Still things to learn! I started to Mise for the Semi-Freddo (essentially a frozen mousse) that we were suppose to have for dessert at lunch today, but no cream was in the walk-in. Had to put that on hold. The school is gearing down it supplies as after Wednesday, no students will be cooking in the kitchen until Monday, October 4. Instead, I got out the ricotta cheese I had removed from the freezer on Friday, wrapped in cheesecloth to drain and set it in a bowl strainer over a bowl with a weight on top of it. Helps to compress the ricotta so it drains better. I put the ricotta in the Robot Coupe food processor, along with sugar, vanilla and eggs and let it process. Ricotta can be grainy and the cheaper the brand, the worse it is. Putting it in a food processor helps smooth it out. I then put the ricotta cheesecake mix into individual rings covered in foil, to make individual cheesecakes, then set them in a hotel pan. Once those went in the oven at 250 degrees in a bain marie and covered to keep them moist, I made a sauce of dried apricots simmered in white wine, dark rum, GrandGala (an orange liquor) and a little cinnamon. The apricots that did not get "mushy", I set aside, then took the wine sauce and the rest of the apricots and put on that in a food processor and "woodged" it around. Then, of course, you have to make it taste good, so I added brown sugar and salt and a little more dark rum. It turned out well, although after a while, you can't taste the difference any more, so I had to ask a couple other people to help taste!
Then it was time for our lecture-see there still are a few things left to learn! Chef Dale lectured on Tuscany, which is bordered on the west by the Tyrrhenian Sea. To the north it is bordered by Ligueria and Emilia-Romagna. To the east, Umbria, and to the south, Latium. The longest river in Tuscany is the Arno River, which runs across Tuscany west to east, curling up on itself just outside Camaldoli and Poppi. The major cities of Tuscany are Florence, Pisa, Grosseto, Montepulciano, Siena, Arezzo, Lucca and Carrara. Florence is considered the birth place of the Renaissance and was home to the de Medicis-a powerful ruling house around the 11th century. The Etruscans first settled this area and gave Tuscany it's name. You can still see Etruscan architecture in this region.
Tuscan cooking has often been described as the best "cucina povera" (poor cuisine) in the whole of Italy, povera in this context meaning lacking elaboration and based totally on the quality of the ingredients. Although the city-states of Tuscany were torn apart by fierce and bitter clashes all thru the Middle Ages, they remained unified in their cooking. One of the main elements common to all Tuscan cooking, apart from its simplicity and the excellence of the primary ingredients, is the wide use of herbs. Thyme, sage, rosemary, and tarragon, the last seldom found elsewhere, area added to soups, meat and fish. Spices are common in Tuscan cooking, fennel seeds and chili being popular. Chili is called "zenzero" in Tuscany, a word that elsewhere in Italy means ginger.
The Tuscan olive oil is what makes the region's food so unmistakeably Tuscan. Rather than a dressing, it is the main character in the gastronomic scenario of the Tuscan table. Food is sauteed and fried in it, soups are benedette by it (given a last minute benediction by spooning some oil into them), and every vegetable is made tastier with a couple of tablespoons of it. A traditional tuscan meal starts with a soup. Thick and nourishing, full of vegetables, beans, herbs and olive oil, it will be ladled over the local pan sciocco (unsalted bread). Traditionally pasta is not a Tuscan forte, although nowadays you can eat a good dish of pasta in most restaurants. There are however, two pasta dishes that are Tuscan through and through, Pappardelle con la Lepre and Pici.
The other great Tuscan love is the bean. Not for nothing have the Tuscans been nicknamed "mangia fagioli" (bean eaters). they invented the best way to cook fagioli, namely in a flask, to retain the taste of the while cannelloni. the modern equivalent of that method is to stew the beans in a cone-shaped earthenware pot. beans are served as an accompaniment to pork, as in arista (roasted) or with broiled chops and fegatelli (broiled liver wrapped in caul fat).
Wines of Tuscany include Chianti, Brunello di Montalcino, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano and Vernaccia di San Gimignano.
After the lecture, I did get to make the Semi-Freddo, killing two birds with one stone so to speak. I have wanted to learn to make Nougat candy (the Italian soft white candy with nuts you see around Christmas time). Chef Lexie gave me a recipe for Nougat Glace (what they call the Semi-Freddo) and then walked me thru what I would do to make the Nougat candy instead. It turned out great! We will have it for lunch on Wednesday. I'll let you know how they like it!
We had a Tuscan lunch today, surprise! GardeMo made Passatelli, a meat broth with "pasta" made from bread crumbs and cheese which is then pushed thru a colander, (much like spaetzle) and cooked in the broth. Our main course was Bistecca Fiorentina (grilled Porterhouse steak) served with Tortellini stuffed with ricotta and pine nuts, All delicious! (Can't say we expect anything less at this point!) Dessert was the Ricotta Cheesecake. It was somewhat deconstructed as we made Pate Sable (a nut flour dough), then cut out little circles, baked them separately, then stacked the pate sable on the bottom, ricotta cheesecake on top, then topped the ricotta cheesecake with the apricots. You'll see what I mean-I took pictures!
Clean-up, then back to the B&B only to find a photographer taking pictures of Carl and Bailey for a magazine article. Carl is being interviewed tomorrow. Carl really has been a good business man, getting out there and meeting people, being involved with Tour Denver, etc. I wish him continued success, although he says he sure will miss me when I am gone!
I should study tonight for our exam Friday. I am not really worried about the practical exams (cutting and fabricating, making mayo and pasta)--those should be ok. I do feel a little like I did before my nursing boards-if we don't know it by now, we're in trouble!! So off I go.....
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