Beth Wells’ pasta classes at The Fox and Pantry always end on a delicious note. Photos: The JUX Collective
When Beth Wells prepares for her in-laws’ Thanksgiving potluck, she likes to stick to the basics. “In some years, I have tried to go out of left field and do something that you don’t typically see—pasta dishes, beet salads or try to get everybody into fennel,” Wells says. “My biggest hits have just been really good stuffing, sweet potatoes, something classic.”
But with over a decade of experience in the Twin Cities culinary scene, including stints at Alma and Spoon and Stable, Wells’ experience has been anything but basic. She got her start at Cooks of Crocus Hill as a kitchen assistant in 2013, which is where she met Sardinian chef and instructor Antonio Cecconi. “When I met him, he had been teaching classes for quite a while, and on the side he would go to people’s homes and teach pasta classes,” Wells says. She eventually became his assistant for the home pasta classes. “I learned a lot from his experience,” she says.
Through trial and error, Beth Wells has discovered how to create restaurant-grade pasta dough outside of the professional kitchen, and she shares the secret to her success in her classes.
Wells translated this burgeoning passion for pasta into a role at Spoon and Stable as its pasta production chef. “I would come in early in the mornings and I would mix all the doughs, roll all the pasta out, and then I would shape, fill the shapes,” she says. And, after dinner service, “I would start all over from scratch,” she says.
Coming out of her culinary career, Wells wasn’t sure there was a way to make restaurant-grade pasta at home without the specialized kitchen equipment restaurants have access to. But through trial, error and copious recipe testing, “I am now able to replicate really good, professional-looking pasta just in my own home kitchen and in my classes,” Wells says.
Pasta class attendees are invited to roll up their sleeves and put in some elbow grease when crafting handmade pasta.
Wells shares her knowledge through her monthly pasta classes at Plymouth’s The Fox and Pantry and at-home events and classes through her company, Twin Cities Pasta Club. “When I start my classes, I say, ‘I’m gonna tell you way more about pasta than you wanna know,’” Wells says. “There’s a level I could teach that’s just acceptable enough for people who don’t know pasta, and then there’s an advanced part of that technique that is harder and takes more explaining.”
Wells first approached The Fox and Pantry owner Kym Joles in late 2023 with her idea for pasta classes. “I knew my career was turning toward the food science side, but I really wanted that creative outlet,” she says. “I was really inspired by [Joles]. I like her space; I like her style. It was a more warm and welcoming environment.”
Top: In the ravioli class, students learn how to make a versatile Spinach Ricotta Filling.
Wells hosts monthly rotating classes including a general handcrafted pasta class as well as ravioli and gnocchi intensives. But aside from gathering for the love of pasta, Wells says she appreciates how the attendees come together as a community over the course of the evening. “All our participants sit together, get to know each other and make pasta together,” she says. By the end of class, new acquaintances tend to stay after to chat, drink wine and top off their evening with a slice of cake.
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