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Health & Fitness

Cooking Classes: Where and When

Cooking classes are becoming a hot topic. Many will be coming in the fall. 

If you can't wait, here are some classes available in the near future, ranging from one-meal classes at local French, Italian and Moroccan restaurants to an adventure-packed all-day cooking excursion in Italy. 

Highlights for these programs follow:

June 11, 2013. "Authentic" Italian cuisine at Lanterna Tuscan Bistro

Chef/owner Rossano Giannini will demonstrate how to prepare authentic italian cuisine in this special "Taste Of Italy" event; the dinner will include wine paired with each dish.

The menu for this evening event follows:
• Fresh mozzarella
• Fresh pastas: ravoli and gnocchi 
• Dessert: tiramisu • Italian wine paired to each dish

Giannini founded the Federation of Italian Chefs of America in October, 2000 and served as its first president. The organization became an affiliate of the International Federazione Italiana Cuochi, formed in 1960 to preserve and promote the authentic cooking of Italian food worldwide.

The cost of $75 per person for this June 11 event includes wine, tax and tip.

June 12, 2013. Pan-seared sea scallops at La Panetière

Cooking lessons are held monthly at Jacques Loupiac's La Panetière in Rye.  At the next class, visiting chef Mark Filipo will explain, step by step, how to prepare pan-seared sea scallops with summer corn and edamame salad and gazpacho vinaigrette. 

For an appetizer, registrants have a choice of asparagus with mousseline sauce or a Swiss cheese soufflé.  A pistachio strawberry bavarois bar with poached rhubarb will be served as dessert.

The class is scheduled for Wednesday, June 12, beginning at 11:30 a.m.

Filipo's demonstration, to take place in the Greenhouse private dining room, will be followed by a three-course luncheon with the sea scallops served as the main course. The cost is $40 per person plus beverages, tax and gratuities. www.lapanetiere.com
  
July 1, 2013. B'Steeya, a Moroccan specialty, at Zitoune

Chef/owner Alain Bennouna has been conducting cooking classes at Zitoune in Mamaroneck for more than six years. 

In his next class, scheduled for Monday, July 1 at 7 p.m., he will cover how to prepare b'Steeya, a traditional Moroccan dish.

At a typical class, students spend about two hours in the kitchen with the chef preparing a three-course Moroccan meal. The group sits down for dinner around 9 p.m. The cost is $65 per person plus beverages and tax.

The menu for the July 1 class is: 
• Appetizer: Lentil/avocado salad
• Main courses: Seafood b'Steeya and vegetable b'Steeya 
• Dessert: Lemon raibi (Moroccan yogurt)

Bennouna also organizes trips to Morocco including a seven-day, six-night Marrakech Culinary Tour with meals at local restaurants, two cooking lessons, visits to local marketplaces and sightseeing in and around Marrakech. Tour members participate in the preparation of an authentic Moroccan dinner using ingredients purchased the same morning at the market. More information is available at cynabvoyages.com and at www.zitounerestaurant.com 

Bologna to Venice, a one-day culinary adventure during July

Conducted by the Culinary Institute of Bologna (CIBO), this culinary adventure is available on Tuesdays through Fridays during the month of July, 2013. It was co-developed by Tarrytown resident Marv Alpert and Italian chef and CIBO director Stefano Corvucci.

It begins with the participants departing Bologna at 7:30 a.m. and arriving in Venice by 9 a.m. They travel to the Rialto seafood market by boat, select ingredients for lunch and prepare a seafood meal (cooking lesson number one) in the restored, four-century-old kitchen of the Venetian Rowing Society. 

Following lunch, the participants return to Bologna and prepare and cook dinner (cooking lesson number two) under the guidance of an English-speaking instructor at Trattoria Del Rosso, a restaurant operated under the same name and at the same location for over 140 years. 

Using a 38” mattarello (rolling pin) they transform"00" flour and eggs into flavorful Bolognese dishes such as tortelloni and/or lasagna with Bolognese Ragu. Lunch and dinner are accompanied by unlimited regional wines (participants are asked to drink responsibly). Enrollment is limited to a minimum of two and a maximum of four people per day. The cost per person is 495 euros. For more information, go towww.cookingclassesinbologna.com

Lanterna Tuscan Bistro is at 3 South Broadway, Nyack, 845-353-8361, www.lanternausa.com

La Panetière is at 530 Milton Road, Rye, 914-967-8140,www.lapanetiere.com

Zitoune is located at 1127 West Boston Post Road, Mamaroneck, 914-835-8350, www.zitounerestaurant.com 

The Culinary Institute of Bologna is located at Via Augusto Righi 30 in Bologna, Italy, www.cookingclassesinbologna.com

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