Naples - South Italy's Best Kept Secret | Sat Jan 23

About this experience

Naples is one of the oldest cities in Europe. It's hard to exaggerate the city's importance in Italian cooking. Yet it rarely gets the credit it deserves!

Take tomato sauce, for example. Can you imagine pasta without it!? Yet Italians ate their pasta in bianca for centuries, until Neapolitan cooks took a new vegetable brought to Europe from the America's and turned it into tomato sugo - which became the quintessential pasta sauce. 

Then there's ragù, which came the French dish, ragout. In Naples this traditional stew was tranformed into a two course meal: various cuts of meat were slowly cooked in abundant sauce and served as a main dish, with homemade pasta tossed in the meat sauce as a first course. Often called "Sunday Sauce" here in North America, this day-long process became one of the most important family rituals in Southern Italian culture. 

And let's not forget pizza - arguably the most popular Italian dish! Pizza was the street food of Naples for centuries before it started to spread across Italy and beyond in the 1950s, eventually becoming one of the world's most beloved foods!

And that’s just scratching the surface! There are many more famous dishes (like puttanesca or sfogliatelle) and hidden gems (like lagane e ceci and mozzarella in carrozza) that make Naples one the finest places to eat in all of Italy. 

 

ABOUT TONIGHT'S CLASS 

If you know anything about Chef Bruno di Sarno, you know he's a proud Neapolitan who loves sharing his knowledge and passion for his home town. Tonight he'll guide us through the kind of multi course meal his family would enjoy on holidays and Sundays when he was growing up in Naples. It features delicious, hearty, lesser known classics like pizza fritta, pasta e patate and polpettone, and a decadent almond partait with caramel for dessert. 

When were' done cooking, guests will be seated at a long harvest table to enjoy the fruits for their labour. 

 

MENU 

Antipasto

Pizza montanara - Pizza fritta (fried pizza) topped with tomato, fresh ricotta and basil  

Primo  

Pasta e patate - A neapolitan classic - pasta with potatoes, smoked scamorza, and (optional) crispy pancetta 

Secondo e contorni 

Polpettone - Neapolitan-style meatloaf, stuffed with provolone, prosciutto cotto, and eggs, baked in tomato sauce 
Melanzane a scarpone - Stuffed eggplant, with capers, olives, tomato, anchovies and herbs  
Scarole alla partenopea - Escarole braised with pine nuts, raisins and olives  

Dolce 

Il parfait alle mandorle + caramello - Almond parfait with caramel 

 

BEVERAGES 

A selection of wines, beers and soft drinks will be available for purchase at the event. Our wine list can be viewed here: https://cucinato.ca/collections/wines

We also offer corkage, the fee is $15 per bottle. 

 

TERMS & CONDITIONS 

• No refunds after purchase
• Exchanges (one per ticket) permitted up to 5 days prior to the event.
• Tickets to Cucinato events are transferable - you can give them to someone else if you can’t attend (but please notify Cucinato in advance!)
• We will do our best to accommodate dietary needs – please contact us before booking