The Reason I'm 'Supposed' To Be Here...

So technically, the real reason I'm here in Italy is to go to school. But really, compared to my studies at Cornell, it's basically like I'm on vacation everyday. But, my classes really are amazing and I do go to them, so I thought I would just mention what I've been up to for the past three weeks in school. So, in my Food, Culture, and Society class we made our first recipe: Cespelle alla Fiorentina which is essentially a spinach and ricotta crepe. And it was delicious. The crepe batter was simple with flour, eggs, butter, and milk. The filling was just spinach, ricotta, nutmeg, salt, and pepper. And then we made a bechamel sauce which is basically butter cooked with flour to make a roux and then we added milk until it thickened. Then we put the filling into the crepes, rolled them up and baked them in a pan after we poured the bechamel sauce over them and sprinkled parmesan cheese on top. Literally amazing and so simple.



















Then, right after that class, I go to my chocolates class where instead of cooking, we went on a walking tour around florence. Our first stop was at this amazing Chocolate place where we had Ciaccolata Calda, which is hot chocolate. But let me be clear. Hot chocolate in Italy is not like hot chocolate in the US. In the US, it's very thin and is usually made with milk and milk chocolate and has whipped cream on top. In Italy, it's more like drinking chocolate ganache. It's made with dark chocolate and real cream and is as thick as pudding. And it is SO rich. I had a small cup on our walking tour and was so full after drinking just half of the cup!

Ciaccolata Calda

So, then we continued our tour and went to an Enoteca (place that sells wine) where we did a wine and chocolate tasting. We first tasted a light red wine with milk chocolate that went very well together and tasted like eating a chocolate covered cherry because the wine was very sweet. Then, we tasted a white chocolate with a sparkling moscato. The white chocolate actually overpowered the moscato because we learned that champagnes are very delicate and should not be paired with chocolate. And last, we tasted a very dark chocolate with a thick syrupy red wine that tasted like plums.  So, that was my day last Monday: Crepes for breakfast and chocolate and wine in the afternoon. Could life get any better?

On Tuesday, it was pastas class. We made Bucatini All'Amatriciana and homemade tagliatelle with tomato and basil sauce. Both were absolutely delicious. I had never had Amatriciana pasta sauce before and it was surprisingly good and simple. You start with pork cheek.....yes, pork cheek. It's called guanciale and looks like bacon but only the fatty part. I was a little grossed out, but I knew it would give the sauce good flavor. You start by cubing the guanciale and sauteeing them until they sweat out all the fat, then you drain the fat and take out the guanciale and add onions, garlic, and canned tomatoes to the same pan. You can also add hot red pepper flakes if you like spice. Then you cook the bucatini, which is a thicker spaghetti but is hollow inside so sauce can actually go through the noodles. Then you add back in the guanciale to the sauce and add the pasta to the sauce and sprinkle pecorino cheese on top. So simple, and the pork gives the tomato sauce such a good meaty flavor.

Then for the tagliatelle, we each made our own pasta dough. 100 grams of flour on the table, make a crater in the center. Crack one egg in the middle and scramble it with a fork and then begin kneading the flour into the egg. Knead it until all the egg is absorbed by the flour and you have a nice homogeneous ball. Then cover the ball in plastic wrap and let sit while you make the sauce. The sauce is made from fresh tomatoes chopped, basil, salt, one smashed garlic clove, and pepper. Then you let it sit in a pot and stew while you run the pasta through the pasta machine and then cut into strips. You cook the pasta in boiling, salted water for only 2 minutes and then add to the sauce pot. So clean and fresh.

So, as if I wasn't full enough, on Wednesday it was Contemporary Italian Cooking where we made Passatina di Ceci con Gamberi. Essentially, it is just chickpeas and shrimp...we were a little confused as to how this dish was going to come together but it was actually so good! And we even had to peel and devein the shrimps with the heads still on! Here is a picture of me peeling shrimp, and the final dish:

So, that's the food update for the week!! I told you I would not be going hungry.....
xoxo,
Alli