Is this a photo of the Italian Riviera above? Does this mean we are offering culinary tours again? More on this below... First I wanted to talk about herbs - I love herbs. Last month, we planted an herb garden in our new back yard, and watching our herbs grow and tending them has brought us a lot of pleasure this summer. Not to mention, the joy of cooking with our fresh herbs, just picked and perfectly redolent... a different experience altogether from cooking with purchased herbs, no matter how fragrant. So when I was putting together our summer calendar, I knew I wanted to offer a class on cooking with herbs. Here it is: Cooking in an Italian Herb Garden on August 6.

In this class, we'll cook with a variety of fresh herbs (none of the dried stuff, please), and our dinner will highlight herbs in every course, from antipasto to dessert: basil, chives, rosemary, marjoram, tarragon, mint, and more will mingle on the plate to create a memorable feast of flavor. We'll learn to prepare fresh pasta, a fabulous pesto from Portofino (there's more than basil to this beauty), a succulent brined pork tenderloin served with sweet peppers, the best roasted potatoes ever (using a trick I learned from chef Giuseppe in Puglia), and a fig dessert that will leave your guests begging for more.

Dinner menu:

• Homemade Tagliatelle Pasta in Portofino Basil & Rosemary Pesto
• The Most Tender Herb-Rubbed Pork Tenderloin Ever
• Roasted Tomato, Yellow Pepper, & Tarragon Salsa
• The Ultimate Rosemary & Garlic Roast Potatoes
• Figs Stuffed with Goat Cheese & Mint in Orange Blossom Honey

Don't wait too long to book your spots! The class costs $95 per person, and includes hands-on cooking, three-course dinner paired with 3 Italian wines, and recipes. Reserve here or call 917-602-1519 to sign up for our Cooking in an Italian Herb Garden on August 6 at 6PM.

Another class we're very excited about: Our Essentials of Neapolitan Cooking class on July 23. We started offering "Essentials" of regional classes a few months ago (our Essentials of Tuscan cooking sold out this month, as did our Essentials of Southern Italian cooking last month). This series is intended for lovers of regional cuisine at its best: timeless recipes that pay homage to centuries of culinary artistry in Italy's diverse regions. On July 23, we'll learn to prepare homemade pasta and a spicy, luscious tomato sauce (after all, the Neapolitans are renowned for their pasta and their flavor-packed tomato sauces); tender beef scaloppine with roasted mushrooms; a classic eggplant Parmigiana; and a rich buttery pastry stuffed with fresh Ricotta. This class will surely sell out soon too; sign up here.

We've got plenty of other delectable menus lined up for you in our summer calendar, including a pizza workshop on July 10, a Seafood 101 class on July 16, a Northern Italian cooking class on July 26, our Essentials of Italian Cooking on August 7, and the list goes on and on...

We've posted our class calendar all the way through September (October will be posted soon!), so take a look and join us for a truly memorable class!

Or, if you'd rather bring in your own group for a private cooking event, you can book a lunchtime or evening cooking party at RUSTICO COOKING. Our state-of-the-art cooking loft is the ideal setting for corporate team-building events, birthday celebrations, bachelorette parties, and other important events. A private cooking party is a unique opportunity to enjoy amazing food and wine in the best of company. Parties can be held in the daytime or evening, and the cost is just $150 per person inclusive of gratuity. And the best part: you pick the menu you want, and you can add on a wine tasting if you are really into wine!

Here's what a client said about a summer associate event she recently hosted at RUSTICO COOKING: "Thank you for a great event! You and your staff were absolutely incredible. The food was amazing, the wine plentiful. Everyone had a blast." Call 917-602-1519 to inquire about availability for your private cooking event.

We're also offering a culinary tour to Italy's magical Liguria region for dentists (and their spouses) in May 2011. This week-long tour will take us through Portofino, Cinque Terre, Santa Margherita, and other breathtaking towns on the Italian Riviera. Read all about the tour here.

Since we last wrote you, our kitchens have been shown on many television shows: SoapNet's The Bank of Mom & Dad, NBC's new show The Match Off, The Celebrity Apprentice, History Channel's Food Tech, to name a few. We've also been written up in Time Out New York.

And be sure to check out the six brand new recipes for feasting in this newsletter: zucchini blossoms and zucchini shine in a three-cheese frittata; rapini and other market offerings are cooked in a hearty summer soup from Basilicata; scallions are grilled and served with a spicy almond pesto; sea bream is skewered with lemons and bay leaves for an intriguing main course; artichokes and olives mingle in a heavenly filled focaccia; and Pancetta stars in a savory pie served atop baby greens. You'll find all these recipes, complete with photos, here.

We look forward to cooking with you soon!

Happy cooking!

