9am and we are in the kitchen with Chef Pierro. We have two dishes we are going to cook this morning, "Stuffed paccheri (a tubular pasta) au gratin with Parmigiano Reggiano Sauce and Open Raviolo with spinach, sauted mushrooms and fried egg yolk. He was good enough to go over the composition and plating of the dish with us before we started, which helped us to visualize the dish better before we started (visual leathers all if us). The dishes were not complicated but took quite a bit of work. The fresh Porcini mushrooms here are so flavorful! Too bad you can't get the in the States. We did better today than Tuesday. I still am nit a fan of induction cook tops, however!
After class, and we finished late, we had lunch. The angoloti pasta from the pasta factory ( I must admit, not as good as we had hoped) and veal tenderloin in a sauce with carrots and grilled polenta. Can't believe we finally got some vegetables!
After lunch we got on the bus and were driven to Asti, the home of Asti Spumane and Moscato d'Asti. We were taken to a medium sized winery called Romano Dogliotti. Their specialty is Moscato, although produce some Barolo and Dolcetti as well as grappa. We toured their facility while their dog, Busche, tagged along. He seemed to take a liking to me but I think he knew I would scratch his head, lol. It was interesting to see how they stored their bottles, in cages, on their sides and stacked. This is before the bottles have labels on them. They finished picking their harvest by hand September 30. They were done processing the wine by the time our tour took place, although the wine will continue to age. We got to taste their Moscato d'Asti and their Asti Spumante-Janell would have enjoyed that part!
Once we were finished we were driven to Alba, where the truffle fair has just begun. The fair officially starts tomorrow but apparently there are so many people who attend, you can barely walk. We had to be content with walking thru the piazzas, window shopping (or in a few cases, buying). I bought a pair of short boots. After an hour and a half, it was time to leave.
Driving thru the Italian countryside is spectacular. There are rolling, green hills filled with grape vines. You can see castles on many hillsides off in the distance. The contrast of old and new is especially striking. Makes you wish you lived in a place that seems so inviting! We had a long drive back and we had to stop by school to drop off Rosanna. It was a long full day.
Tomorrow will be our last day at IFSE. Hard to believe it's almost over! Time for bed!
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