Toscana

Last week our region of study was Tuscany. I think is one of the most well known regions in all of Italy, but one that I still had a lot to learn about. We had an excellent guest chef visit from Tuscany - Stefano Santo. He's a young guy in his 30's who gave us a sample of modern Italian cuisine that has many outside influences. For example, the first dish he made for us was a blended chick pea soup, very common in Tuscany, but he topped it with coconut fried shrimp and Shiso which is a sort of Jappanese basil. I was a bit unsure how chick peas would blend with coconut but after trying it I found that because the shrimp were dipped in beaten egg whites first, they had a very light consistency that actually meshed well with the chick pea soup. Below is another one of Chef Santo's dishes that was also very good. This is squab (pigeon) with stewed vegtables, liver with a reduced mandarin orange sauce, all topped with a thick, flavorful demi-gloss -a reduced sauce made from both the meat and bones of an animal. It has a lot of flavor because the meat and bones sit in the liquid for one day, and then that flavor is concentrated when the sauce is reduced. Needless to say, I really enjoyed Chef Santo's demonstration, and he is one of the chefs that I am hoping to stage under. The day after the demo was baking day. We made various Italian breads like pane toscana, foaccia, and pane al burro (a butter bread), but our chef also let us make up our own recipes. For this we had to learn the proper proportions of flour, liquid, salt, fat, and yeast. Due to the language barrier, we had a difficult discussion with our chef about these percentages and I entered the kitchen a little shaky about how to go about making my own bread. It turned out to be one of the best days in the kitchen so far. I ended up making a semolina flour bread with both egg yolks and butter so it was a nice, rich, flavorful bread. And I also helped some of my classmates make the baguettes above and piadina. Piadina is one of my new favorite discoveries here. It is a flat bread made with lard and cooked in a pizza oven. We ate with stuzzichino, a saltly, sour soft cheese and it was delicious. It's definitely a recipe I'm bringing back with me. Friday of last week we had our field trip to Tuscany. This included a visit to two farms, a night in both Sienna and Florence, and a wine tasting at a producer in Montepulciano. At each of the farms we learned about the way each farmer grows their produce and raises there live stock. Above is the first farm we went to where they sell the eggs they produce for 1 Euro per egg! The hens are free range and are fed goat milk which gives the yolk an almond taste. We got to eat these special eggs seasoned with oragano, pepper, capers, and lemon zest. The were cooked so they were still runny so we had to eat them with a spoon. It was nice to experience something so common as an egg in a new way. The other farm we went to is where they raise chinina cattle which are used for the famous fiorentina steak. It was nice to learn about this breed of cattle, but at the same time I found it kind of useless because we will never use this kind of meat in America. Below is a picture of me with the wines from Contucci, the producer we visited. The wine from this producer didn't blow me away, but the town of Montepulciano did. Besides the fact that it is a little touristy, the town itself is facinating. I have never been to a town this hilly before. There are numerous steep narrow roads, lined with old stone buildings that date back hundreds of years. The view from this town is beautiful looking out over the Tuscan countryside you can see the vineyards and small farms dispersed throughout. Even on the grey day we were there it was still memorable.

I thought it would also be nice to show some of the dishes that I've been making here. Below are Agnolotti - a fresh stuffed pasta filled with braised beef and covered in a sauce made from reducing the braising liquid. I especially liked these because they are a very substantial pasta and one of the only we have made with a meat filling.

And finally this is the dessert we made today in pastry. On the left is a chocolate pudding topped with whipped cream, then a hazelnut cake filled with candided hazelnuts, and on the spoon is a zabione custard which has the flavor of moscato wine. I liked this dessert because I love all the flavors that we used and I think the presentation is both elegant and modern.
One last note - our school held this competition last week called Almost Famous Chefs where 10 young chefs compete to go on to America and compete in the final round in Napa Valley. The winner of the Italian competition happened to be a graduate from our school and today she needed help in the kitchen practicing her dish. Me and two of my classmates we chosen to help her out for this. It was an interesting experience. We had set timing that we had to get the dish out, and it was pressure in the kitchen that I haven't felt yet - sorta felt like I was on Top Chef for a bit. It was exhausting, but a good expereince. Here is a link to the website of the competition www.almostfamouschef.com. The girl's name from our school is Laura and she will be going to the the Culinary Institute of America's campus in Napa next week for the finals.

I've had a long day, and I'm very tired, please excuse any spelling or grammer mistakes tonight.

Field Trips

My blogging has been non-existent for the past two weeks because the new computer I bought before coming here broke. I got the screen replaced yesterday after the long process of dealing with tech help over the phone. This process is even more frustrating in a foreign country. It did however give me an opportunity to put my Italian to good use.

I am happy to have my computer working again and I want to write about the field trips we went on almost two weeks ago. On Friday February 5 our first field trip led us through a tasting of many products from the region of Emilia Romagna. Our first stop was a Parmigiano Reggiano factory. Here we observed the cheese-making process from milk into curds and whey, and then followed the cheese through the entire aging process.

This is me standing in a row of cheeses that had been aging for about 12 months. (I haven't gained that much weight I swear! It's just that I'm wearing my coat under the poncho, haha.) Each wheel of cheese has to be inspected by the Consortium in order to recieve the DOP label which certifies it as a quality cheese product of Emilia Romagna. To test the cheese, members of the Consortium simply tap the top of the wheel in a few specific places and listen to the sound it makes. From these sounds they can tell if the cheese is a quality DOP product.

