Last weeks school week was uneventful besides the fact that we have finally began planning trips. My bank account will for sure be negative when I return to the states in a few months. We have officially booked Amsterdam for next weekend for Amanda's Birthday. Also spring break has been booked after hours and hours of planning. We are going to four countries in nine days, which is pretty impressive. We will be going to Barcelona, Dublin, Scotland and ending in Belgium for Sensation White.
We kicked off the weekend Thursday night at Dantes, which is a restaurant that is known for giving free wine to students. They are also known for their pizza so we all ordered pizza and e ate our way through them. Here in Italy they eat their pizza completely different from America it was weird to get use to but I finally am. After we ventured to the best gelato place here in Florence. For those that visit its called La Carraia, must go and enjoy the amazing taste of gelato. Obviously a night would not be complete with out a drink at Naima, only our favorite bar here.
Friday, I woke up at 8 for my first friday field trip. We went to countryside of Tuscany to a place called Salati Bene. For the field trip we were taught how to cook a four course Italian meal from scratch. There were four different stations for each course of the meal. We were divided in groups of five. I decided to work at the station where you would learn how to make pasta from scratch. The recipe calls for 200 grams of regular white flour and then 200 grams of another less common flour semola. You place the flour on the table and clear an open circle to place four eggs in. Then we had to use a fork and mix the eggs and slowly take some of the flour and mix it with the eggs. Once all the flour and eggs were mixed together we had to knead the dough.
Flour and Egg about to be mixed
We were told to knead the dough until it was as soft as a baby’s bottom this took a good twenty-five minutes. The dough had to sit out for twenty minutes and then placed through a pasta maker to flatten it. We had to place the dough through the pasta maker about 12 times in order to get it to be the perfect thickness for the ravioli. We then made the inside of the ravioli, which consisted of spinach, ricotta, salt pepper, Parmesan cheese, and a pinch of nutmeg. Once we had the pasta rolled out and the inside of the ravioli made we were ready to make the raviolis.
Pasta Maker!
HOME MADE PASTA
Home made Spinach Ravioli
Unfortunately, it took so long to make the pasta I did not get to see the other parts of our meal being made. The other three stations consisted of the anti pasta, another type of pasta gnocchi and the dessert. I cant really explain how these three dishes were made since I did not watch or help make.
The first dish in a four course Italian meal is the antipasti. For this meal the antipasti was crostini, three different types. Eggplant, Bell Pepper and Bruschetta. They are served on a slice of bread.
Crostini
After the antipasti comes the pasta dish, for this meal there were two pasta dishes. The Spinach and Ricotta Ravioli followed by the Potato Gnocchi with Tomato and Basil Sauce.
Spinach Ravioli
Gnocchi with Tomato and Basil Sauce.
The third dish of the meal is the meat dish, for this dish we ate Arista al Latte, which translates to roast pork with milk. The roast pork was seasoned with fresh rosemary, and sage. The spices were picked form their garden which I was mesmerized by. In America you simply go to the grocery store to get your spices but here everything is fresh and picked the day you make the meal, which allows for the meals to be so flavorful its indescribable.
Arista al Latte
After those three dishes everyone was full but of course there was still room for the famous dessert of Tiramisu. Sadly I was unable to have it because of my allergy. I am yet to eat a dessert here, but they all look so amazing.
Tiramisu
After reading about all the food that was prepared you all are probably thinking that I did not eat any of the food since I am by far the pickiest eater known to man but that has changed here. I tried everything we cooked and I actually loved it all! The gnocchi has a weird consistency but I am sure that in time I could get use to it. I think its safe to say that I may have finally branched out from the American meal of chicken fingers for once in my life.
That’s all for now, the adventure of my 24 hour spontaneous trip to Venice will be posted soon!
No comments:
Post a Comment