Italy: A Cooking Class

Brad and I love cooking, whether together or for each other. I have always said that I would love to learn how to make hand-made pasta.Since we have not been taking a language course this time around, we thought it would be great to take a cooking class. Searching the internet I found a chef that was located in the quaint,old neighborhood of Trastevere. We weren't exactly sure what to expect. We were hoping for an interactive learning experience that was both hands-on and informative. We walked into our class and found ourselves surrounded by mostly American and Canadian tourists, which was bit funny at first because for the most part we have spent our time in Italy trying to communicate in Italian. But it ended up being quite relaxing to have a "day off". We walked into the class and we met Chef Andrea and all of our classmates. Shortly after we began our 4 hour journey of prepping, making and cooking a 5 course italian meal, which would include; Eggplant Parmesan, Homemade Chitarra Spaghetti Pasta with Pesto, Beef Scaloppine with mushrooms, Sautéed Flat Beans with Cherry Tomatoes, and Crostata di Ricotta e Marmellata di Pere e Noci. [gallery type="rectangular" ids="836,844,843,842,848,847,841,838"]

When we walked into the kitchen our teacher had all the fresh food spread out on the counter that we would be preparing our meals with for the day. He explained how he bought everything at the farmers market that very morning and chose the menu based on all the produce that was available that day. We made everything from hand that day including fresh hand made chitarra spaghetti. The first two hours were spent exclusively on prepping the food. We split up the work of cleaning and cutting every food. just looking at the food we were all in awe and it was hard to grasp that this would all be turned into a five course meal.

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Slowly we made it through all five courses. It was an interesting process because I am so use to cooking one dish at a time, however we seemed to cook every thing slowly all at once. Each person chose a "job" and we all worked together. From time to time Chef Andrea would stop to advise particular ways of preparing and cooking. For instance he explained when cooking with garlic it is not necessary to even chop the garlic, instead he suggested you first smash the garlic with the skin "on" and simply infuse the garlic in oil until it is brown. And the only time to completely chop garlic is when you use the garlic raw. By around 2 o'clock our meal was finally completed and we all sat down to enjoy our lunch together. Overall it was quite an interesting day and inspired Brad and I to keep cooking every day. If you are interested in any of this recipes, let me know and I will repost!

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-E

One last trip...

With only a couple of weeks left until we headed back to Chicago, Brad and I decided to take a trip down to Napoli for the weekend.  Back in January we had stayed in Napoli for a few days and what we remembered most was its PIZZA! Pizza di Napoli is quite different than the kind you will find in Rome. In Rome, there are two main types of pizza. Pizza taglia, which is basically a pan cut styled pizza that you will find on every corner in Rome. There is also forno a legno pizza or pizza that is cooked in a wood-burning oven. This type of pizza is similar to pizza di Napoli, however they crust is very thin and cracker-like. Whereas, in Napoli the pizza crust is thicker or tall, as Italians refer it to "pizza alta". Also, mozzarella di bufala originates from this region of Italy and you will only find a truly "pure" mozzarella di bufala in Campania. Traditionally, Napoletana pizza will have this type of cheese.  It may sound like the pizza in Italy is very heavy and fattening. However, I have found in Italy that pizza is much lighter than in the States. Usually, pizza is made with the most simple ingredients, tomatoes, mozzarella and basil. Sorry for all this pizza talk, but I really love pizza. So, when Brad and I arrived the first thing we did that night was go out for pizza! Another reason we had wanted to visit Naples was to see their Christmas Market, which begins the first weekend in December. It really is quite a unique experience to walk down the narrow, medieval streets in Napoli.  Every street was completely crowded, it was so insane. Each shop, poured out onto the streets with merchants selling everything from Christmas ornaments, decoration, gifts , almost anything you could think of. However, Napoli is most famous for their hand-crafted Nativity scenes, which range in size, some are quite small while others are as large as a coffee table. A part me really wanted to buy one, but there would be no easy way to pack such an item and take back to Chicago.

Naples is also well-know for a couple of different pastries. The first being, sfogliatella, which Brad and I loved. It is kind of like a baklava, with a flaky, paper like crust. However, inside is a sweet, lemony custard. I would really like to try making some at home sometime. The other pastry is babà, which we did not like as much, but it was still good. It is a soft, cupcake-like pastry except it is infused in Rum. I would have to say, Brad and I really enjoyed learning and discovering many of the different foods that are found in this region of Italy.

In addition to pizza, Brad and I are quite fond of limoncello. Luckily, Napoli is located just about an hour away from Sorrento, the city that limoncello originated from. If you have never had limoncello, it is a type of Italian liquore that is made with infused lemon rinds.  So, of course we made sure we had time to visit Sorrento. Sorrento is a small quaint town located just off the Amalfi Coast of Italian. In addition to stocking up on some limoncello, we took a beautiful walk along the coast and even enjoyed some frutti di mare...seafood. It was a nice, quiet afternoon and then we headed back to Naples for one last night on the town. Naples is right on the coast as well, so we took a walk along their sea that night and of course had to indulge in another pizza . The next day was a bit of a drag because it was raining. We had planned to take another walk, down their Christmas street, but it was so crowded with people and their umbrellas we decided just to head home. It was actually kind of funny walking the streets this time. We had forgotten to bring an umbrella, but since it was so crowded with people and their umbrellas, they actually cover us too. So, we barely got wet! It was a sweet ending to our weekend.

