Valentine's Cooking Class in NYC... February 14!

This year, treat your Valentine to a delicious cooking class and join us for our fourth annual Valentine's Cooking Class while there's still room!

The menu in this interactive hands-on cooking class features five amazingly luxurious (and quite possibly aphrodisiac) recipes. We'll cook with asparagus, wild mushrooms, chili peppers, fresh herbs, chocolate, and more, creating a delectable meal that will leave your loved one smiling long after the last bite has been devoured. We'll begin this heavenly meal with a stunning starter: homemade pasta sauced with slow-roasted asparagus and shiitake mushrooms. Next, we'll stuff filets of branzino (aka Mediterranean sea bass) with sweet peppers and scallions, and serve the resulting bundles with a delectable pesto of our own making, lovely with a side of roasted fennel and spicy smashed potatoes. For dessert, we'll whip up the ultimate chocolate dessert: a sinfully rich molten chocolate cake.

Menu, February 14:

Homemade Cavatelli with Roasted Wild Mushrooms & Asparagus
Stuffed & Rolled Mediterranean Sea Bass with Fragrant Three-Herb Pesto
Roasted Fennel with Parmigiano
Smashed Baby Potatoes with Chives & Smoked Paprika
Molten Chocolate Cake with Strawberry Sauce & Vanilla-Scented Whipped Cream

This cooking class lasts from 6:30PM to 9:00PM and is open to couples only... the class costs $350 per couple all-inclusive. Class cost includes:

admission for 2 people

2 aprons

finger foods and Prosecco wine reception

hands-on cooking

seated dinner paired with wine

recipe packs

(Note: Gift certificates are not redeemable towards this class.) This class is heavily wait-listed every year, so don't wait to sign up! Reserve your spots here.

And if you're looking for a fun activity post-Valentine's Day, we have a fabulous cooking class on February 17 at 6 pm. The menu in our Italian Winter Feast Cooking Class features handmade pasta, melt-in-the-mouth saffron chicken, silky sauteed spinach, slow-cooked chickpeas, and a decadent dessert.

Menu, February 17:

Hand-Cut Maccheroni alla Chitarra with Lamb & Sweet Pepper Ragu
Tender Chicken Morsels in White Wine-Saffron Glaze
Sauteed Spinach with Garlic and Chili Flakes
Braised Chickpeas
Chocolate-Covered Almond Cake

The cost is $110 per person including a full Italian dinner paired with wine. You can reserve here for our Italian Winter Feast Cooking Class.

We've also posted our online class calendar through April 2014 here.

Gift Certificates for Valentine's Day

There's still time to buy the food lover in your life a gift certificate package before Valentine's Day! Click here to buy a gift certificate for one or more of our hands-on Italian cooking classes in our Midtown Manhattan loft. Recipients can redeem certificates for any cooking class on the calendar (except the February 14 class!) so they have total freedom! Buy any number of classes, and we will email you a printable gift certificate as a PDF file within 24 hrs (and usually much faster!) so that you can give the recipient his or her gift right away... We can even personalize the certificate with the name of the recipient(s) and a custom message. Complete the gift by adding a Rustico Cooking Apron.

Private Cooking Parties & Team-Building Events NYC

For those of you looking for a memorable team-building event, bachelorette party, or birthday celebration, 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, HBO, Unilever, Google, Colgate Palmolive, Credit Suisse, David Yurman, 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 team-building event at RUSTICO COOKING: "Thank you. Gerry was amazing and could handle my type A personality. Since we are the luxe division of L'Oreal, my team is accustomed to a level of service and I feel that your group was able to deliver... and Gerry was very funny! I heard whispers of future meetings at Rustico with some of the other executive management teams! The menu was perfect. My team cleaned their plates! Pasta... amazing!!! Great choices." Jamie F., L'Oreal

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 to our site: Rome's Mozzarella in carrozza (sandwiched between two bread slices, dipped in egg, and fried to golden perfection); and gutsy grilled radicchio with a warm Pancetta vinaigrette. Let us know which you prepare! And consult our complete recipe index here.

Here are links to this month's recipes: