All work and no play

All work and no play ... so now its time to check out the pool

 Its so hot and dry here that the spring that we used last time to get drinking water has dried up. Its the end of a very hot dry summer for the guys at Fontana del Papa

Scaloppine al Limone

In Australian the myth is you use veal, but when you dig deeper in Italy it is not so common to slaughter baby cows. The meat they use for scaloppine is "medium" aged beef, so in Australian we would refer to that as a Yearling .
The meat is well hung ( and not in a boy way !!! ) so it is a dryer product. so using Australian meat it would be better to firstly dry with paper towel to reduce the moisture.

Coat the meat in semolina flour and cook medium flame in olive oil until brown set aside. we did this to this stage 1/2 an hour prior to going to the final stage.
In Italy this would be enough time for you to have your Primi course

In the same pan with the pan browning's add 3/4 cup of full fat milk ( not cream ) along with

zest of lemon and juice to taste.

 

Simmer down, stirring constantly to form a sauce, add back in the meat

 

Turn over and warm the other side.

 

Serve with a rocket salad dress in olive oil

 this is the 1st time we have seen this cooked in milk and the end result was a tender meat full of flavour

 

Spaghetti alla Carbonara

To date in Italy we have had mixed feelings about Spaghetti alla Carbonara done in restaurants as well as at cooking classes, Andrea shows us 3 of his secrets and its a winner hands down.

This is a definite for the Retreat's kitchen

Remove the rind

Dice into slices

 

 Heat oil in pan cook for 10ish min's 

 

Add 1/2 cup white wine then simmer

Reduce by 1/2 over the next 5min's or so

 

 

 Beat 2 eggs     ( if serving for 6 )

 

Gradually whisk in this much micro grated parmesan cheese ... bit by bit ... slowly incorporating this is one of the secrets. It takes time to bring all the parmesan and the egg into a firm paste.

 

  

 

 Get handy Sandy to add lots of ground pepper

 

So as I said we want it like a paste

 

 Yep yep got it ... its a paste ( secret 1 )

 

Add cooked packet pasta ( best for this dish ) to the pancetta ... yes Italians do use dried pasta.

 

 

Take it off the hot flame ( secret 2 )

 

Add the egg and parmesan "Paste" and a little say 1/4 cup of the hot pasta water ( secret 3 )

Fold for a minute or so, off the heat, the hot pasta will cook the egg and coat the spaghetti.

 

 Till is looks like this.

 

Looks even better on the plate, simple ... but so many chefs get it wrong, even Italian ones...

Today it is pure perfection and yumoooooooo Thanks Andrea

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today is all about the pasta, the right pasta, for the right dish.

Over the past 2 cooking trips to Italy in 2013/14 years we have cooked here and then gone home to try out the recipes and sometimes with varied success.

The Italianism was just missing, now we are back in Italy to hone in on the exact little details that make our taste buds sing.

To learn more detailed secrets from local cooks that we didn’t see or absorb or just plain missed the 1^st 2 times round.

This time we will end our cooking adventures in Sicily where we hope to experience a whole new food region.

Anyway let’s not jump ahead just yet ... today is only our 2^nd day and 2^nd cooking class.

The varying degrees of language has made us assume certain details because of our previous cooking experience and up bringing in Australia.

Here in Fontana del Pupa where we have cooked in several classes in the past, so today it’s the finer details about why our pasta was looser at home and has a different mouth feel and bite, not bad just different.

 

We often make pasta in Australia with pasta flour and no semolina ! granted it has a beautiful silky smooth texture that is great for filled pasta like ravioli, but not for pasta sauce dishes.
Now we are in the land of a million experts on pasta so we will just have to take away just that little bit more information and do with it as we can as there are loads of sizes and shapes and they all have there place in the 20 food regions of Italy so we will never be able to master all. Assuntina’s is Roman so growing up for her pasta was more meaty in texture and more satisfying to the bite.
So now it’s even down to whether we should use a finer or coarser semolina. So hang on its going to be a debatable ride, one that I won't be having with any Italians!!!! 

So 1 pasta is not for every dish!!

 

Today is all about the pasta, the right pasta, for the right dish, Roman dish that is!!!

Well of course there is semolina flour "fine"

and about the average size egg to 100grams flour ... but this all depends on the size of the egg, the humidity of the day and the water content of the flour when it was milled ... simple! yes

Bla bla bla yep got the next steps (don't use a food processor) do it by hand use a rolling pin ( not a pasta machine ) bossy lady this Assuntina

The next picture tells a 1000 words

 

As does this one

 

But here is "the trick" which we have missed, back home because we were using pasta flour and not

semolina ours was sticky and didn't unravel on the back of a knife. 

