Pasta

Today Chef Simone demonstrated how to use an extruding machine to make dry pasta. Dry pasta features semolina flour and water, it dries hard and stores well, and is the sort you find in every grocery. Semolina flour provides the added benefit of a lower glycemic index than flour used in fresh pasta. Dry pasta is served al dente.

Fresh pasta, on the other hand, is made with softer flour (all-purpose) and typically includes an egg. Fresh pasta is great for stretching thin and for stuffed pastas, such as ravioli. Unlike the hearty dry pasta, fresh pasta is served soft, never al dente.

Here is a video of pasta shells being cut from the extruder.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Yg3m6MEnC4&feature=youtube_gdata_player

"We Don't Serve Beer"

As seen in a Costiliogle restaurant.

Venchi Chocolate

Road trip to Venchi chocolate factory, operating since 1878. They ship worldwide, but have only one store in the U.S., on 5th Avenue in NYC.

The factory is historically run by women, and 90% of the workers were, in fact, women. One seventy year old, who worked for Venchi for fifty five years, sported a large, gold Rolex. Also, the workers were very thin, despite the floor to ceiling chocolate.

I tasted chocolate until I could take no more. Excellent. When we tasted the spicy "montezuma" bar made with Mexican chocolate beans, I thought how wonderful this chocolate would be for a mole sauce.

Here is a video of chocolate being dusted with coconut, which reminded me of the classic I Love Lucy chocolate factory episode.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeWMU0zY1I0&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Cooking with Flowers

Today, super handsome Chef Diego Bongiovanni, author of the cookbook Ricette con i Fiori, taught us recipes incorporating the use of flowers.

Last week when Chef Diego showed us how to fashion a potato into a flower, I thought, "That won't fly in Texas, they will mash that little work of art and pour gravy on it." But Chef Diego is doing some interesting things which stretch my thinking. Whether in food or life, that's a good thing.

This photo is of hollow balls of white chocolate filled with a light cream infused with a sauce of rose petals.

Here is video of Chef Diego opening the chocolate for serving.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8Ubzpd5bvs&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Whole Foods Recipe Photo Contest

My friends at Whole Foods sent this link, a photo contest for customers who create and photograph a WF recipe. Looks interesting. http://blog.wholefoodsmarket.com/2011/10/cookie-close-up/

My life is so interesting in Italy

Enologia: Blind Tastings

Gianni organized a blind tasting of two reds and two whites, which we knew only as "vino rosso A and B" and "vino bianco A and B".  We did not focus on the visual exam; rather, our attention was directed to smell (intensity and persistency) and taste (sweetness, acidity, sapidity, alcohol content and tannins) and persistency of the taste.

This was a student confidence building exercise.  Both the red and white A wines had little smell and little persistency of smell.  The same was evident on tasting the "A" red and white.  Basically, there was little to no effect in the mouth, and to the extent it could be detected, it was fleeting.

Vino rosso B and vino bianco B were entirely different, even to we novices.  The contrast was quite evident.  The red "B", which we later learned was a 2004 Salice Salentino "Lacarta" Riserva produced by Francesco Candido, had an intense smell, which was persistent.  In the mouth, it was dry and crisp, sapid, with softer tannins and warm with alcohol.  The taste was very persistent.   

Vino bianco B was a 2009 Langhe Arneis "Blange'" produced by Ceretto.  The smell was slighly intense and persistent.  On tasting, it was dry and crisp with some sapidity.  It had persistence in the mouth.  I liked this white very much, but I wonder if it benefitted from comparison to the white "A" that was so awful.

Vino rosso and bianco "A" turned out to be Tavernello box wines of unknown vintage.  They did, however, bear an expiration date on the label.  

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Our Italian Textbook

Nothing kills a good pasta moment quite like a mathematical equation.

Risotto

Risotto, risotto, risotto.  Seven rice recipes in one, long medium-grain day.  Our school is devoted to canaroli rice, not arborio, which is favored in the States.  The technique is the same, which is why it got tiresome after the seventh recipe.  

Here's the drill:  Sautee onion in olive oil, toast rice for 2 minutes, add white wine and let it absorb, then begin adding broth a ladel or two at a time.  Stirring, of course, all the time.  

The difference in the school's method, aside from the grain, is that from the moment the wine is added, they start a 12-minute timer.  After 12 minutes, they reduce the heat and begin the mantecare process, adding butter, cheeses, olive oil, or all three, depending on the recipe, and stirring for an additional three minutes.  Fifteen minutes, start to finish.

The risotto is runnier, saltier, and more al dente here.  I don't favor overly salty dishes, and it has become a joke that my instructor frequently exhorts "più sale" (more salt) when he tastes my dishes and dramatically throws a fistful of salt on my poor food.

Some varieties include adding saphron, or pumpkin, or horse raddish and salmon,  or goose liver, or duck liver... or coffee.  Yes, coffee.       

The coffee risotto was buttered and contained three cheeses, then served over fresh coffee grinds, pictured here.  Alta cucina.  Really?        

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