We all have things that we are good at, and I will be the first to admit that cooking is not one of my strengths. Luckily I am married to someone who knows his way around the kitchen and is pretty good at creating tasty dishes! Although my husband is already a fantastic cook, he is always on the lookout for new recipes and techniques to expand his culinary talents. So for Christmas this year, I decided to go with an experience present and gifted him a cooking class for two at Taste Buds Kitchen in Beverly, MA. Luckily he picked me to go with him, and together we learned quite a bit.

Taste Buds Kitchen is a nationwide franchise with local schools in Beverly and North Andover. They specialize in cooking classes for all ages, from toddlers to adults. They also host camps, parties, and corporate events. It is a fantastic place to learn to cook or to try some new recipes.

Our adult cooking class was 21+ and sounded like the perfect afternoon date for us! We packed a cooler full of wine, said goodbye to the kids, and headed off to make some homemade pasta.

Upon our arrival, we were led to a table for two. We put on name tags and snazzy green Taste Buds Kitchen aprons and enjoyed some wine and bread as the rest of the class got settled. There were several other couples as well as many groups of friends. There was a hotplate and a KitchenAid mixer on each table along with some staple ingredients.

When everyone was seated, our friendly instructor introduced herself. She told us a little about her impressive culinary background and then explained the pasta-making process. We learned that we would be making fettuccine, ravioli (with two different filings), and homemade sauce.

It sounded like a delicious but ambitious task. I wasn’t sure my cooking skills could handle the assignment and admittedly began to lean on my husband to take the lead.

The class gathered around the demonstration area where the instructor went through all the steps to make the sauce. She expertly demonstrated cutting skills, mixing techniques, and offered several helpful tips. I began to feel a little more at ease.

It was time to get started! We went back to our stations and got to work on making the sauce. When it began to simmer, we started creating the dough for the pasta. We learned the best technique on how to roll it so that it would be ready to cut and cook. With each step I found myself becoming more and more confident.

After the dough rested in the fridge for a bit, we started building the ravioli. We filled half with roasted butternut squash and the other with a spinach ricotta mixture. We learned how to cut the pasta, fill the ravioli, and pinch the dough together to form a tight seal.

We used the remainder of the dough to make the fettuccine. This was my favorite part of the class! Our teacher instructed us about using the pasta attachment on the mixer and we watched in amazement as our pasta dough grew thinner and longer as they cycled through the different dough settings. One more slide through and our dough was cut into thick strands which were then put into a pot to boil.

We sat back at our table and enjoyed some more wine while we waited for the pasta to cook. It wasn’t long before we were presented with a scrumptious meal that we had cooked all on our own!

Our pasta may not have been the prettiest dish in sight, but it turned out quite delicious! We ate a good portion and packed up the leftovers to bring home to share with the kids.

We left Taste Buds Kitchen with full stomachs, new skills, and a great sense of accomplishment. We plan to return soon for more culinary adventures.

Have you ever taken a cooking class? What did you learn to make? To learn more about the classes at this fun school visit the Taste Buds Kitchen website and the Taste Buds Kitchen Beverly, MA Facebook page.

If you would like to try your hand at making pasta at home, this mixer attachment is a must-have. Or if you prefer to have your pasta cooked by someone else, be sure to check out D’Parma Restaurant in Winthrop and La Famiglia Giorgio’s in Boston.