Pasta Party

Pasta Party

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I was among the rousing crowd of amateur cooks donning aprons and toques at the SoBe Wine & Food Festival’s FT+L-sponsored Barilla Interactive Luncheon last Saturday at the Biltmore Hotel. Leading the show was chef Scott Conant (scottconant.com) The American-Italian chef (remember him from Top Chef, Chopped and 24 Hour Restaurant Battle), whose Scarpetta restaurant recently opened at Miami Beach’s Fontainebleau Resort, teamed up with Barilla chef Lorenzo Boni. Together they taught us on table-top portable burners how to make farfalle with garlic shrimp (Conant gave his dish a kick with crushed red pepper flakes) and campanelle with artichoke, tomato and buffalo mozzarella with ricotta cheese (Boni’s liberal use of EVOO put the dish over the top). But the real stars of the show were the guests who prepared the fab pasta we all happily devoured. It was a fun event that I’m putting on my calendar for next February!