Fruit Salad, Yummy Yummy :)

Today

Lazy day, getting ready to start the next chapter of my adventure.

Class

We talked about the composition of the italian meal: appertivo, primo, secondo and dolce. Appertivo is usually a crostini or bruschetta. Both primo and secondo can either be fish or meat; primo is generally in the form of pasta, while secondo is more of a grilled or roasted dish.

At an Italian wedding, it is customary to have 2 of each: a meat and a fish, two meats or two fish primi and secondi, in addition to appertivo and dolce...it's a huge, never-ending feast.

Today we made only primo, secondo and dolce.

For primi, we did two variations on a theme: pear and gorgonzola.

ravioli shapes

• Ravioli Pere e Fromaggio 1 (Pear and Gorgonzola Ravioli with Asparagus Sauce)
  -These ravioli were filled with a mixture of pear and gorgonzola in an asparagus sauce and served with steamed asparagus.
  -Uncooked, these looked like hamentaschen :)
  
  
  
  Ravioli Pere e Fromaggio 1
  
  
• Ravioli Pere e Fromaggio 2 (Cheese Ravioli with Pear Sauce)
  -These "wonton"s were filled with three different kinds of cheese (including gargonzola), and topped with a pear sauce with olive oil, onion, coriander and truffle butter (my favorite).
  
  
  Ravioli Pere e Fromaggio 2

I liked the ravioli with the pear sauce more than the ones stuffed with pear, but they were both delicious. I want to try them with a walnut sauce and/or filling.

Secondo was awesome:

• Involtini di Ida e Pieslli alla Fiorentina (Ida's Veal Rolls with Florentine Style Peas)
  -Lay out a thin slice of veal, put a slice of cooked prosciutto over top and place slices of fontina (a melting cheese) in the middle along with a few sage leaves
  -Roll up the layers and hold closed with a toothpick
  -Saute in olive oil, flipping when one side is done, then cover with wine and let cook for a bit longer
  -Wow. Textures and flavors were awesome--the meat was tender but the cheese oozed out of the middle...I'm drooling just thinking about it
  -Served with a traditional dish: Florentine Peas--boiled peas with prosciutto, onion and parsley...they were a bit overcooked and too mushy for my taste, but still yummy

Involtini di Ida e Pieslli alla Fiorentina

Dolce

• Frutta Glassata (Glazed Fruit)
  -Yummy fruit salad with anise seed and cognac
  -The anise was a nice surprise that added a depth to the salad
  
  
  
  Frutta Glassata

Afternoon

It is hot. I do not want to be outside.
I went swimming in the afternoon and then took a nap. I'm starting to think about the fact that I'm leaving on Friday. I just came in from the garden where I was starting to read my Greece travel guides and I am very excited about the next part of my journey.

Friday afternoon I fly to Berlin where I will stay with my friend Jon for the weekend. I am looking forward to seeing him, as well as Germany! The one thing I definitely want to do while there (other than have fun, of course) is visit the Berlin Jewish Museum.

Lesson of the Day
My mom may starve at home without me. My dad is making Tuna Noodle Casserole and Spaghetti Tacos (Zeke's favorite)...

Tuna Noodle Casserole

Photo of the Day
Today, the tow truck came for Mildred (my car).

RIP Mildred

The Count

Glasses of wine drinken: 60

Plates of pasta eaten: 30

Photos taken: 2165

Tomorrow

Chocolate!

Mercato Centrale?

Duomo?

Gallerie de l'Accademia!

Gelato Festival, Day 1!

Basta pasta

Today

EXPLOSION.

I got home from class, crawled into bed and couldn't move for 2 hours.

Class: colored pasta!

• There was a couple from Washington (state) that joined me for class yesterday
• They had never made pasta before so we reviewed a lot of the basics I had learned the first day, and I didn't get to be as hands on as usual because there were more people

Dishes

• Tagliolini Neri alla Seppia Bianca (Black Narrow Noodles with White Cuttle Fish)
  • Inspired by the traditional dish: pasta with black ink sauce, made from squid ink, this dish instead incorporates the black squid ink into the pasta itself
  • The tagliolini were awesome--texture and flavor were unreal

Black ink pasta

• Fazzoletti Verdi con Asparagi e Gamberetto (Green Handkerchieves stuffed with Asparagus and Shrimp)
• • We made the pasta green using spinach
  • I was disappointed that the spinach flavor wasn't stronger and I don't really like shrimp or asparagus
  • I didn't get asparagus pee though, so that was a plus!

Spinach ravioli

• Tagliatelle al Caffe' con Carciofi (Coffe Tagliatelle with Artichokes)
• Who would've thought that coffee and artichoke go together? INCREDIBLE.

