I recently received a call from pastry chef Moshe Galperin, who asked me if I was interested in hosting one of his pasta-making Zoom workshops in my very own kitchen.
By PASCALE PEREZ-RUBINPascale Perez-Rubin with pastry chef Moshe Galperin(photo credit: PASCALE PEREZ-RUBIN)
In recent years, many chefs have begun holding cooking classes in their private home kitchens, which are oftentimes outfitted with lots of sophisticated appliances and gadgets. These classes are usually pretty small, with six to 10 participants, so that everyone enjoys personal attention from the workshop leader while preparing dishes.I continuously receive invitations to attend such events, and every once in a while, when my curiosity is piqued, I accept the invitation.Nowadays, due to health restrictions, these classes have moved into the virtual realm and are held on Zoom and other videoconferencing platforms. These workshops have become a popular way to hold birthday parties and celebrate other social occasions or to enhance team-building.Learn more about Pascale's Kitchen here >>I recently received a call from pastry chef Moshe Galperin, who asked me if I was interested in hosting one of his pasta-making Zoom workshops in my very own kitchen. Of course, I immediately agreed!And so the following week, he showed up at my house, his arms laden with packages of flour, vegetables and other exciting ingredients he uses to make colorful pastas. Galperin regaled me with stories about how he fell in love with Italian cuisine one day as he watched his mother making homemade pizza.One of his first jobs was making pizza at a bowling alley in Haifa when he was just a teenager. From there, he went on to study to become a pastry chef at Dan Gourmet Culinary Studies Institute in Haifa, where he learned that working as a pastry chef requires precision, alertness and creativity.While studying at the institute, he worked as a chef at an Italian restaurant where he learned many tricks of the trade.Not long after, his curiosity got the best of him, and he set off to the US, where he worked in a number of different restaurants and continued with his on-the-job training.Upon his return to Israel, Galperin began offering colorful pasta-making workshops in which participants learn how to add herbs, spices and cooked vegetable purees to pasta to infuse them with gorgeous colors and tantalizing flavors.For example, green pasta can be made with basil, purple pasta with beets, yellow pasta with saffron or turmeric, red pasta with tomatoes, and brown pasta with cocoa powder.How do you make colored pasta?By adding colored mixtures during the kneading stage.To make yellow pasta, add turmeric.For red/orange pasta, add paprika and turmeric.For orange pasta, add carrot puree.For purple pasta, add beet puree.For green pasta, add parsley or spinach.For brown pasta, reduce the amount of flour by 10% and add quality cocoa powder in its place.How to make vegetable puree:For orange pasta, peel 4 large carrots. Cut them into large pieces and then shred in a food processor. Add a tiny bit of water during the processing and mix until smooth. You can freeze any leftover carrot mixture.For purple pasta, bake 4 large beets in an oven that has been preheated to 190° for 1 hour, until they’ve completely softened. Peel them and process them in a food processor with a little water.For green pasta, process 3 or 4 bunches of parsley with a little water. Alternatively, you could use blanched and processed spinach.Multicolored farfalle with sardines (Pascale Perez-Rubin)FARFALLE WITH SARDINESMakes 4 servings.Dough for each color (there should always be the same amount of yellow dough as all the other colored dough combined):50 gr. water to mix spices1 tsp. olive oil100 gr. semolina flour made from durum wheat, siftedPinch of salt50 gr. colorful mixture (for red, use cooked beets; for green, parsley or spinach, blanched and squeezed; for yellow, turmeric; for orange, carrot or turmeric and paprika)Salad:400 gr. fresh lettuce hearts2 red peppers, cut into strips (can be roasted or lightly fried in olive oil, salt and pepper)2 yellow peppers, cut into strips (can be roasted or lightly fried in olive oil, salt and pepper)8 cherry tomatoes (any color), halved1 can (150 gr.) sardines in oil, drained and torn into piecesSalad dressing:6 Tbsp. olive oilJuice from 1 medium lemon2 cloves of garlic, crushed2 tsp. Dijon mustard4 Tbsp. Parmesan or pecorino cheese½ tsp. salt½ tsp. pepperTo prepare the dough, add the water