4th day of cooking class

Today’s class started from 3:00pm. I couldn’t have a dinner after the class (I'd be too full), so we decided to go for a nice lunch. We have had a quite few Bolognese foods since we arrived in Bologna. So, we wanted to try something different. I checked some information online and found a Sardinian food restaurant, which is close to the school. Unfortunately, it was closed for the summer. This was not the first time we'd run into this. I guess it’s not a good idea to come to Italy between August and early September. It’s a summer vacation time for the local people.

So, we decided to give a shot to one restaurant near University of Bologna because they had  pasta with boar meat sauce. The restaurant is called Trattoria Belle Arti. We had some communication problem with the waiter. He seemed to speak English well so we assumed he understood what we wanted. But unfortunately, the pasta dish with boar meat sauce was eliminated from the order…..

Anyway, the first dish was pasta with octopus in tomato sauce.  It’s almost like what I cooked at the school yesterday. Only difference is squid vs. octopus. And this is much spicier. This is the first noticeably spicy food I’ve had since I arrived in Bologna. Very tasty.

At this point, we realized this is a southern Italian restaurant. But I don’t know why they serve boar meat sauce, which is a specialty of the Tuscany region. The next dish was fish that the waiter recommended. We didn’t really understand what it was but decided to take his recommendation (Sometimes, we need to take a risk!). Seeing a whole fish on the plate was a nice surprise. And only 9.00 Euro a plate.

The fish was slightly overcooked but not so dry because it was served in the broth. The seasoning was very light but I think it was appropriate preparation to serve a whole fish.

The dessert was a cake with pistachio and ricotta. I was surprised to see the bright green. It was just ok.

The meal ended with a complimentary limoncello. It was a pretty good limoncello.

 

Today’s class was supposed to be for 2 students like yesterday. However, my classmate didn’t show up so that it turned out to be a private class, yay! Today’s menu was seafood again - lots of seafood since yesterday. I’m not complaining at all! The menu was marinated salmon, swordfish and potato filled pasta, sautéed shrimp and panna cotta.  

Marinated Salmon

The salmon was sliced and pounded to the right thickness, then marinated with lemon juice, orange juice, salt and pepper. It was served on top of a potato hash.

 

The salmon was really nice. Orange juice enhanced the fresh flavor and toned down the sharp tanginess of the lemon. I thought it was a bit weird to eat with potato. But it’s not too bad if I imagine Peruvian ceviche?

Filled Pasta

This is the first filled pasta I’ve made. The filling is somewhat unique, mashed potato and chopped swordfish. Filled pasta is traditionally eaten in northern Italy but seafood is not. Most of the common filling in the north is either cheeses or meats. When southern Italians started to eat filled pasta, they made their own version of filling with seafood. So, this is a fusion food between north and south.

Normally, we make pasta without using the pasta machine. But Chef Giampiero chose the pasta machine this time because he wanted very thin pasta. I was successful using the thinnest number in the dial of the pasta machine. Because the pasta gets wider as it gets thinner, I was worried that the pasta would get too wide to fit into the machine at some point. But Chef gave me a trick to avoid this by pulling the dough. Then, the pasta was cut into circles and folded after adding the filling. The boiled pasta was tossed with left over fish liquid when we cooked the swordfish, butter and sage. The chef was happy with my pasta.

Very good. I really enjoyed making this dish. If I made this again, I would use more fish and less potato in the filling.

Sautéed shrimp  

A very simple dish. Shelled shrimp was sautéed with garlic and olive oil and served over greens. The chef said cooking shrimp with its shell is more common in Italy because the shell protects its meat from over cooking. In the US, most shrimp dishes are prepared with shelled and deveined shrimp. But in such simple cooking method, I prefer shelled shrimp.

 

 

I also noticed some differences in plating between the US and Italy. There is no concept of “plating” in rustic and homey Italian dishes (just transfer to the plate). But when Italians actually “plate” dishes, the way they space each component was different. I see lots of empty spaces and some of them are close to the center of the plate so that it looks like it’s missing something. Also, the main ingredient is not necessarily placed in the center or front.

I was trying to take a picture in this direction

But then, the chef corrected in this direction

It could be just this chef. But I’ve seen several other interesting ways of plating in Italy.

 

Panna cotta

This is a simple panna cotta with real vanilla. Yes, it has to be real vanilla.

Simple but very good. Quite an abstract decoration, though….

Tomorrow is the last day of the class and we are moving to Torino. We wanted to go to Lyon, France directly but couldn’t find a train to arrive on the same day. So, we decided to spend a night in Torino. Let’s see what it is like.