We went for a drive, and learned how to make pasta
On the weekend, Martha and I drove to Cape Broyle — about an hour south of St. John’s — and spent an afternoon learning how to make pasta. It was one of the best things we’ve done together in quite a while.
The pasta course is one of the things that The Cape has been offering as it gets ready to open its high-end cabins this summer. The cabins look to be pretty luxe, and I take it are aimed at tourists from away (hey, Ontario) who are looking for a cosy-rustic experience while scooting around St. John’s and eastern Newfoundland.
In the meantime, the main building on the resort is finished — it’s called the Greene’s House, in recognition of the family that used to own the land — and the company has been using for special events, and cookery classes.
The chef, Alex Blagdon, learned how to make pasta when she worked in Italy, and she knocked it out at Merchant Tavern here in St. John’s and elsewhere. She set the tone with humour and smiles, a playlist that featured a lot of Fleetwood Mac (and a little Talking Heads), and a stunning view of Cape Broyle’s expansive harbour. As if on cue, the fog rolled in at one point, as if it was part of the show.
There were six of us gathered around a long table (and a satellite work station) with Alex, with assistance from Dave, one of the owners. We each had a hand-cranked metal pasta machine, and Alex walked us through the techniques to make linguine and, with spinach-infused dough, bowties.
It’s all simple enough: a heaping cup of flour, a full egg and then four egg yolks.
I learned my oversized hands are quite good for some things (kneading dough) and, um, not so good for others. With my big clumsy fingers, I just could not get the hang of making the delicate little bowties that the others were knocking out.
I focused on the win: within minutes, I had turned raw ingredients into a smooth sheet of pliable, lovely pasta, getting better with each pass through the machine. It’s nice to be good at at least one thing!
Along the way, Alex regaled us with stories, asked questions, glided over to each person for a correction or tutorial, and all the while made the series of pasta dishes we ate at the end of the afternoon. Were they ever good!
We also left with enough pasta that the two of us made for at least four meals for the both of us. We made an alfredo later, used some of Alex’s tips (she sent us complete recipes for everything we did), and had a true midweek feast.
A reward for surviving winter
In the winter, when the full force of snowfalls felt relentless and I wondered if they might ever stop, I signed up for this course. A dream of spring to tide us over, a bit of a splurge to lighten the spirits.
The course was not cheap, but it turned out to be money well spent. We had a wonderful afternoon that transported us to a lighter, happier place.
It was a splendid afternoon. And, yup, I expect we’ll be making fresh pasta again and again.
After the course, we bought a pastry roller (all the better to cut through sheets of pasta) and a bit of hardware to crank out the sheets at home.
