School Holidays Cooking Program - Workshop 9

• 
• Servings
  2
• Prep
  120 m
• Cook
  120 m

Recipe By: Otao kitchen

Workshop 9: Sauce & Comfort

Thursday  ·  July Module

Scan to view this recipe online

●  ●  ●  ●

Workshop 9: Sauce & Comfort

Thursday  ·  July Module

Scan to view this recipe online

ENTRÉE

Creamy Pumpkin Soup (2 pax)

Ingredients

• 300g pumpkin, peeled and diced
• ½ onion, diced
• 1 clove garlic
• 1½ cups vegetable or chicken stock
• 2 tbsp cream
• 1 tsp butter or oil
• Salt and pepper
• Pinch of nutmeg (optional)
• Crusty bread, to serve

Method

Step 1:  Heat butter and sauté the onion and garlic until soft.

Step 2:  Add the pumpkin and stock, and simmer 15–20 minutes until the pumpkin is tender.

Step 3:  Blend until smooth.

Step 4:  Stir in the cream, and season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.

Step 5:  Reheat gently and serve warm with bread.

MAIN

Fresh Egg Pasta

A simple hand-made egg pasta dough — the base for the puttanesca or carbonara. Amounts are per person; scale to your class size.

Ingredients (per person)

• 95g plain (or ‘00’) flour, plus extra for dusting
• 1 egg
• ½ tbsp olive oil

Method

Step 1:  Make a well — Mound the flour on a clean bench and make a well in the centre. Crack in the egg and add the oil.

Step 2:  Bring together — Beat the egg gently with a fork, drawing in flour from the walls until a shaggy dough forms, then bring it together by hand.

Step 3:  Knead — Knead firmly (about 8 minutes) until smooth, elastic and no longer sticky. Too dry, wet your hands; too wet, dust with flour.

Step 4:  Rest — Wrap and rest at room temperature for 30 minutes to relax the gluten so it rolls out easily.

Step 5:  Roll out — Halve, flatten, and roll thin — by hand or through a pasta machine, working down the settings — dusting with flour.

Step 6:  Cut — Lightly flour the sheet, fold loosely, and cut into ribbons (fettuccine or tagliatelle). Shake out and dust to keep separate.

Step 7:  Cook — Cook in salted boiling water until it floats and is just tender (2–3 minutes). Reserve a little pasta water before draining.

Note:  Fresh pasta needs a 30-minute rest and cooks in 2–3 minutes — make the dough first, then prep the sauces while it rests, and have the sauce ready before it goes in. Scale to 2 for the main (≈190g flour, 2 eggs, 1 tbsp oil). Fresh pasta replaces the dried spaghetti below.

Pasta — Puttanesca or Bacon Carbonara (your choice) (2 pax)

Option A · Puttanesca

Ingredients

• 200g spaghetti (or the fresh pasta above)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, sliced
• 1 tin (400g) diced tomatoes
• 6–8 olives, chopped
• 1 tbsp capers
• Pinch of chilli flakes (optional)
• Salt and pepper, fresh parsley

Option B · Bacon Carbonara

Ingredients

• 200g spaghetti (or the fresh pasta above)
• 100g bacon, diced
• 2 egg yolks + 1 whole egg
• ⅓ cup grated parmesan
• Salt and black pepper

Method

Step 1:  Puttanesca — Cook the pasta in salted boiling water until al dente, drain and reserve a little pasta water.

Step 2:  Puttanesca — Heat oil, sauté garlic until fragrant, add tomatoes, olives and capers, and simmer 8–10 minutes.

Step 3:  Puttanesca — Toss through the pasta, loosening with pasta water if needed. Season and garnish with parsley.

Step 4:  Carbonara — Cook the pasta until al dente, drain and reserve pasta water. Fry the bacon until crisp.

Step 5:  Carbonara — Whisk the eggs and parmesan together.

Step 6:  Carbonara — Off the heat, toss the hot pasta with bacon, then quickly stir in the egg mixture and a splash of pasta water until creamy (don’t let it scramble). Season with pepper and serve immediately.

What you’ll learn today

• Sweating aromatics — cooking onion and garlic gently to build a sweet, mellow base without browning.
• Soup texture — simmering until tender, then blending smooth — and handling hot liquid in the blender safely.
• Seasoning and finishing — balancing the soup with cream, salt, pepper and a touch of nutmeg.
• Making fresh pasta — mixing, kneading, resting and rolling an egg dough by hand, then cutting and cooking it fresh.
• Cooking pasta — salted water, al dente, and saving pasta water to bring a sauce together.
• Building a sauce (Puttanesca) — layering garlic, tomato, olives and capers into a punchy, savoury sauce.
• Emulsion technique (Carbonara) — making a silky egg-and-parmesan sauce off the heat so it stays creamy, not scrambled.
• Plating and timing — serving pasta straight away while it’s hot and glossy.

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Printed From otaokitchen.com.au 07/28/2026