Still in Italy, Still Eating Pasta.

We have a few more days here in Sicily and after a few weeks, the pasta still keeps coming, and I’m still happy to see it.

“You know what I feel like for supper?” I said to Drew (Dolores Taranto’s husband) at dinner last night. “Pasta.”.

And we laughed. Because no matter how much we eat it, the opportunities for greatness are vast and limitless. And so we keep dishing up more, seeking greatness and pleasure again and again.

On top of eating a lot of pasta these last few weeks, I’ve also had a lot of conversations about pasta. These conversations have ranged from the egg-heavy, soft-wheat pastas made further up North to the semolina, hard-wheat and water pastas that rule the South. (There’s also many hybrid doughs sandwiched in the middle, but perhaps that’s a story for another day.) I’ve even had conversations about *gasp* gluten free pastas and what makes a good one (corn? rice? chickpea? lentil?).

Don’t worry. I think I’ve figured it out.

I’ve not completed my work here in Italy - I’m taking every single hour to consume as much food and inspiration as humanly possible.

I keep asking myself the same question: How does the homemaker bring these incredible elements of imperfect beauty, of shared joy, and of nourishing fellowship into her own kitchen?

Italy is beautiful and powerful, but at the end of the day, many of us are in our own kitchens, cooking our own ingredients, for those around our own tables. In light of this, my hope is to distill the magic of this place into a form that is applicable to those of you like me who find themselves dishing up meal after meal, washing up dish after dish, and serving up to those in our homes without ceasing.

What a beautiful, incredible challenge.

A massive part of what I hope to do is inspire homemakers, homesteaders, homecooks out there like me to keep going. To shout as loud as I can from the back of the room:

THE WORK YOU DO IN YOUR HOME HAS VALUE!

THE MEALS YOU MAKE MATTER!

THE FOOD YOU PREPARE IS A HERITAGE AND A GIFT TO THOSE AT YOUR TABLE!

And what a gift it is to share.

I’ll be leaving Italy with no less than a few dozen new recipes - scribbled on napkins and receipts and wadded up notebook paper - that I’m very eager to share. Not because they’re overly impressive or complicated, but because they’re foods of comfort, of fellowship, of the family table, and of simple perfection.

Now would be a great time to join The Elliott Homestead Cooking Community as many of these recipes will be held exclusively for our wonderful group of homecooks there.

Alternatively, a few of these will trickle out to YouTube and the blog, respectfully.

And lastly (but certainly not least), though our pasta workshop at the end of the month is sold out, we’ve had enough interest in putting another one on the books before the holiday season that we’ve gone ahead and added another Homemade Pasta Workshop in October as well. Here are the details:

Homemade Pasta Workshop

• $275/participant ($300 for those of you outside of the United States to cover shipping)

• Friday, October 21st

• 10:00am - 2:00pm PST

• Meeting held via private ZOOM

• Includes printed workbook, recipes, detailed instructions, shopping lists, prep instructions, signed copy of Family Table cookbook, apron, and four hours of instruction.

Workshops are limited to 20 people to keep them intimate and educational.

If you’d like to join me in making homemade pasta, payments can be made via PayPal to shaye@theelliotthomestead.com or VENMO to @shaye-elliott-2 on a first come, first served basis. Because these workshops max out at 20 spots, I expect this pasta one to fill very quickly. Please include shipping and email address in payment details.

If you’d like to join another workshop, we have a Holiday Gathering Workshop on the books as well: November 11th, 9:00am – 1:00pm PST.

If you’d like to get a head start on making home pasta pasta, I taught a free class online a few weeks ago. You can view that in its entirety here.

I’m very much looking to joining you at your table through these wonderful recipes and instructional time together. May your table be blessed, my friends.

Salute,

Shaye