Tuscan Cooking Class in NYC... September 17 Only!

Learn to cook an amazing Tuscan menu at a fun-filled hands-on cooking class September 17 at 6pm!

If you love Tuscan cuisine, don't wait too long to reserve your spot in this one time-only class! Join us for a class that pays homage to the Italian harvest and learn five of Tuscany's great countryside classics. We'll begin by making an elegant salad of poached shrimp and cannellini beans over arugula, quite the show-stopper for a dinner with friends. Next, we'll prepare one of the region's classic pasta sauces: called "sugo finto," this rich, wine-laced tomato sauce marries splendidly with fresh pasta of our own making and will leave you feeling like you had dinner at a Tuscan farmhouse (and we guarantee that when you make this sauce at home, you'll want to make a double batch so you can save some for the freezer)! Our main course: tender, juicy chicken slow-cooked with a medley of herbs, onions, and wine. We'll blanch Florence's beloved fennel and roast it with sage and Parmigiano to golden perfection as a side to our chicken (leftover fennel makes a great frittata or sauce for pasta... not to mention a fabulous crostini topping or late-night snack!). And for dessert, we'll bake one of Tuscany's most treasured sweets: grape-studded focaccia, sweet and rich and oozing with fruit goodness; this is a dessert that has been baked since Etruscan times and it is a fabulous way to enjoy the season's delicious sweet grapes.

Menu, September 17:

Wine-Poached Shrimp & Cannellini Bean Salad over Greens
Homemade Pappardelle Pasta in Late-Summer Tomato Sauce
Tender Chicken Morsels with Lemon & White Wine
Roasted Fennel with Sage & Pecorino
Sweet Focaccia with Juicy Grapes

This hands-on cooking class lasts from 6PM to 9PM. The cost is $110 per person and includes a full dinner paired with wine. Be sure to sign up here before class sells out or call 917-602-1519.

And we are also very excited about our Funghi! Funghi! Funghi! Cooking Class on September 15 at 12pm... Join us for our third annual Mushroom Lover's Class, a true ode to funghi in all their versatile glory. We'll start our mushroom extravaganza with homemade ravioli stuffed with roasted shiitake and cheese, dressed with truffle-laced sage-butter sauce. Next up: thin slices of golden veal, sautéed in butter and showered with a medley of wild mushrooms splashed with dry Marsala wine. Our two mushroomy sides showcase the distinct personalities of roasted versus steamed mushrooms: a succulent combination of roasted potatoes and mushrooms, and a sophisticated wild mushroom flan (tortino in Italian) bound together with eggs and Parmigiano. For a sweet finale, we'll bake up crispy apple, walnut, and chocolate pastry triangles, a lovely ending to our mushroom extravaganza. You can sign up here for our Funghi! Funghi! Funghi! Cooking Class.

We've also posted our online class calendar through December 2012 here.

For those of you planning a team-building activity or important celebration this season, consider a private cooking party. Parties can be held in the daytime or evening and last 3 hours, and the cost is just $162 per person inclusive of gratuity. And the best part: you get to pick the menu you want, and you can add on a wine tasting if you are really into wine! We've even created a chocolate lover's dream event: a hands-on cooking class followed by dinner, a wine tasting, and a chocolate tasting... Call 917-602-1519 to inquire about availability for your private cooking event. Our corporate clients include A & E Television Network, Unilever, Google, Colgate Palmolive, Credit Suisse, Newsweek, Victoria's Secret, NBC, and many more... Click here for more on our clients and testimonials.

Here's what a client recently said about her company's team-building event at RUSTICO COOKING: "Elizabeth and her team on site were all fantastic! My team is a rowdy bunch and the event was well managed despite it. I've heard great feedback from the team and want to sincerely thank everyone for making this such a success." Sarah C., CBS Interactive

We look forward to cooking with you soon!

Micol Negrin & Dino De Angelis

And why not forward this email newsletter to your food-loving friends? The more people around our kitchen table, the better!

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New Recipes

We've added 2 delicious new recipes for easy entertaining: crispy pockets of phyllo filled with cheese and fresh summer herbs; and a colorful pasta with shrimp and arugula. Let us know which dishes you prepare! These are perfect recipes for summer entertaining, and are sure to make your dinner guests feel very special. And consult our complete recipe index here.

Here are links to this month's recipes: