Photos: Rustico Cooking

Photos from recent cooking parties & hands-on cooking classes at Rustico Cooking NYC...

Sauteing our way to a fabulous dinner at our Second Annual Garlic Lover's Festival; plating chicken with forty cloves of garlic, roasted garlic risotto, and eggplant with garlic confetti.

A recent seafood cooking class featured wine-poached shrimp over baby greens and succulent crab cakes.

Everyone is busy cooking; molten chocolate cake ready to be devoured.

Linguine with shrimp, arugula, and lemon zest; knife skills are essential to good cooking.

Warming olive oil for a delectable pasta sauce; puff pastry tart topped with tomatoes, olives, and thyme.

A glorious seafood salad; goat cheese, asparagus, and basil tart.

Presentation is key to a memorable dinner; shiitake mushrooms with leeks and ginger.

Limoncello and berry mousse; mixing molten chocolate cake batter.

Prepping stations set with Henckels knives; two happy cooks whip up chocolate chunk bread pudding.

The makings of fresh pasta for ricotta- and spinach-filled ravioli.

Pasta hands; mmmmm, those molten chocolate cakes look GOOD!!!!

Mastering knife skills in the RUSTICO kitchen; kneading pasta dough is hands-on work.

Breaking eggs together for raspberry-chocolate cakes; sticky hands are part of the fun.

Everyone concentrates on making perfect ravioli; an array of freshly baked cookies to taste.

Chef Paulette works magic with fennel; Prosciutto-topped saltimbocca ready for the skillet.

Serving dinner after all the cooking is done; golden cheese souffles over baby arugula.

Rolling out lasagna sheets; rolling homemade cannelloni using our freshly made lasagna.

Everyone wants to learn to roll out the dough; chocolate-dipped hazelnut biscotti.

Plating after a Ligurian class; chef Gerry demonstrates knife techniques with her trademark infectious smile.

Whipping up a luscious molten chocolate cake at a private cooking event; the finished dessert.

Filling chocolate-tiramisu tartlets; the batter for miniature apple cakes is ready for the oven.

Making cannoli at a Southern Italian wine tasting; our cannoli were paired with a luscious dessert wine.

Making homemade gnocchi in class, before a wine tasting; charismatic wine speaker Costas Mouzouras.

Eggplant bundles stuffed with herbed Ricotta mousse; rolling the bundles is a team effort.

Learning to cook with a medley of fresh herbs; moist orange cakes emerge from the oven.

Putting the final touches on our appetizer during an Umbrian cooking class; the table is set for dinner.

Learning basic knife skills during a seafood class; salmon carpaccio with truffle oil.

Seasoning meat with sea salt to draw out flavor; our view of the Empire State Building.

Jason proposed to Suzanne after a private cooking class; Micol with the happy couple.

There's nothing quite like hands-on experience!

Busy cooks at the range season, sear, and saute; demonstrating how to shell lobster.

Everyone is busy getting dinner ready in our chef's open kitchen.

Participants check on their almond brittle; tips on how to season properly.