I Went to Cooking School in Italy

Among the many things I did and saw in Italy, I attended culinary classes at Siena's Dante Alighieri School. So of course, immediately upon my return home, I decided to employ my new skills in my own kitchen. Several differences made the home experience a little challenging.

For instance, in Siena, we cooked on gas stoves, of course. No self-respecting cook would choose electric over gas. Except me. Actually, I have no choice. My street has no gas line running to it, so I have few options: electric stove or Big Green Egg. And the Dante Alighieri School doesn't do Big Green Egg. So electric it was.

Another challenge was measurement conversion. All of my recipes call for metric measurements. My measuring cups have markings for liters, but I didn't know how to convert grams to cups. Fortunately, many experts have already put such information on the Internet. Thank you, Google.

But the biggest challenge of all was that I did not have my instructors, Sonia and Louisa, next to me, explaining the intricacies of preparing these delicious recipes. And I had several questions: How finely does one cut the Swiss chard? And what is Swiss chard, anyway? If I use the kale already cut up in the bag, should I cut it up more? What is caster sugar, and where can I find it in Savannah? What is double cream? When the recipe calls for milk, should I use whole milk, or will 2% do?

The web helped me answer some of my questions, but others I had to wing it. And the result was, well, underwhelming.

First of all, I spent this afternoon cooking from the recipe book Sonia and Louisa gave me (it's already looking pretty tattered). And just when dinner was about ready, Davis walked in and reported that he was going out to eat with She Who Must Be Obeyed. These recipes make enough for two dozen people, and I was counting on Davis to eat. He can chow down enough food for at least one dozen. With him out of the equation, I was going to have gallons of leftovers.

When I served the ribollito, I couldn't help noticing Stephen adding lots of salt and pepper to his. I could understand that. When I cook a new recipe, I'm nervous about seasonings and often use too little. Lawson, however, turned his nose at the dinner as soon as he saw green stuff in it.


"Can I have a sandwich?" he asked.

"No," I replied. "This is dinner."

He protested a bit more, until I said, "You can eat this, or you can go to bed." He choked down his ribollito, but I knew he wouldn't be asking for seconds. Now I have two big containers of it in my fridge.

My crostini ai tre formaggi was much more successful. I knew it would be. When we made this antipasto in Siena, I declared that I could eat these savory slices alone for dinner. When Davis reported he was going out to eat, I told him he first had to try the crostini. After the first one, he asked how many more he could eat. Stephen ate several of them, as did my mother in-law, sister in-law, and brother in-law. Big hit there! We'll definitely have those again.


Dessert was also tasty, just not as visually appealing as the one we ate in Siena. At our first dinner at the Dante Alighieri School, our dessert was pannacotta con frutti di bosco. Immediately I fell in love with this congealed creamy treat with fresh berries, and I couldn't wait to share it with Stephen and the boys. Although the pannacotta I had in Siena stood tall on its own, my Savannah panacotta lacked the same posture.



This is what a successful pannacotta looks like.







This is what mine looks like.









It tasted just as good as what I had in Siena, but because it flopped onto the plate like a sick jellyfish, I had to explain to my family that dessert was not yogurt and berries with a fancy name. Once they took a bite, they were sold. Still, I'll have to try this dessert again and see if I can get it to stand up straight.

So while I'm proud of my experience at an Italian cooking school (especially when I wear my Dante Alighieri apron), I'm not yet ready for Food Network. Maybe in a few weeks or so. I'll keep working on my skills and report back regularly. Meanwhile, feel free to try these recipes out yourself. If your pannacotta congeals successfully, please let me know.