Coffee tagliatelle with artichoke

• Tagliolini Rossi con Zuicchini e Scamorza Affemicata (Red Tagliolini with Zucchini and Smoked Cheese)
• We made the pasta red by adding pureed roasted red pepper to the traditional pasta dough
  
• Baked in a parchment paper sleeve covered in sauteed zucchini and smoked cheese...om nom

Red pepper tagliolini

• Pasta all Lecitina di Soia (Basic Pasta with Soy Lecithin)
• Soy lecithin is a cholesterol-lowering alternative to eggs that gave the final product a more grainy texture
• It was different, but I enjoyed it

Soy lecithin pasta

Then, for dessert, we had a strawberry-lemon shortcake leftover from a previous class...EXPLOSION.

Like I said, I spent the afternoon in bed unable to move. I had planned on going to the Bottanical Gardens but that will have to wait for another day. In the evening, the whole family went to a reception for Alyssa's school showcasing the artwork some students had been working on for the semester. Sarah Lawrence is a whole bunch of granolas. We drove to the reception which was weird--I hadn't been in a car in two weeks...and I was enjoying it. Manuela and I walked home, though, which was really nice. Language barriers are fun(ny), but she has much better English than she gives herself credit for.

Lesson of the Day

5 plates of pasta + dessert = WAY TOO MUCH FOOD.

Photo of the Day

Eye of the squid

The Count

Glasses of wine drinken: 30

Pasta dishes eaten: 22

Photos taken: 1263

Pasta, Pasta, Pasta!

Today

Pasta, Day 3!

Wow--so much pasta! It was nice today though because while some of the pastas themselves were heavier than others, the sauces were simple and light(er than last week) so I don't feel like I am going to explode...entirely.

So now that I've learned the basic technique of making pasta: flour and egg, we learned some variations.

1. Tagiatelle di Kamut, vaolo croccante, oli al pistacchio (Tagiatelle of Kamut, Crunchy cabbage and pistachio oil)
   - pasta made with kamut--a finer wheat that is higher in protein--topped with cabbage, potatoes, pine nuts and pistachio oil. My favorite part of this dish was the crispy cabbage leaf we served it with. We peeled off a few layers of cabbage leaves, blanched them, and then baked them in the oven. They became crispy and chip-like...without the frying! Yum :)
2. Marcella's Pasta e fagioli
   - inspired by Minestra di Fagioli Bortolli (red bean soup), this pasta is made with both flour and pureed beans. The dough is a bit more crumbly than regular pasta dough because when using beans, gluten does not form as easily (less sticky and elastic dough). For this dish, we split the pasta into two batches--one we cooked the in boiling water, and the other half we fried in peanut oil to add as a contrasting crunch to the mushiness of the boiled pasta. We tossed the boiled pasta in olive oil, garlic and sage, then topped with the crunchy pasta
3. Orecchiette pugliesi with broccoli
   -regular, light pasta (wheat and water) cooked with brocolli, olive oil, shallot and various spices. Orecchiette is the name of the shape of pasta. It is a pasta typical of Southerin Italy (Puglia), which comes from the word "orecchio" (ear) and "etto" (small).
4. Taggiatelle alle Nocciole in Salsa di Funghi (Hazlenut tagiatelle in Mushroom sauce)
   -This pasta is made with a lesser amount of flour than the usual proportion of flour to water, and the leftover is made up of ground hazelnut. I was really excited about this pasta because I love nutella and subsequently hazelnut, but the sauce was very strong (full of herbs), and overpowered the hazelnut flavor. It was delicious, but I will definitely experiment with milder sauces that allow the flavor of the pasta to shine through. I also want to try this as a pasta stuffed with chocolate, or with a chocolate sauce.
5. Pizzoccheri della Valtellina (short buckwheat noodles from Valtellina)
   -this pasta used half semolina (hard flour) and half buckwheat (a gluten-free flour). The dough is much more dense than regular pasta, and buckwheat has become a common substitute with the increasing presence of individuals with celiac disease (gluten intolerance). Although not 100% gluten free, this pasta has less gluten than the normal recipe. We boiled the pasta and prepared this in casserole form--mixed with potatoes and cabbage (typical of Northern Italy) and layered with cheese and baked in the oven. The top became crispy and the combination in flavors was very pleasant and wholesome--probably one of my favorites from the day.

Tagiatelle di Kamut, vaolo croccante, oli al pistacchio

Pasta e Fagioli

Preparing the crispy fagioli pasta

Orichiette pugliesi with broccoli

Taggiatelle alle Nocciole in Salsa di Funghi

Pizzoccheri della Valtellina

After class I came home and relaxed. I just painted my toenails for the first time in who knows how many years (I still had a speck of nail polish on my big toe from a pedicure with mom last summer in Ann Arbor). There is so much to do and see here in Firenze, I often forget that it's nice to just sit, read and relax--so today I decided to take advantage of the sunshine and fresh air :).