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Eating and Cooking in Italy.

I have always loved cooking, growing up my mom always had my sisters and myself helping out in the kitchen. Lately my sisters and I have taken over, especially now that my parents are out living in New Hampshire. One of my favorites things to do is cooking and hanging out with my sister and I all together. I wish I could be cooking up a storm with them right now! However, I have to say Brad and I have really hit the jack-pot. Not only are we surrounded by the most amazing food, here in Italy, our roommate is an amazing cook. And he has taken upon himself to teach us how to cook–Italian Style. Both Brad and I did a fare amount of Italian cooking when we lived in Chicago, however it is quite different learning some tips and recipes from him. [gallery type="square" ids="245,240,244,239,241,242"]

He has given us tips on making pesto, pasta sauce, potatoes, the list goes on. Recently he taught has a typical Roman dish, fried eggplants. Brad mentioned it was his favorite meal so far. So, we decided to try it.

Check out the short video below:

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And here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

1-2 Eggplants

Flour

1-2 Eggs

Bread Crumbs

Salt

1-2 cups of Oil

Instructions:

1.) Heat oven to 300 degrees

2.) Slice ( into circles) 1-2 Eggplants. Place eggplants on a baking sheet that is lined with parchment paper. Sprinkle with salt and cook for 10 minutes.

3.) While the eggplants are baking: Heat oil in a large pot or Wok (med-low heat), prepare (3) small bowls, one with a cup of flour, one with a 1-2 whisked eggs and one with breadcrumbs.

4.) After 10 minutes, take the eggplants out of the oven. Let cool for 2 minutes.

5.) Take one piece of eggplant. Place into your flour bowl, cover with flour and shake off an excess flour.

6.) Next place your piece of eggplant into your egg bowl. Cover both sides with your egg batter.

7.) Next place your piece of eggplant into your breadcrumb bowl. Cover both sides with breadcrumbs.

8.) Place your piece of eggplant into your oil heated oil. After 1-2 minutes, turn your eggplant over. Then cook the other side for an additional minutes.

9.) Last place your eggplant piece on a plate lined with a paper towel.

10.) Repeat steps 5-9 for each piece of eggplants.

11.) Enjoy!

Of course this is not the most healthy meal. I would not eat this every day. However, it really is hard to feel guilty about eating fried food when we are biking up and down hills everyday.

Tip: If you have any extra eggplants and want to make a quite meal the next day. Brad and I chopped up our leftovers and covered them in a pasta sauce to make a quick and easy eggplant parmesian for lunch the next day.

Brad and I are both excited to learn more recipes and tips from our roommate and I am hoping to post more about food soon!

-E

Yes, we are still awake...

The first 24 hours of traveling from the U.S. to Europe is always kind of brutal. We left Chicago at about 3:30pm and landed in Rome at 11:30 am the next day or 3:30 am in Chicago time. Going home is always a little easier because we are going back in time not forward. It is always hit or miss for me, whether I will fall asleep during the 8 hour or more flight. This time I did not. We were pretty exhausted by the time we arrived, but we still had an hour bus ride to Rome. Getting around was fairly simply for us because we had just been in Rome 8 or so months ago. We knew how to hop on metro once we arrived at Termini, one of the central train stations in Rome. Everything seemed to go like a breeze. From there we took the metro to Piramide/Ostiense, our new neighborhood and found our new apartment, just a 5 minute walk from the train. We met our new roommates, our landlord and then we went to go see our new school and figure out our schedule. Looking back, I am certain we were walking zombies that day. Luckily our day was so busy we didn't even have time to think about being tired. I gotta tell you, we really got lucky regarding our roommates they are awesome!! After we got back to our new place or new roommate gave us a tour of the neighborhood, took us shopping at the local supermarket and came back home and cooked us dinner. In the middle of dinner it finally hit me, I need to sleep!  It was about 10:00pm, we finally crashed into bed and fell asleep immediately. Given, at that the time it was 2:00pm in Chicago time, that meant we had been awake for about 30 hours. I slept for 14 hours that night... [gallery type="square" ids="201,192,191"]

Ciao Roma! We are back...

It is kind of crazy, but Brad and I were in Italy less than a year ago. But, here we are back in Rome! Back in May our landlord in Chicago was pushing us to resign our lease. In the back of my mind, I kept thinking to myself, "do we really want to stay here another year?". At the same time, Brad and I really did not want to go looking for a new apartment to rent in Chicago. We were happy with our place, it had a nice backyard and was relatively cheap. But I had this thought...what if we moved out of Chicago? What would life be like, where should we go? We began by thinking about places we'd like to check out...we even travelled to Austin,TX and New Orleans,LA. In the end, we really loved those cities, but discovered they really did not offer us a much different life than Chicago and they just were not urban enough cities in general.  August hit us and we both thought, "...so what should we do? Where should we go?". Then, I said, "What about Italy?". Italy seemed to offer us so much more!! If we lived in Rome, we would have the big, urban city life that we loved. We could also continue studying the Italian language, but it a better way because we would be completely surrounded by the language. So, here we are! Of course, every day is a little hard not having my parents, sisters and nephews around. Besides that,  so far it has been a very cool and exciting adventure. Using our italian every day, discovering our place in a different city and making new friends!