Ribollita
(The recipe says it's for 8 people, but really, it's for about 28)
300 gr of dried cannellini (or other white) beans (I used navy) soaked overnight
5 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium red onions, peeled and finely chopped
2 stalks celery, trimmed and finely chopped
500 gr silverbeet or Swiss chard, washed, trimmed and finely sliced
800 gr cavolo nero, washed, trimmed and finely sliced (I used kale)
1 tbsp tomato paste
1/2 small red dried chili, crumbled
salt and pepper to taste
250 gr white country style bread, cut into slices about 1/2 cm
extra virgin olive oil to serve

Drain the soaked beans and put them into a large pot. Cover with plenty of cold water and bring to a boil With a slotted spoon, remove any scum that comes to the surface. Lower the heat slightly and cook until the beans are tender (at least an hour). Add more water when necessary to keep the beans well covered. Season with salt and pepper about halfway through. Meanwhile, in a large, separate pot, heat the olive oil. Add the onion and the celery and saute until they have softened. Add the silverbeet (I used Swiss chard) and cavolo nero (I used kale) and saute for a while longer, until they have softened and their volume has reduced. Cover with about 3 liters of water and bring to a boil. Season with salt and pepper and the chili and tomato paste. When it comes to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for about an hour and a half. Put the bread slices onto an oven tray and put in a hot oven until they are quite dry and keep aside. Drain the cannellini beans, keeping about 1 cup of their cooking water. Puree half of the beans with this water, leaving the rest of the beans whole. Add both to the soup pot in the last 10 minutes or so of the cooking time. Put an abundant ladelful of the thick soup (mine wasn't very thick) into a large soup tureen or dish. Add a couple of the bread slices and then another layer of the soup. Continue until you have used up both the soup and bread (that's going to be a mighty large tureen). Leave it to stand for a few minutes for the bread to soften, and for the flavors to blend before serving. It it seems too thick (not a problem for me), adjust the consistency with a little hot water. Serve warm.

Crostoni Ai Tre Formaggi
200 g gorgonzola
100 g mascarpone
100 g stracchino
(Try Fresh Market for these cheeses)
50 g chopped nuts
2 pears

Mix the three cheeses. Add half the chopped nuts (leave the other half to garnish the crostoni). Grill the bread. Spread the cheese mixture on the crostoni and place it back into the oven for a few minutes. Decorate with a slice of pear and a drizzle of honey. Serve hot.

The recipe does not specify how hot the oven should be. I had it at 400 degrees, and I kept the crostoni in there only for a minute or so.

Pannacotta Con Frutti Di Bosco
1 litre single cream (from the Internet, I learned this is half and half)
1/2 litre milk (I used whole milk)
250 g caster sugar (1 1/4 cup)
30 g gelatin or 1 tbsp gelatin powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
about 600 g mixed berries of your choice
2 tbsp vinsanto (If you don't have vinsanto available, muscato is a nice substitute)

Soak the gelatin leaves in a bowl with cold water until they soften. If you are using the gelatin powder (I did), soak it in a few tablespoons of cold water. Heat the milk and cream in a pot with 150 g of the sugar and the vanilla until it just boils, then remove from heat. Remove the softened gelatin leaves from the water and add to the cream mix (or add the podered dissolved gelatin into the cream). Stir to dissolve and leave it to cool for a while, stirring the mixture now and then. Ladle the mixture into individual molds our ramekins, or into 1 large mold. Refrigerate for 3-4 hours before serving. Put the berries into a non-corrosive (such as stainless steel) bowl. Splash with vinsanto and sprinkle with remaining sugar (you may have to adjust depending on the sweetness of the berries). Refrigerate for at least one hour before serving. To serve, dip the bottom of the molds into hot water for a couple of seconds only. Loosen the sides of the top of the pannacotta gently with a spoon, and invert onto a dessert plate. Spoon a couple of tablespoons of the berry salad over the pannacotta and serve.

Caster sugar is a superfine sugar used when making desserts. It is not as fine, though, as confectioner's sugar. A cooking website told me that if I can't find caster sugar in stores (I can't) I can grind regular sugar in the food processor. That's what I did, and the sugar dust made the top of my food processor stick to the container.