Blog: Carpe Culina Cooking Class Delights and Inspires

Stepping through the door of Ona Cavey’s Catonsville home to attend her Carpe Culina cooking class is truly a delight for the senses. 

The lovingly restored Cape Cod reveals a Mediterranean palette, while her collection of work by local artists invites you to look more closely.  Music fills the rooms, as a tantalizing aroma beckons you to Ona’s dream kitchen.  My fellow culinary travelers and I don large crisp cotton aprons as we gaze in anticipation at the charmingly set table. 

Carpe Culina, or “seize the kitchen,” is Ona Cavey doing what she does best—sharing her passion for all things food.  Her backyard boasts a bountiful herb and vegetable garden.  She knows where to buy the best, most flavorful ingredients.  She is a restaurant aficionado, preferring the small tucked-away places to those well-known.  There she will discover the exceptional dish, bring home that memory, improve upon it, and make it her own.  Tenacious and self-taught, Ona is what is known as a true “foodie.”

I chose to attend Carpe Culina’s “That’s Amore!” from the four classes Ona offered in September as I have a great fondness for Italian cuisine.  When I was growing up in a family of ten, cooking was about quantity, not quality.  As growing boys, my five brothers inhaled rather than tasted food, and my Irish father’s mainstay was boiled meat, potatoes, and vegetables.  I’ve learned a lot since those days, but I knew I’d benefit greatly from a Carpe Culina class.

Ona began class with a review of the day’s menu: antipasto, fresh semolina pasta with garden sauce, a sweet ricotta cheese tart, and a wine pairing.  Our technical instruction would consist of knife skills, mixing and handing dough, and making pasta.  My cohorts and I began by blending the cheeses, extracts, eggs, and citrus peel to make the tart’s filling.  It took all my will to keep my fingers away from the bowl; I am so enamored of cheese fillings!  Ona had already made the sweet pie crust (the class being only three hours long), so we moved quickly to the proper way to handle and line the tart pan.  Then we cut razor thin orange slices using a mandoline to embellish the top crust of the tart.

To make the garden sauce, we sautéed garlic and onions in extra virgin olive oil.  We added ripe fresh tomatoes we had seeded and peeled, along with seeded yellow and orange peppers, and fresh herbs from Ona’s garden.  The lovely mélange simmered and reduced while we mixed the semolina dough and then took turns kneading it the full nine minutes required —a task that done regularly would surely result in Michelle Obama-like arms!

We then fed small portions of dough through a special kitchen mixer attachment, time and again until they were flattened to 1/16th inch.  After allowing the sheets to dry slightly, we then passed them through a second attachment, which cut them into fettuccine.  As we left the pasta once more to dry, I realized pasta making is not for the impatient.

The antipasto came next, which means “before the meal.”  We tossed mushrooms lightly in balsamic vinaigrette then roasted them.  We made Carrots a la Franchie, a dish that combines steamed carrots, garlic, and anchovies.  Manchego cheese, Insalata Caprese (made with arugula and oregano from Ona’s garden), olives, Prosciutto and kalamata olive Crostini (made ahead by Ona) were heaped onto the platter creating an abundant, sensual display.

We feasted on antipasto while the fettuccine dried.  The mix of textures and tastes was sumptuous.  Even though I thought I did not like mushrooms or anchovies, I could not stop eating the marinated mushrooms and the Carrots a la Franchie!  The Manchego cheese is now on my must-have list, and I was certain I’d later have to nap from my indulgence.

The fettuccine now ready to cook, Ona grabbed it by the handful and dropped it into the boiling water.  It reached al dente (slightly firm) in no time, unlike the boxed variety.  The garden sauce had reduced by half; the rich red of the tomatoes, yellow and orange of the peppers, and green of the herbs made it visually beautifully. 

I had never tasted fresh fettuccine, and oh, what I had been missing!  Tender strands of semolina seemed to melt away in my mouth.  The garden sauce was bliss, so flavorful but mild.  Dave at Ellicott City’s Wine Bin had recommended Young, a crisp, sweet yet tart wine of mostly Grüner Veltliner, some Sauvignon Blanc and a little Muskateller.  It was a great match. 

Ah, but then there was dessert!  That lovely, double-crusted sweet cheese ricotta tart.  A slim layer of creamy cheese enveloped by a sweet, slightly sugared crust, featuring a hint of citrus.  Perfection is so worth the wait. 

I left Ona’s that Thursday with a bit of this and that, recipes, new friends, a bellyful, and the desire to be bold in my own kitchen.  Ona was excited about her weekend: the “test” dessert she was bringing to dinner with friends, a catering event Friday, and a chili cook-off on Saturday.   Meeting Ona and her Carpe Culina was truly a unique learning, cooking, and dining experience.

Visit Carpe Culina on Facebook, or email Ona directly at ocavey@verizon.net, to embark on your own culinary adventure.