The second day of cooking

Today's class started at 9:30am (yesterday's was from 3:00pm) and it's a different instructor, Chef Gianpiero. He is more outgoing and energetic than Chef Davide and speaks English pretty well. Also, I had new 3 classmates (just 1, yesterday).

The menu is Potato Cake, Carbonara, Turkey Cutlet, and Egg Yolk & Mascarpone Cream with Almond Brittle.


Potato cake

Mashed potato was mixed with chard, egg white and parmesan cheese. It wasn't bad but I wish we had added a bit more parmesan cheese,

Carbonara
We made a fresh pasta again. But Chef Gianpiero's style was somehow different from Chef Davide's. Chef Gianpiero doesn't measure nor does he mix two kinds of flour. It's always good to know multiple ways, then I have options to choose from. We made two versions of spaghetti, one with the pasta machine and the other by hand cut. Since I wanted a challenge I chose hand cut. It was slightly thicker than what the pasta machine made. But I think I was close enough. Either way, it's not round but square cut. But you won't see that much difference after cooking

I've seen carbonara made with whole egg or egg yolk only. Chef Gianpiero's recipe uses the whole egg. I've heard original carbonara doesn't use cream but he did. I guess there are many variations even within Italy. One thing I should mention is guanciale. Guanciale is a cured cheek meat and a specialty food in Central Italy. The chef mixed pancetta and guanciale. I knew the authentic carbonara uses guanciale but it's not easy to find in the US (even if you can find it, it'll be very expensive). I was so excited to see guanciale for the first time. Of course, this is a real carbonara so that it's not like alfredo with a fried egg on top. Hot boiled pasta was tossed into an egg, cream and cheese mixture so that the egg is cooked indirectly by the heat of the pasta. Half cooked egg makes it creamy.

                                                    Very rich. Guanciale is salty and yummy!

Turkey Cutlet

It was perfectly executed cutlet. Evenly colored and the right amount of breadcrumbs. But it was lacking flavor. The egg wash had some seasoning, including some cheese. And the breadcrumbs had some spices. I think they were too subtle. Also, the accompanying sauce is mascarpone, beets and curry powder but again, everything was too subtle. The other classmates liked this though.

Egg Yolk & Mascarpone with Almond Brittle

The cream was pretty simple: egg yolk, sugar and mascarpone (again, the egg yolk wasn't cooked). And topped with almond brittle. But it didn't taste simple.

Later that evening, we went to a restaurant called Anna Maria, with 2 other classmates. This was a restaurant recommended by Chef Davide and a traditional Bolognese food restaurant.

                                          Complimentary mortadella

Because we wanted to try as many dishes as possible, we asked the server if they could do a half order for the pastas. The server was reluctant but said it's ok for ladies. Since we had two women at the table, we asked for two half-order-pastas.

                                                  Gnocchi with gorgonzola (This is full size)

                                                       Tortelloni with tomato sauce

                                                              Tortellini with ragu

Their pasta dishes weren't that big. That's probably why they didn't want to do a half order.... Anyway, they were very simple but pretty good. Again, the gorgonzola was subtle.

Simple salad. It doesn't come with any dressing. The server brought olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper separately.

                                            Vegetable soup - very hearty and tasty

                                          Rabbit with (most likely) pancetta

We were pretty happy with the meal. Now, we were ready for dessert. We asked for the dessert menu. We were told to wait. The two servers looked very busy (but the restaurant wasn't full...). In 10 minutes, we asked again, but we were told "later" again.... We waited more but nobody comes to our table. What's going on?? Is it because we ordered half-portions? I guess not.... because I see customers being frustrated like us. Some of them went to the cashier to pay. At this point, the restaurant was even less crowded. So, we decided to leave, asking for check. It took a while to receive the check and pay as we expected. Too bad that they couldn't offer a good service to match the food.

Tomorrow, we are going to Parma again to visit a parmesan cheese factory. I thought we couldn't get an appointment but one company replied to my email. We need to be there at 7:30 so we have to set the alarm for 5:00. It's early but I'm really looking forward to it.