Italian cooking class

The class was a success!  I taught the class how to make my bolognese ragu sauce (the recipe can be found in my blog).  It was delicious.  I cooked it the day before for eight hours.  The key to this recipe is the cooking time.........long and SLOW.  The other three lessons of the evening were on wine pairing and making a salad of mushrooms and parmigiano in a lemon vinaigrette, and a goat cheese crostini topped with caramelized onions, crunchy pancetta bits, pine nuts and a drizzle of honey..........yummy stuff!

Everyone ate, drank wonderful italian wines and liquors, and laughed a lot.  I considered the evening a real success around 11 pm when I was finished with my role.  I gazed across the kitchen counter into the dining room to see everyone gathered around the dining room table,  laughing and sharing stories with a table full of digestivo bottles of Sambuca, Limoncello, Frangelico, and of course grappa.  Bellies were full and happy, smiles  were plentiful and the evening made new friendships along with treasured old friends making new memories.  I felt blessed to have had this opportunity to bring a bit of my Italian heritage to my new friends.  The real joy was witnessing a true Italian gathering:  Everyone crowded around a table, eating, drinking and sharing. 

The evening started with the island layered with many antipasto items.  Olives, hunks of Italian cheeses, meats and breads.  The star of the antipasto was the crostini.  I had the help of Julie and Tom.  The layers of goat cheese, caramelized onions, crunchy pancetta pieces, pine nuts and drizzles of honey made this a real tasty treat.  The textures and flavors are pure perfection.  I encourage you to give this a try.  The only trick here is caramelizing the onion.  To do that, just saute onions with olive oil, salt and pepper and a tablespoon or two of sugar.  Cook them long and slow:  About 20 to 30 minutes on medium heat.  I also prepared a special selection of mine.  It was a very complex dish, but, I knew this crew could handle the challenge.  I took radicchio which is a brave move on my part.  Radicchio is very bitter.  I wrapped it with pancetta slices ( Italian bacon) and cooked it on the stove top in a saute pan browning all sides of the pancetta.  The other layer of this was the pickled red onion which was marinated in red wine vinegar, sugar and salt.  I layered the dish with the red onions first then topped them with the radicchio wrapped in pancetta and topped it all off with a balsamic reduction.  This was not for the weak palate.  Everyone did a great job and really were surprised with the results of complimenting ingredients.  It was a special dish to savor.

The antipasto didn't stop there.  We also had endive stuffed with sausage, mushrooms, red pepper, parmigiano cheese and pine nuts.  We really need to embrace vegetables for stuffing.  There are more options than you can imagine.  Not just mushrooms.  Endive is a wonderful option and adds a nice crunch (not to mention the beautiful presentation it offers).  Don't forget, we eat with our eyes first.  I also added one of my favorite crostini toppers, a bowl of cannellini beans with chopped red onion, garlic and parsley topped with olive oil and a touch of vinegar.  These are all so simple to make, yet so delightful.  Try some of these antipasto ideas instead of the typical ones.

The first course was the salad.  I wanted an earthy start for everyone to savor.  Ragu di Bolognese is a very earthy dish.  The intention of the salad was to cleanse the palate with the bright flavor of lemon and lemon zest, but, to begin the strong taste of earthy crimini mushrooms.  This prepared everyone for the mouthful that was coming with the ragu.  The mushroom salad recipe will follow..

The ragu di Bolognese was a bowl full of pappardelle (wide egg noodles) smothered in the meaty, earthy flavors of porcini mushrooms, veal, pork, and beef that was braised in red wine and tomatoes.  This was a meal in itself, however, a real Italian dinner has a meat dish that follows the pasta.  The meat dish I chose to follow was pork tenderloin braised in tomatoes, porcini and button mushrooms wine and cream.  How can you possible go wrong with that combination?  It was a very deep, earthy and bold flavor that married so well with the wine selection of Vino Nobile.  You must try this wine, but, make sure your dish can stand up to it as it is a fairly big wine.  As for the pork dish, well, it is amazingly simple to make, but, tastes like it is much more difficult.  I served olive polenta with it as well as fried finnochio (fennel).  It is blanched first so it takes the strong licorice flavor away to make it a delicate vegetable you will love.  All those flavors were absolutely perfection together.  Just like a happy family.  The pork recipe will follow.

After all this savory food, the need for something sweet is there.  We chose to make two different desserts.  The one I was most happy with was the capri orange mascarpone tart.  The other was an almond cake with chocolate ganache.  While I liked the cake, it was more of a breakfast cake to me, good for dunking in coffee.  I think I would choose something a little different next time.  The tart was so light and really good.  It topped off the meal perfectly since everyone was pretty fat and happy at this point.  They still fit it in without a problem.  This tart recipe will follow with the others.

Digestivo is what italians call an appertif.  We really believe that these wonderful liquors help us to digest all we ate.  I think it is the perfect reason to linger around the table longer and share more time with those you have gathered with to share in great food and great fun.  My favorite liquors are Limoncello, (I make my own most of the time), Sambuca, which is a licorce tasting liquor, and Frangelica, a liquor that tastes like hazelnut.  All are so delicious.

I hope you enjoyed your journey with me to my italian cooking class, trust me we all did have a wonderful night to remember.  Hope you create your own special evening with some of these recipes.  Enjoy!