 

 

 

Cleaver little beavers

 

 Now for todays simple sauce remember it all about the pasta "Not the Sauce" oil, garlic, parsley and later we added truffle.

 

Find someone to drop the pasta into the hot salted water ... thanks Andrea, Assuntina 23 year old son now helping out with the cooking school.

 

 

 

 You want to see foamy water when it is getting close to cooked.

 

Other tools of the trade

 

The finished dish ( sorry crape picture ) will get a better one off Sandy camera when I can work out how to do that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A bit of down time for Italian Love, Intrigue and Mysteries

Its a great feeling when all your luggage arrives, and also staying the first few days at a place that you have been to before, it gives time to regroup and get into the new time zone (Italy is currently 8 hours behind Australia)
We always pack a mix of Sandy things in my case and mine in hers just in case. So a bit of time was spent resorting out the cases and getting ready for the adventures in front of us.

3 months without English TV hmmmm  ... so when I find a music channel with some light entertainment and of course some ancient 80's music i'll be set ... its wont be pretty to watch but in the privacy of one's hotel room where no one can see me cracking out the dance moves .. poor Sandy the things she cant un-see!!
No current picture available ....... luck for you too!!

So have packed a great collection of Italian love, intrigue and mystery books so that should help keep us entertained when Sandy hasn't got me at cooking classes.

But alas no time for

the books just yet ... its time for our 1st cooking class with Assuntina at Fontana del Papa.

back to you later Caio

We Have Arrived

We arrived last night into Tolfa at 8pm Friday 25th August Italian time ... what a day... plane delayed again ... Car hire company down graded our car as the plane was so late so we lost our booking, not sure how that works even though we had paid up front back in February. But we are in Italy and nothing is going to spoil this for us so we will have to take it up with travel insurance later.

Bruschetta for dinner under the grape vines over looking the dry hills of later summer and still 28deg.

The air is so dry even though we are only 30km in from the Tyrrhenian Ocean 

Chalk and Cheese

The memories of our 2013/14 trips are coming back and “OMG Emirates” what a beautiful way to fly.

The airlines can fit out their planes as they like and again on the trip the winners is Emirates beautiful A380. From the moment you board and walk up the internal grand staircase to upper deck complete with a water feature and beautiful flower arrangement at the top.

Now I have time to sit back and survey my surrounding from my own cocoon getting ready for our next leg to Rome.

Nice my own little mini bar stocked with Perrier, Evian, pineapple juice and some little cans of soft drinks and a drinks fab menu for all the other options.

 

The TV is a flat screen built into the burr walnut cabinetry in front and off the my left is an iPad, power points and the timber tray table that swing out as one piece is big enough for my computer and drinks hmmmm ... work and play!

 

My Sands looking a tad shattered its been a long day! 
The hostie greets me with a large soft hot towel to freshen up with, then a glass of Venve Clicquot now in pure heaven …  Champs gone and a bit too quick !! now it’s time for a Bloody Mary served with hot nuts so now I’m ready to fly.

Our lovely hostie Elvira … my new best friend after serving me a few drinks is so cute with her Italian accent, and when she finds out that we are heading to her island of Sicily she says ( I explain you ) brings us a list of all to do and place to see as well as what is typical foods to make sure we experience as much as possible that Sicily has to offer.


Sicily doesn’t have a traditional drink but tells us the Moscato comes from a small island just below Sicily, not a big Moscato drinker but as they say when in Rome.

She than says that we should try the street food as it is very Sicilian, so Pana Con Milza ( bread with spleen ) she can tell by the looks on our faces that offal is not a preference for us but she convinces us that it tastes amazing so we will have to give it a try.  

Anyone that knows me knows I love a linen serviette and todays one comes with a button hole … how refined!! 
Lunch is served and I choose the Traditional Arabic mezze

Hummus, artichoke with mushrooms, stuffed vine leaves and Shanklish salad

One of our male hostie is from Lebanon and told us that Shanklish is an aged cheese (sort of like crumbly dried ricotta to me) the Shanklish salad is to the top right of the green olive 

With our lunch we had a Planeta Santa Cecilia Noro d’Avola 2013 from Sicily so we will be hunting that down also.

It’s from the southern extremity of the island, in the commune of Noto, the white soils and ancient vines there represents the epicentre of Nero d’Avola cultivation, well that what is says on the bottle so I will keep you posted about those white soils!

Dates stuffed with almonds so Emirates

 

    

After lunch a Hennessy XO cognac and some chocolates

Bliss so let’s settle back in for a movie that Sandy has wanted to see for a long time “Lion” ouch was that a tear jerker.