After our long day walking around the City of Florence (link) it was time for our first cooking class with our personal chef Ilaria Ricci… as we entered her place, which is basically her own house (she is a freelancer chef) I could not help but click away pics of her beautiful home!

And a table she set for us with the plates, silverware, and refreshments

She handed us marks to place on our glasses to avoid mix-up! Mine is the red devil LOL

And there she is… the amazing Chef, Ms. Ilaria Ricci in her kitchen

The first cooking class recipe sheet; Spinach Ravioli with Purple Potato Cream + Lamb Ribs in Herbs Crust and Endive Saute + Genoise Sponge Cake, mousseline cream and Strawberries

As everyone was getting prepped and ready… I snapped some more photos, this time in her kitchen… which I also loved very very much!

Coca Cola Bottles.. the one on the right is with Arabic writing!

Different magnets on her kitchen door… that leads to the garden area outside… let’s go out, shall we?

Check out her bonsai tree in the garden, and in the background… check out the herbs that she use in cooking! So fresh!!! So nice! I loved it

Outdoor basin… love the rusty look!

and a mini pool 😉

Isn’t amazing! Don’t you like it? Or am I exaggerating?

Okay… enough! Lets go back in the kitchen for our first cooking lesson

I wont be posting the recipe/method here because it will take me forever! I will be posting pictures which will do the talk for me. Recipe/method with be posted once I try to make’em myself 😉 So stay tuned for that 😉 So now to begin with, fresh egg pasta to make the raviolis!

Taking notes….

The dough is ready to roll!!!

Pasta sheets… ready to be filled in 😉

And they will be filled in with spinach and ricotta cheese mix 😉

Some fresh Parmesan cheese too for garnish 😉

Ilaria mixing it all up now

Preparing the pasta sheets

Filling them with spinach mix

Tuck, cover, and press the edges

Cut them into rounds

Tease the ends into fancy ruffled edge!

Aaaand cook them up!!!

Now for the purple potato cream we need purple potatoes… which Ilaria explained are not easy to find! She had them shipped from France! They pretty much taste the same as regular potato – a bit more nutty in flavor -at least to me- (and I tried them in a chips bag from Dean & Deluca once)

How funky!

All creamed up for us 😀 Looks good… no?

And the end result…. Ravioli stuffed with spinach ricotta mix, floating on creamy purple potato cream and topped with freshly grated Parmesan cheese <3

I loved this dish to bits!!! Everything about it was perfection! The ingredients complimented each other so well! The taste was fresh and out of this world!

Moving on to the next item, the lamb ribs!!!

With sauteed endives!

She got the herbs fresh out of her garden (with her amazing assistant Ana) to prepare the crust for the ribs

She mashed them up with butter

Spread the mix on a parchment paper and refrigerated it while she prepares the ribs

Fried them with olive oil (but did not fully cook’em)

Got them on a baking tray, topped them with squares of her herb/butter mix

And bread crumbs… all ready to go in the oven

And thats how it looks after the oven, ready to be attacked by us!!! YUMMMM

Here is Just Noon snapping a picture of this masterpiece (You can read about it also on her blog if you click here)

Now on the plates – then our tummies 😉 Very tender… full of flavor and juices! It was delicious – though I do not like endives much, but it worked pretty well with this dish

Dessert anyone???

Here is Ilaria preparing the Genoise Sponge Cake for us… with mousseline cream filling and fresh strawberries

Lets bake it now baby….

And voila….

Cut in half to be filled in with YUMMIES

I dont like cakes much…. as a matter of fact, I do not like desserts much! But going through this with the whole process and those fresh vibrant red strawberry I had to have a slice of it

Powdered sugar topped…. snowing 😀

I asked her for the smallest slice available…. and her it is, a beauty! Light cake and rich filling

Ilaria gave me few fresh strawberries to munch on after I ate my slice!

Cooking Class I was a total success! Everyone was happy and impressed by Ilaria and her magical chef touches!