Today was a very fun and different day on our Italian adventure. After a leisurely breakfast at Poderi Arcangelo, we headed into the car to our Tuscan cooking class at Il Vicario. Now I know what your thinking, a cooking class when there's so many things to see and do? YES! What better way to learn about how to prepare the delicious food we've been enjoying? Furthermore, we thought we might all learn some new techniques or approaches to cooking while getting to know some local folks a bit more intimately than one normally does on vacation (don't be fresh Sally)!
So, we were met by Fulvio...he and his niece Katia run this business as well as a bed and breakfast. Fulvio directed us into the bathroom to wash our hands, and then we all donned our white aprons and were told what we would be cooking. First, home made pasta similar to spaghetti but a bit thicker and made with a mixture of flour and semolina flour along with a simple sauce; next brushetta and pansa...(forgot the name) which is a mixture of bread soaked in water, squeezed dry and mixed with cucumbers, tomatoes, onions and capers; followed by a chicken dish with whiten wine and capers. Our mouths were watering, but were we up to the challenge?
We began by making the pasta. Fulvio poured half cup of flour and half semolina flour with a teaspoon of salt. After mixing this we created a hole in the center in which he poured water. As we kneaded the mixture, sometimes we had to add more water or flour. I was the slow learner of the group, Fulvio had to give my piece an extra treatment! Eek..I thought this would be easy for the hands that do deep friction massages, but apparently I did not have the right touch! He jokingly shook his head and I'm sure he thought "who is this slow American gal?" Not to be discouraged, I began the next task of rolling the dough as if rolling play doe to look like a thin snake. Without boring you with the details, once again I was the last one in the class! Not a believer in the bell curve, there I was consistently at the bottom end! Mama mia...how would I ever get through this? While everyone else rolled at least 3-4 noodles, here I was the last to finish only 2! What was wrong with me? I finished my noodle with 6 eyes staring and critiquing..."Mary, roll more on the left" or from Fulvio "we might have to have pasta for breakfast!" I'm thinking, is this a vacation? Why is sweat dripping down my back?
.
The rest of the cooking went much better. I redeemed myself in the sauce and learned 2 important things to share with my American friends. First, always put vegetables in cold olive oil, ie, don't heat the oil first. This allows the flavors of the onions, garlic etc to come out. Second, you can make a delicious sauce with this simple combination: sautéed onions, canned tomatoes, salt, pepper, and a touch of chilling pepper! Perfecto! Making the appetizers with fresh ingredients, including fresh basil and cucumbers was another part of this experience!
When we ate our appetizers, Fulvio served a dry white wine that was very nice and light. He explained that you want light wine with light food, robust wines with more robust foods! Makes sense to me! Our two pastas were delicious, and we had them with a light red wine. We then stepped away from the table to finish the 2nd course and perhaps give our bellies a rest! The final course, chicken dusted with flour and cooked with white wine and capers was made very quickly. He taught us to cut meat with the grain. We finished the dinner with espresso freshly made...a perfect ending for this coffee lover!
We ended the day with a trip to Voltera...more on that tomorrow! Hope I left you with your mouths watering!
PS. Fulvio also said that Americans press their garlic and that is not the best way to cook with it! Pressing the garlic opens the core of the clove and it loses the water from inside which is a big part of it's flavor. When making our brushetta for example, we rubbed the peeled clove over the bread to give it the garlic flavor before adding course salt and extra virgin olive oil! Mmmm good!
No comments:
Post a Comment