"My colleagues from the UK, Basel, CA & Nutley had a wonderful evening. The team building cooking event and wine tasting was a wonderful experience. We all enjoyed working with your extremely friendly and informative staff. Thank you for a terrific night of food, cooking and fun." Debbie, Hoffman-Laroche

For the automobile enthusiast, test driving a Ferrari might be the ultimate pleasure - But for the cooking enthusiast, test driving the top-of-the-line Wolf & Sub-Zero appliances in our fully equipped state-of-the-art kitchens will provide an intoxicating high! Located in the heart of Manhattan, our 4000-square-foot cooking loft has two independent kitchens and dining rooms, and a spectacular view of the Empire State Building.

There's no better way to mark a special occasion - be it an office party, a bachelorette party, birthday or anniversary - than with a wooden spoon in hand and good food simmering on the stove.

If you're looking for an effective, fun way to bond with colleagues, a cooking party is an original team-building exercise that will leave you and your guests smiling long after the cooking is done. As team members learn essential culinary techniques and master new recipes, they also strengthen bonds and relationships in a fun, informal environment.

Call us to inquire about hosting your private cooking party or team-building event at RUSTICO COOKING.

Past 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.

Call us at 917-602-1519 to check on availability. Parties last 3 hours and you can create your own tailor-made menu... You can also add on a wine tasting if you like. Click here for more information.

Our cooking loft boasts the following:

• Subzero refrigerators
• Subzero freezers
• Subzero wine storage units
• Asko dishwashers
• Franke sink & faucet
• J.A. Henckels knives
• Nespresso espresso machines
• Cuisinart appliances
• Lagostina cookware
• Monini extra-virgin olive oil
• Valrhona chocolate
• Gotham wines
• Bill Bateman paintings

Cooking Class Calendar

Our new cooking class calendar is online through September (October will be posted soon!), and includes hands-on classes on Mondays and Fridays at 6 pm, as well as on Saturdays at noon... So if you like cooking, take a look at our new menus and offerings for summer. There's something for everyone: as always, we have plenty of regional classes focusing on every corner of Italy (from Piedmont to Sicily and everywhere in between), but also classes on specific techniques and ingredients (fresh pasta, seafood, chilies, pizza, and more).

Among our exciting cooking classes this season: an evening devoted to Northern Italian cooking on July 26. This new class touches on some of the key elements of classic northern Italian cuisine: creamy bechamel sauce, silky handmade pasta, and perfectly roasted meate'll begin our northern Italian feast with a light, elegant Venetian lasagna studded with tender shrimp and creamy asparagus. We'll roast an herb-rubbed beef tenderloin (aka filet mignon) until it is perfectly rosy, and serve it in hearty slices with a bracing caper-and-parsley sauce known as salsa verde in Lombardy and Piedmont; this recipe will not only demistify the cooking of filet mignon, it underscores the fact that a delicious, versatile sauce need not be difficult to make. We'll cook a classic Ligurian sformato featuring artichokes, dried porcini mushrooms, onions, and plenty of Parmigiano to serve with our filet; a sformato is similar to a frittata, but lighter and studded more heavily with vegetables and cheese rather than eggs. Once you've learned to make an artichoke sformato, you can apply the same basic technique to other vegetables: string beans, potatoes, peppers, zucchini, or whatever strikes your fancy at the market. For dessert, we'll whip up a colorful berry-laden tiramisu starring creamy Mascarpone, one of northern Italy's most luscious fresh cheeses... what a way to end a summer feast! Sign up here before class sells out.

Cooking classes at RUSTICO COOKING are entirely hands-on rather than demonstration. In each class, you'll learn to prepare 4 to 5 recipes from start to finish, and get a firm grasp of basic cooking techniques and an understanding of essential Italian ingredients. You'll then sit down and enjoy the dishes you cooked, paired with specially selected Italian wines, with your evening's companions.

Lessons last 3 hours from 6 PM to 9 PMon Mondays and Fridays, and from 12 PM to 3PM on Saturdays. Classes include an average of 90 minutes of hands-on cooking, followed by a full meal paired with a tasting of 3 wines.

You can book classes online using your credit card or call us at 917-602-1519 to reserve.

Here's a recent email from a cooking class student: "Words cannot express our pleasure and enjoyment at our encounter with you and your staff. The evening was fantastic ... the food, wine and company were perfectly blended. Your teaching style is relaxed, entertaining, perfectly timed and completely professional. We were particularly interested to learn that you encourage people to experiment and vary recipes to suit their own personal tastes, unlike others that insist on a rigid set of ingredients and procedures."

Gift Certificates

New Recipes

We've added 6 new recipes to our web site this month. Let us know which dishes you prepare! These are perfect recipes for 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 brand new recipes:

Zucchini & Zucchini Blossom Frittata with Three Cheeses	Summer Vegetable Soup and Eggs over Bread
Artichoke- and Prosciutto-Stuffed Pizza Rustica	Grilled Scallions with Spicy Almond Pesto
Savory Pancetta Pie	Sea Bream Skewers with Caramelized Lemons and Fresh Bay Leaves