Cellar Field Trip Part Two: Ramekins Culinary School

Immediately following our tour of G.B. we continue onto to Sonoma to the Ramekins Culinary School.

This trip was intended as a team building exercise where the production crew works together to make a meal for the group.  Here my bestie Mer and I are enjoying a refreshing beverage before getting down to work.

I was partnered with Alex and we were in charge of making pasta and a cake for dessert.  We made the dough from scratch and while we waited 45 minutes for it to rest we started making the cake for dessert. After 45 minutes we came back to it and started to roll it out.

Once our dough was rolled as thin as we could make it, we placed it on a Guitara and rolled it some more.  The wires separated the dough into thin strips.

This process took quite a while because we were making pasta for 16 people and it was a lot of rolling and flouring with frequent breaks to let everyone try to "play" the guitara.


On the other side of the room, team Mer and Rafa were busting out some shrimp and orzo salad.

The cellar guys look right at home in the kitchen with aprons and a glass of wine.  The program at the Culinary school prepares a menu, gathers all the ingredients, supplies the tools and facilities for cooking, as well as a cooking class but the best part was dirtying all the dishes we needed and not having to wash a single pot.  That is real luxury.

This is our Chef and guide through the experience.  Making pasta by hand is a mountain of effort and it's unlike I will tackle the endeavor again, but it was a lot of fun working with Alex and learning a new skill together.

Alex and I had time to make a buttermilk cake while we waited for our dough.  We were very proud.

Appetizers: Meatballs made by the crew with a salsa verde.

First course: Insalata Rustica.  Escarole, potatoes, bacon salami, onions.

Main Course: Fresh Linquine with a sausage, fenenel and tomato sauce.  Orzo salad with pine nuts, cherry tomatoes, shrimp and pesto.  Ricotta gnocchi with a prosciutto, parmesan and garlic cream sauce.

Dessert: Blackberry and moscato torta with chantilly cream

After 3.5 hours of food prep and cooking, we could finally enjoy all our hard work.  We had a lovely meal except for the part where everyone ate too much and felt sick all the way home to Napa.

-L