As a departing gift we were each given a certificate and some wonderful goodies including olive oil, balsamic vinegar, tapenade and Arborio rice to name but a few. The morning was not only informative but also great fun as the other attendees were all very interesting and lunch was a noisy affair!

If you are looking for something different to do one weekend then I would strongly recommend you book yourself and a friend in for one of Marco’s mornings.

MezzaLuna
Lobby Level
Intercontinental Residence & Suites
Tel: +971 4 701 1128
Email: restaurant.reservation@ichdfc.ae
Website: www.mezzaluna