Cooking With Enrico Or Sex In The City Venetian Style

So as Sandy mentioned Enrico Rocco is rather a celebrity in the food circles of Italy. So I was looking forward to seeing how and where a cooking "celeb" would live in Venice. We left our apartment bound for the other side of the main island of Venice, via our Vaperetto stop to the Vap stop on the other side of the Grand Canal, than a 15min walk. You could see her stop some 200 m down the canal but like all in Venice you may be able to see it but it is not always a straight route to get there! Hence so many Vap stops and some being so close to each other but just on the other side of the canal. This however is not always that easy as some Vaps go only one way and the other Vaps only go the other. Plus to make it even that little bit more complicated they don't always stop at all the Vap stops anyway!!! So after a day or so the tourist with a weekly ticket (us) will get the hang of it. For 50€ each is money well spent as a single ticket for 75min can cost 7€ for a tourist orrrrr 1.30€ if you look in a non tourist Vap stop, I just new that there had to be a locals price somewhere. It ended up a lot of fun using the Vaps and the Vaps weren't always as crowded as the one from last weeks recky adventure. They certainly give your calf and toe mussels a work out trying to grip to the boat as it stops and started like bucking bull rearing to get out of the gates. I figure we got our money's worth as we went around the Grand Canal several time and to the outer island of Munaro twice some 30 min away and a trip to Lido 20min in the other direction, just riding and enjoying the sights, we never tired of the scenery on and off the Vaps. I did see some freeky s--t sometimes, so eyes down and heads forward!!! But mostly very safe and you also got to see some beautiful and kind sights as the local oldies this is the only way to get around so they were helped on and off by staff and passengers. So we arrive to Enrico Rocco's Ferrari red front door from a very narrow Calla with the walls reaching up 3stories above and the slit of sun light that would be able to reach the cobbles below for a few minuets a day. We are greeted by Anne the cutest little French lady with the whole sexy French thing "going on" as she walked us up the internal steps in her "O" so French brunch coat dressy thing, basically from a boys perspective was a stripy blue and cream bag with elastic at the neck and at the hem line just above the knee and yep I,m sure it would have coat a bundle and she wore that bag "well" and the shoes were stiletto bootish things! partly open with lace socks and a draw string and a tassels to stop them disappearing down into the boots, very practical for a cooking class may be not but she was french and she did still managed to do some cooking stuff and she was loads of fun to watch. Well I couldn't let all that french "ooze" go to waste now could I! Enrico was more hmmm how can I say it, distant and a bit aloof but oh so charming perhaps a couple too many bubbles in the afternoon with the other two girls or just a bit to much on her mind, but she was a wealth of information. She also dressed to kill and with jewels that were so funky and a BIG diamond probably 1.5 carrots set into a black metallic disk some 30mm dia. She would open a drawer and hunt for some thing she needed with a dam dam dam when did I put that? Emma was the practical one, the one that kept the whole show on the road with loads of skills and actually gets her hands dirty in a veggie garden in South Africa, sure she said she has help and at 300 € a month for a helper why wouldn't you, but you can just tell the she herself has came from the grass roots and is very connected with the earth and a hard worker. What a funky modern apartment it was and so much fun from the onset. It was Enrico's family palace from bygone generations which has now been turned into 17 apartments that some of her extended family still live in, as well as some rented out for income for the family. Her apartment was once the laundry. Her stepmother still lives in a sector and is still of the very old fashion life with help provided from a past and current wealth. Enrico's apartment is on the top floor and all the internal walls were removed and a loft bedroom space was created another floor up. The kitchen was in the double storied area and the lounge was under the mezzanine. Up stairs in the bed area, well I did have to use the loo soon after I got there, it was mostly glass and over looks the bottom area and the shower was completely open to view, perhaps not a family apartment and that suited her to the tee. Also at the top of the stairs looking over the proceeding below was a mannequin with a amazing big Venice ball gown that she has for carnivaley. Enrico is in her mid 50's and has been through 2 marriages, and well she said she likes men but just doesn't want them around all the time. She travels extensively between England and Venice and around the world for her food passion. The apartment was like a bachelor pad but for a woman!! Both the other 2 girls were also between marriages! It was a bit like Sex In The City Venice style with our private cooking class thrown into the boiling pot! They all went out of there way and made it so much fun and perhaps a few to many bubbles but a nice drop of 2012 Sangiuseppe DOCG of course. We worked around a 4m x 2m solid timber island bench of which we also sat on bar stools of the brightest yellow, green, blue and red dyed hairy animal hides that looked they may have come from Africa. On the floor was a zebra rug, yes so not "PC" and sitting on the zebra's back was a long modern glass table 900mm height and housed a collection of cooking books and glass from Munro. Yep yep I know, but it was there on the floor and we can't bring the poor thing back now, so all one can do is admire and respect what once was! The art work on the walls were also full of colour and very abstract, one big arched window on the back wall that filled the height of most of the 2 stories that just flood the whole space with light. There were several small double opening windows on both sides of the apartment and these were the typical windows and of historical value and were of original theme that had to be maintained in these locations and they viewed the old palaces courtyard garden the calla and the small canal below. The Bubbles and wine were DOCG as Enrico is passionate about protecting the italian wine and food industry if not the "african wild life" and it stands for Denominazione di Origine Controllata Garrentie Demographic Original Controlled Guarantee This is so the consumer is aware that the wine is from a registered producer, that is has to come from and has been produced in the correct area that it should be grown and that is controlled and policed, it is of the original style of manufacture and of the correct variety of grape. This also has weight with food, cheeses and balsamic vinegars also DOP Enrico's commented that eating well these days is becoming so expensive, but it does not have to be expensive if you utilise all your ingredients. They waste nothing, all older veggies and the off cuts from seafood and meats are turned into vege, fish or meat stocks for later meals, you never throw away the flavour base. All older bread is turned into bruschetta, into bread gnocchi or crumbed, fresh Italian bread has no shelf life if its is baked in the morning it is a brick by the next, so most people bake there own bread at lunch time for dinner that night sure in the il supermercato you can get a commercial style for a sandwich which is available but you buy this in bags of 6 to 10 pieces and it is with out the crusts. So as we prepared the dinner refer to Sandy's notes for the menus the sun set by 9 pm it is now a respectable time for a Venetian and their guest to sit and enjoy good food wine and conversation. Ciao Ciao