and oil to a bowl and mix. In a separate bowl, mix the flour with the salt and then add the water/oil mixture to the flour and also the colorful mixture. Knead well. Prepare all four colors in the same fashion. Wrap the dough balls with plastic wrap and let them sit for 10 minutes.Flour your work surface and flatten each ball. Then flatten even more with a pasta maker starting with No. 5 and then each time going down a number until you reach No. 1. (Except that in some machines, the numbers go in the opposite direction. In short, you want to go from thick to thin.)Start with the yellow dough. Place it on your work surface and brush it with a little water. Cut the rest of the dough sheets into 1-cm. strips. On top of the yellow layer, arrange all the colored strips of the three colors so they cover the entire yellow layer and are touching each other tightly.It’s important that you make sure the strips are sticking together properly. Lightly flour the dough on both sides and put it through the pasta machine again. This will help the different colored strips combine with each other, forming colorful stripes.Place the mixed color sheet of pasta dough on your work surface and cut into 3 cm. X 3 cm. squares with a serrated knife (which helps form the ruffled edges). Use your thumb and forefinger to pinch the middle section together to form a bow tie or butterfly shape. Prepare the rest of the farfalle pieces in the same way. Place pieces on a floured surface to dry for a few minutes.Boil water in a large pot with some salt. Add the bow tie pasta pieces. Cook for 2 minutes. When the pasta is done, transfer to a bowl of ice water. After it has cooled, place in a large bowl and mix with a little olive oil so the pieces don’t stick to each other.To prepare the salad, add the lettuce pieces, pour a little salad dressing on top and season with salt and pepper. Top with fresh or fried strips of red and yellow peppers. Next, add the pasta pieces and then on top the sardines. Pour the rest of the salad dressing on top.Level of difficulty: Medium.Time: 120 minutes.Status: Dairy.Multicolored tortellini with cream and za'atar (Pascale Perez-Rubin)TORTELLINI WITH CREAM AND ZA’ATARPurple dough:1 Tbsp. olive oil100 gr. mashed cooked beets½ tsp. salt200 gr. semolina flour made from durum wheat, siftedYellow dough:1 Tbsp. olive oil100 gr. water200 gr. semolina flour made from durum wheat, sifted½ tsp. salt½ tsp. turmericFilling:400 gr. cream cheese 30%50 gr. za’atarSalt and pepper, to tasteSauce:500 gr. coconut cream (17% fat or higher)½ tsp. salt½ tsp. pepper1 Tbsp. yellow curry powderTo prepare the purple dough, add the oil and beets to a bowl and mix. Add the flour and salt and mix well.To prepare the yellow dough, mix the oil together with the water. Add the flour, salt and turmeric and knead until well mixed.Cover both balls with plastic wrap and let sit for 10 minutes.To prepare the tortellini, flour your work surface and flatten both balls. Flatten both using a pasta maker on level 4. Flour the sheet of purple dough and cut into 1-cm. strips. Place the yellow dough on your work surface and brush with a little water. Add the purple strips, leaving 1 cm. between each strip so that the end product will be yellow and purple stripes. Pass the pasta sheet through the pasta maker one more time on level 4.To prepare the filling, mix the cream cheese with the za’atar and then add it to a pastry bag.Place the sheet of pasta on your work surface and cut with a serrated knife into 4 cm. X 4 cm. squares. Cut off the end of the pastry bag and add a little filling to the center of each square. (If you don’t have a pastry bag, use a teaspoon.) Add a tiny bit of water to the edges and then fold over to form a triangle and press to seal. Then, take the triangle in your hand and connect two of the corners by pinching together. Prepare all of the tortellini in the same fashion.To prepare the sauce, pour the coconut cream into a pot and bring to a boil. Add the spices and lower the flame. Let the sauce reduce for 5-7 minutes.Cook the tortellini in boiling water for 2 minutes or until they begin to float. Transfer them to the pot of sauce. Add a little of the pasta water to the coconut cream. Continue cooking the tortellini in the sauce for another 2 minutes. Transfer to a serving dish, sprinkle grated Parmesan on top and serve.Level of difficulty: Medium.Time: 120 minutes.Status: Dairy.Translated by Hannah Hochner.
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