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.
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.
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