For dinner tonight we had the leftover pasta from class. It was fun to get to share it with my family here--they really enjoyed it!

Tomorrow Marcella has classes during the day so I am not going in until 5:00. The lesson is vegetables--YAAY I MISS VEGETABLES! We are making eggplant parmesan, among other things... so I am really looking forward to that. Even though class isn't until the evening, I still plan on getting up at a reasonable hour to get some museums and churches in during the day. I think I will visit the Mercato Centrale (which I usually miss because of class), Palazzo Vecchio and maybe Museo Galileo.

Photos of the Day:

PASTA!

left to right: hazelnut, buckwheat, kamut

top to bottom: kamut, fagioli, orecchiette

Lesson of the day:

Lunch conversation today was focused around open-mindedness and the ability to create, interpret and adapt.

With respect to cooking: these recipes are just the basics--I can adjust them in so many ways it's unbelievable. Depending on season and dietary restrictions, the dishes I am learning to make can be changed based on the skills I am learning and intuition I am building. In regards to my time here in Firenze, there is no schedule or even routine--I'm just going with the flow and seeing where life takes me. Maybe it's the summer-feeling, or maybe this is just Italy; whatever it is, I like it :)

The Count

Glasses of wine drinken: 29

Pasta dishes eaten: 17

Photos taken: 1006

Educere: to draw from within

It is currently thunderstorming like crazy and I have already had an amazing morning... so I decided to blog a bit now.

Today: First day of School!

OH.MY.GOSH. AMAZING.

For starters, I am the only student. So for the next month I will be getting 3 hours of one-on-one instruction every day with Marcella, the chef.

We started off with a tour of the studio (Marcella loves orange!),

the kitchen/studio

Then, we had a mini-lesson about the history and science of pasta, made the pasta dough, and let it sit while making the sauces.

kneading the dough

We made 3 different sauces:

• ragu' alla bolognese (bolognese meat sauce)
• calamaretti e rucola (baby calimari and arugula)
• gamberi and zuchinni (zucchini and shrimp sauce)

I learned the technique for and practiced chopping vegetables, as well as prepped the shrimp and calamari. This involved shelling and removing the intestine of the shrimp, and gutting the calamari. For the calamari, I was supposed to squeeze the eyes and pull it's head away from the tentacles, but I made her do this because eyes are creepy.

grinding tomatoes for ragu

calamari: pre gutting, etc.

shrimp in olive oil, shallot and parsley

Then we went back to the pasta and did four different types, formed from different cutting and folding techniques:

• Garganelli
  
• Orechiette Emiliane
• Sfrappole
• Tagiolini

me with rolled out pasta!

top left: taglierne, bottom left: sfrappole,
now from left to right: garganelli, orechiette emiliane, tagliolini

We then cooked the pastas one by one and added their respective sauces, pausing to eat at a very nicely set table, and talking in between.

The final dishes:

1. Tagiolini with butter and nutmeg
2. Calamaretti e Rucola (with Sfrappole)
3. Gemberi and Zucchini (with Garganelli)
4. Ragu' alla Bolognese (with Orechiette Emiliane)

Calamaretti e Rucola (with Sfrappole)

There was one more dish on the list for today, but with only two people there wasn't enough time...which was really okay because we were both STUFFED by the end :)

So I managed to eat pork, calamari and squid all in one day...

As part of the course I have a book with recipes, history and general information that I will definitely keep forever. Marcella says that this first week will focus on the basics: pastas, chopping, sauces, etc., and over time she will let me be free and add my own inspirations...hence today's blog post title. When explaining the "structure" of the class (as I did above) Marcella emphasized that education, as seen in the root of the word, is about pulling out of the student, not stuffing information in. I really like this teaching philosophy and am very excited to be studying and cooking with such a talented chef and fun person for the next month!

I hope it will stop raining soon so I can venture into the city. I had planned on going to an outdoor art fair today, but I think I will wait until better weather.

Photo of the Day
not actually worthy of being the photo of the day...especially because the day is not over, but it's so orange... I couldn't resist.

orange!

The Count

Pasta dishes eaten: 5

Glasses of wine drinken: 7

Photos taken: 454

For those concerned about the fact that I am drinking wine (dad): When I arrived to Italy on Friday, it was my pseudo 21st birthday. The drinking age here is 16; They drink wine like water.

Tomorrow:

Lesson 2--Sauces and Stocks

hopefully making it to the art fair

maybe visiting a church or the Uffizi Gallery

Question of the day: are these posts too long? (leave your answer in a comment!)

Ciao!