Food!

Cooking is now in full swing!

Most mornings (well, 11am-3ish...): I'm at Osteria del Gatto (which means doing a whole lot of watching and trying not to be in the way, pitching in here and there, washing dishes, being shown how to make certain dishes, being teased, and eating).

Most evenings: I'm at Societa' Dante Alighieri (which means I'm prepping the room for the students, I'm translating the chef's directions into English, doing dishes, helping with the cooking when it's small groups, being teased, serving dinner, cleaning, chatting, and of course, eating).

This is my chef at home: Gaitana. This is Stefania's mom. I think she has the mom syndrome of thinking everyone must not get enough food, and she takes it upon herself to fix that. "Mangia, mangia, mangia!" It's hard to say no, I don't want to hurt any feelings. Thank goodness it gets easier to decline though: there's another student (Kelli) eating here too, they have the excuse of my wedding dress to tease me about, and I can now tell her I love the food AND I'm full. phew!

A late breakfast for Kelli... but, Stefania is a doll and lays out breakfast for us every morning. Yogurt (which I'm going to miss!! it's so good, not too sweet!), cornflakes, fruit juice, various biscotti, toast, nutella, and WARM milk (love it!). Mmm... Really, Stefania is a peach.

Evidence that Janene is awful at taking pictures of herself. This was only like the fourth try...

This is Sogna (I'm actually not sure if that's how she spells it, but that's how it sounds, remember, the "gn" makes the sound you hear in the word "lasagna"), she's the boss of all bosses in the cooking department at Dante Alighieri. She has the best English out of all of them too. She comes when the groups are huge, 20+ people. She's great.

Alina (sp?), one of the helpers. And the makings for risotto ai funghi.

Sogna explained to me today that Italians don't eat turkey (tacchino) like Americans do. It has no flavor she says. She'd be appalled at Thanksgiving.

This is little turkey strips that were rolled up with bread/eggwhite/aromatic herb-ness inside. Delicious with a mushroom/garlic/oil/sage sauce poured on top.

Serena! I work with her once a week on Wednesday evening, with a huge group of tourists. The way she manages to orchestrate everything, antipasto, primo e secondo piatto, e dolce, for over 20 people, is simply incredible. Brava. And she always wears a chef hat, like so. Awesome!

This is Nando. He teases me the most. Good thing I grew up with brothers and a father, and I can handle it ;) His hat says Al Dente, the way you want your pasta. The sauce is simple, all'aglione (in other words, lots of garlic!!!). Just remember, the pasta goes IN the sauce, not the sauce over the pasta. I know this how? That is how I see it done, day in and day out, and the chefs always tell the class "E' molto importante, mettiamo la pasta nel sugo!!"

Love, love, love this appetizer. That's a bed of spinach, and a little flag of tomato, and in between is the really good stuff. I have to get the recipe from my roommate for this one. Carrot, milk, cheese, egg, olive oil, bread crumb coating. Suprising, but very pleasing.

Tiramisu'. Made with orzo instead of coffee for the BYU cooking class that I helped with last week. I liked it, a lot. Nando didn't eat any, he doesn't like the cream-based sweets. I don't think Enzo ate any either, but I heard him say that it's not as good as with coffee and I think that's why he didn't have any. Yeah, they all think we're weird for not drinking coffee or any alcohol.

Chickpea soup. Mmmm! Jasen, I'll work on clarifying this recipe for you, so you can use your dry beans. And Mom, I thought of you too, 'cause aren't soups just wonderful?

Maiale - Pork. I cannot tell you how good the pork I've had here is!! Luisa has a touch. Me oh my, I'm definitely trying these recipes again!

In the background you can see a piece of fresh baked focaccia. It's so easy, you can try at home!

and I'm giving the measurements how I learned 'em, you may have to do some converting

for about a 9x13 pan:

250mL water (plain old room temp is great)

400g flour

15g yeast

spread parchment paper in the pan. pour "un po' d'olio di olive" on the paper (when they say a little, they're very liberal with that term. pour in olive oil, don't be shy, enough to cover the center, and it'll spread once you put the dough on it). mix the yeast with the water, add to the flour and mix by hand. put the dough in the pan. spread it out, all the way to the corners. leave to rest/rise COVERED for about 20 minutes. poke down with your fingers, NOT with your whole hand (if you don't know what I mean, look up pictures of focaccia bread and look at the little finger-poke marks, and you have to make sure to poke it, otherwise you're bread will double in the oven). sprinkle some salt and rosemary on top. bake at 180-200 degrees Celsius (yes, you're going to have to convert that to Farenheit!) for about 30 minutes. you want it golden and crispy. and it's delicious.

I think this dessert is beautiful. It's a custardy, caramely, almond-biscuity treat!

Janene will miss fresh mushrooms. Very much. I came during mushroom season, and these little puppies are wonderful!

Jasen, be proud!! I ate a kebab the other day. Delicious. Thanks for reminding me, several times. Also, I went to a bakery the other day and found a bread that was more tasty than the typical tuscan saltless bread. And yes, it was cheap. I will miss fresh bread at my fingertips like so.

Thing is, I get fed at home, the restaurant and the school. The times I actually need to go get something to eat are few and far between. But at least I know where to go.

K, more recipes to come, I promise.