Our next stop was an old castle that has been transformed into a bed and breakfast with two higly respected farm to table restaurants, and is the largest producer of culatello di zibello in the world. Culatello is a cured meat product that comes from the top/butt part of the pig's leg. It is simillar to prosciutto but more uncommon and therefore much more expensive. This is the link to the website of Antica Corte Pallavincina (the castle) www.acpallavicina.com/relais/_eng/index_eng.htm

Before leaving the castle we ate a 3 hour Italian lunch which included 4 courses, wine, dessert wine, espresso, and of course and an after lunch digestive drink which for me was a dark, sweet hazelnut liquor. And for the first time in my life I actually enjoyed the limoncello because it was much sweeter than normal.

After that huge meal I took a nap on the bus as we drove to explore our next product - balsamic vinegar. Here we got to see the vineyards where they grow trebbiano grapes which are turned into aceto balsamico tradizionale. Many of the balsamic vingars we have in America are copies or fakes of the this traditional product that has to age between 12 and 25 years. The vinegar is aged in wooden barrels that allow the vingar to evaporate, leaving a thicker, sweeter product behind. There are three kinds of balsamic that are certified DOP: the red label (aged 12 years), the silver label (aged 20 years) and the gold label (aged 25 years). We got to taste each of these and as the quality went up, the flavor got more powerful, less acidic, and sweeter each time. A bottle of the gold label DOP sells for over 100Euro in a store here.

On Satuday we headed out to the eastern part of Emilia Romagna which borders on the Adratic Sea.

Here we met the cheese man, Mr. Ranalli, who showed us his cheese shop, an olive oil mill, and welcomed us into his house for lunch. In the olive mill we got to see how olive oil is produced in an old mill with modern equipment. He also showed us how to test for good oil by rubbing a bit on the back of your hand and smelling the aroma. If it is good oil from Emilia Romagna it will smell like grass and artichoke. We also tasted cheese that is aged in a fossa or pit. This tradition came about in the 13th century when villages would get pillaged. They would hide their food in a pit and cover it with hay in order to save their food supply. Ageing cheese in a pit like is a traditional method that gives a unique flavor to the cheese.

The pictures above are the view from Mr. Ranalli's house where we had a delicious lunch of tagliatelle with a boar, deer, and ostrich ragu served with piadina - a type of Italian flat bread. The second picture is of Mr. Rannalli in his cheese shop with the cheese and wine he let us sample. He was very welcoming and hospitable, and I was grateful to learn from him.

Puglia

I have finally found a region I could see myself interning in-Puglia. (Sometimes this region is written Apuglia, I'm not sure why exactly, but I am going to stick with Puglia). We learned about the history and culture of Puglia this morning before our guest chef demonstration. Puglia is the region that comprises the heel of the boot. Because of its position on the southern coast , this region has seen many invaders throughout its history, and thus has many outside influences on its cuisine. The strongest influences are that of the Arabs and the Spanish. (There are dishes resembling paiea as well as flat breads originating in Arab countries). Also, due to the geography of this region, there is a real balance and variety in the cuisine between meat, seafood, and grains and vegetables. It is comparable to California in climate and geography - there are miles of coast line, hills and mountains, as well as flat ground for growing crops. Infact, many of the same wines are grown in both California and Puglia. It is this great variety in the cuisine that has drawn me to this region.

The guest chef from Puglia was our first female chef, and also the first chef I've been able to understand in Italian. Either she spoke very slow and clear, or I'm getting better at understanding - I hope it's a little of both. I immensely enjoyed watching her cook and learning about her philosophy towards food. She runs the restaurant Al Fornello da Ricci with her husband, and toghether they make most of the products they use. For example, they make all the cured meats, salted fish, jams, jellies, stocks, and pastas in-house.

Today for us she brought some of these homemade products as well as some of the specialities of the region. The most amazing item we tasted today was burrata. Buratta is a kind of fresh mozzarella cheese sutffed with strings of fresh mozzarella and fresh cream. It's like eating the best fresh mozzarella with a very soft, flavorful center that enhances the overall taste of the cheese. It's is good both on its own or in a sauce as she prepared it for us to accompany a millefoglie (a layered dumpling of sorts made of swiss chard, eggplant, mushrooms, and scamorza cheese all wrapped in a blanched cabbage leaf) which is then served with a thin, toasted slice of black bread, which is dyed using a black olive puree - it was a tasty first course.

She also made for us fresh focaccia and taralli which are a kind of Italian pretzel that are crunchy and dry - they go perfectly with a glass of red wine. (These were one of my favorites the last time I was in Italy, and I'm very excited to have a recipe to take home) After all these appetizers we also had a goat ricotta gnocchi (which had no potato in it so you could really taste the goat cheese), a roast leg of lamb stuffed with salami, capunti (a fresh tube shaped pasta) with a tomato and broccoli rabe sauce, and to finish off, she made a hazelnut and chocolate ice cream cake served with a caramel sauce and toasted hazelnuts - it was delicious. Hazelnut and chocolate is one of my favorite combinations, think nutella flavored ice cream - so good!

Unfortunately I am having trouble uploading pictures right now, perhaps I might have better luck tomorrow. For now I'm just happy I've found a region that really appeals to me and that I may get to work in for few months.