The Food of Italy... Week 1

So I am kind of skipping around a little but I wanted to dedicate this post to my class because I could not be more excited to have this experience.  I still can't believe this is all real.  I am learning to cook from a world renowned chef, with only the freshest foods and I'm in Firenze of all places!

Sorry for that but I keep having to pinch myself because it still doesn't feel real.

Monday, I had my first day of class.  As anyone does on the first day, I got there super early because I didn't want to get lost, not get a spot, show up late... , etc. Well, apparently my training as a student-athlete has been engrained into my mind because "early is on time" does not apply in Italy. I was there by myself for a good 15 minutes.

Around 8:58am in walks my teacher.  He looks every bit as Italian as you might picture, long hair and all, and oozes a passion for food. He explains the course and how he is a nutritionist which means we will only be using the freshest products we can find (which isn't hard in Florence) and keeping our ingredient list to about 5 per meal! I immediately got so excited because how often do you get to learn this kind of information and then get to practice it?

After the syllabus talk was over, we started cooking! Our first meal was Pasta with Fresh Tomatoes and Cream Sauce and Ovis Molis Cookies.  He wanted to start off basic (No one in the class thought this was basic.) Every class we will split into teams and each team is responsible for one of the recipes.  Since we were only cooking two things, there were two teams.  I was on the pasta team and I was especially excited about this because I will cook pasta more than I will cookies. On the first day I learned the techniques of dicing, blanching and little secrets from my professor to enhance every meal (If you are nice I'll share.) Everything turned out delicious. I was actually surprised because he basically just read the recipe and came around and instructed but I felt that most people just embraced their roles and we all worked together to make a great meal.

The Penne with Tomatoes and Cream

Ovis Molis : Nutella and Raspberry Cookies

On Day 2, we went to the Mercato Centrale.  The Mercato Centrale is the Central Market here in Florence.  It is only open from 7am to 2pm daily and they sell the freshest food I have ever seen. Everything is brought in each morning from the sea, the farms or it is made there.  The first two times I went in there, I was overwhelmed with the number of vendors and I didn't know how to pick out any produce in Italian so I became a little nervous about the market.

Well, my eyes were opened when Marco took us, introduced us to the right vendors and basically gave us a roadmap on how to navigate this expansive space. I saw some interesting things in the market such as swordfish, octopus and lots and lots of intestines. We sampled different times of cheese and then the same type of cheese but with different ages which was very cool to learn about. Marco mentioned that if we came back to these specific vendors they would give us a good deal as well as help us get the freshest thing we are looking for because he has built a relationship with these people.

Sampling both Cow and Sheep Milk cheeses with some jam

The Octopus 

Swordfish is everywhere

After class I was determined to try the market again by myself now that I had some insider tricks.  I am pleased to report it went EXTREMELY well. I went to only the vendors we met and they helped me pick out the perfect ingredients for my tomato sauce I was making that night for my friends. After I picked up the veggies, I went to go get some cheese and made friends with the Italian lady that worked there and she was so sweet and told me that if I came back everyday she would teach me Italian! How could I pass up that offer? I left the market grinning ear to ear because I finally felt like I was maneuvering my way around this beautiful, historic, but foreign city with way more ease.

Gelato Break: So in midst of this busy food day, I took a break and walked around with some friends. We ended up down the street from this famous gelato placed called Grom. Before I left for my trip, Sierra Kaslow gave me a list of places I needed to try before leaving and this was on it so I knew I had to stop since we found it. This was only the second time I have had gelato since I have been here and it did not disappoint! YUM!

That night I cooked dinner for my roommate Rae and our downstairs neighbor Chez. I wanted to start practicing what I was learning in class so I made the pasta recipe from Day 1.  It went super well, except I didn't realize that I had no salt and pepper in the apartment... This was a minor snag but luckily for me, Chez had some and the meal was saved! It is definitely different when you are making something in a group in class and then you make it alone, the timing is a little off.

Goal of the Trip: Work on my timing when creating a meal, that is the part that I struggle with the most.

My first meal! Only 5 Ingredients!

After this productive cooking day, I was so excited for day 3 of class.  We know in advance what we are cooking because surprisingly enough we have a textbook with amazing lessons on olive oil, tomatoes, herbs... etc and all of our recipes included.  This is interesting to me but apparently more interesting to Chez since she always urges me to read instead of doing anything else. 

We had 4 meals planned for day 3: Spaghetti alle Vongole (Clams), Trofie con il Pesto Tradizionale (Homemade Pesto with pasta), Coniglio con le olive (Rabbit with Olives) and Tiramisu. 

Yes, rabbit was on the menu, what was my teacher thinking?! These were all meant to be representative of traditional Tuscan items and he wanted us to start understand the importance of regions in Italy.  Today the focus was with Liguria (the Pesto) and Tuscany (Rabbit, Clams , etc.) Well, we were split into groups and of course, I got the rabbit meal. I was not entirely happy at first because Marco held up the rabbit and it still had eyeballs. 

Yes, it is way larger than the traditional little cute cotton ball we normally see which is why he said it is ok to eat it. I still was grossed out as he butchered it in front of us and yes it was pretty graphic (I'll spare you the details.) Anyway, after it was cut up, we marinated it for a little in some lemon and cold water and then seasoned it with some herbs and garlic and then put it in a pan to cook. (Looks like chicken right?) Ha!

To my surprise, and minus the addition of the olives, the rabbit turned out great! It is a lean meat and in the way we cooked it, it tastes better than most chicken. 

My partner Jess and I with our first bites of our Rabbit creation. Yum!

Since our portion spent a lot of time marinating and cooking, we helped other groups so we could get a feel of how to make the other things. Making homemade pasta is probably one of the coolest things I have seen done and surprisingly, extremely easy! You use a tool called a guitar because it has thin strings across that you press the dough through.  The sauce was the juice from steaming the clams, tomatoes, garlic and some herbs and some white wine. I ate clams for the first time and actually loved them! 

Just eggs and flour make the spaghetti, and lots of kneading 

Final result but before the pasta was cooked 

The pesto was my favorite because it is so easy but you will never have pesto this good anywhere else. 

Kimmie and Jenny aka Team Pesto

Final Product: Pesto Pasta with Green beans and Potatoes

The muscles were just to taste the difference between them and clams. They were also a first for me, not bad but I prefer the clams.

Lastly was the Tiramisu. We didn't get the full effect because real Tiramisu is supposed to sit in the fridge over 8 hours to perfectly compress all the flavors.  We didn't have that much time but it was still incredible and so easy to make! 

Team Tiramisu 

Final Product!

I am seriously loving every second of class... and my friends are loving every second of the leftovers. I am learning to send out a group text when I am headed home so they can come try everything. The Tiramisu I brought home yesterday was devoured the second people walked into our apartment.  I am finding such a happiness through cooking and discovering new things as well as trying new things. It is giving me a different view of the world and all the things I have said no up until this point that maybe I would like. 

Lesson Learned #4: "No" is no longer part of my vocabulary. Try everything at least once. (Yes, it is easier said than done, but hey, I watched a rabbit get butchered in front of me and then I cooked and ate it, you can say yes.) 

We didn't have class today (Thursday) for a field trip tomorrow but instead I am heading to the Amalfi Coast for the weekend with some friends! 

Ciao.