One of the hottest tickets of the season was scoring a spot in the cooking classes that the marina organized in an old monastery near Kotor. We were out of the country for the first two, but managed to snag a spot once we came back.
My family has homemade ravioli at every holiday (thank you Grandma O and cousin Chris), I make pasta regularly, and even used to teach classes myself. But the chance to drink wine, tour an old catholic monastery, and cook on top of it? Sign me up, please!
The St Nicholas monastery was built ~1735, and served as a Catholic Church, housed monks, and later housed Captains in this sea-faring region. In a country dominated by Orthodox Christianity, Catholicism had its footprint thanks to 300 years of Venetian rule.
As I ooed and aahed at the artistry of the altar, our guide pointed out something very interesting – the ‘marble’ was actually painted wood, and a very clever mimic at that!
After the tour we refilled our wine glasses and got down to business. The instructor had already made the pasta, but showed everyone how to make ravioli and tortellini. Ravioli was my thing, but having never made tortellini before I headed to that table. The dough was a little tricky to work with (not enough flour to absorb the moisture from the spinach coloring the dough), but Tascha, Dudley and I persevered with quite a good result. None of ours broke in the water, and the cashew sage brown butter sauce made them delectable.
A successful and tasty evening, we’re hoping to do it again! (We’ve asked if they’d feature local Montenegrin foods in future classes)
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