During the week of October 7 - 13, 2007 we attended a week of cooking in Tuscany through The International Kitchen. We were taught by Chef Claudio Piantini.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Subscribe To
Posts
Comments
Tuscan Country Side
14 comments:
My first order of business was to order a gram weight scale. I found one at http://www.saveonscales.com/
Great idea, Diane. Thanks for thinking of it. I have not made any recipes yet but will let you know when I do.
Judi Owen
Hi everyone:
We are finally off of Italian time. It took a week of falling asleep at 8:30 pm and waking up at 4:00 ayem. The first week back to work was rough. Peter points out that all it takes is a full bottle of wine with dinner to put us both back on Italian time.
I’ve prepared the barley and squash soup according to the recipe, by serving. i think it is best to do it according to the size of your cooking pot. The soup was good but not great; it needed handfuls of squash and at least a cup of grain. I’ll do it again because we liked the flavor combo. Also I did half and half on the stock; one half chicken and one half beef.
Last Friday evening I used Trader Joe’s new frozen Rock Cornish Hens according to the dual roasting technique that Claudio taught us. We used this method to roast the boar and duck at the school. Claudio said that we should use 350*. I found that at 350 the skin did not crisp and I had to roast the hens longer than i would have liked. But the meat was suculent. Next time I‘ll try it at 400* for twenty minutes, then add the wine and for another forty minutes at 400*. I really like the method as it produces tender and juicy meat.
Trader Joe’s is having a staff meeting at the store. I’m going to prepare Ribollita and Cantuccini. I will let you know how it turns out and is received.
I’m purchasing a scale and an ice cream maker - I want to make that chestnut gelato with rum. Does anyone have recommendations. I noticed that Mario has a Krups Ice cream maker on his shoe. (Peter’s research on line indicates that Krups has shut down gelato machine production this year pending new models for 2008. Amazon.com has the cheaper model the GVS 142 1.5qt for $39.95 free S&H. But the GVS2A2 1.6L machine is harder to find. The best price so far is $99.99. He can’t find the model Mario is using.)
We bought a soft pecorino cheese at Whole Foods (Whole Pay Check!) but it wasn’t very good. We also picked up some black truffles to go with a steak a la Za Za (in the main market square in Firenza) but the steak was too fatty and the truffles no better than a Cambell’s Soup mushroom and the greens not up to the Italian.
I’ll keep you informed as I work over Claudio’s recipes.
Bonnie
i will try to post this on diane's blog but i've never blogged before so ...
p
Bonnie, when Carolyn went to Whole Foods to buy the young Pecorino she was told that the cheese came with a mix of sheep's milk and cow's milk so they sent it back. Maybe your store missed the mix? She did taste the next youngest and liked it and bought some.
Tim
Does anyone have any notes on either the beans or the ribollita soup receipes? Neither Tim nor I do. I'm attempting both over the next couple of days, following the recipes in Claudio's book. Knowing him, however, there were some changes that may/will make a difference!! If you sign on today, and have info, please let me know.
Carolyn
Here are my notes on the Ribollita. The recipe in the book on pg 44 two ingredients should be omitted, the potatoes and the zucchini.
Here are my notes on the prep:
swiss chard - take out the ribs
tomatoes, plum - 1 cup
crushed cannellini beans - if you use fresh beans 1 pint of beans to 6 or 7 parts water. Save the cooking water to add to the soup later. Ad slices of tuscan bread when finished, let sit then put on stove later and add olive oil.
Thanks, Diane. Exactly what I needed -- the amount of tomatoes, for one. You noted that the bean cooking water should be saved for the soup. The recipe calls for either chicken or vegetable broth. Does anyone know if we used broth, water or a combo?
Carolyn
My note in the cookbook page 45- the last paragraph -- added into the first sentence --(or cook dry beans and add the cooking water.)I think that is when you mash the beans.
I think we used the beef bouillon. Can anyone else remember?
Thanks for setting this up Diane.
I purchased a gram weight scale from Sur La Table. I made the cantuccini and they turned out good. I used less almonds than the recipe called for as the 100 grams just looked like too many.
I also made the eggplant parmesan for my family tonight and it was a huge success.
Also I think we used beef bouillon in the ribollita.
Thanks Diane and Tom for responding re: the ribollita soup. I cooked the beans yesterday. All seems to be going well. Tim installed the Cucina plaque that we bought in San Gimignano in our kitchen yesterday and with the pleasant scent of garlic, sage and beans cooking, Tuscany seemed to be in the air. I'll let you know how the soup turns out.
Carolyn
The ribollita soup was great! We had it for dinner and then several lunches; it got better as time went on. I would change a few things, though, next time around. I used 1 c. canned italian tomatoes with puree and it was redder in color and had more tomato taste than the 2 versions I had in Tuscany (we also had it in Florence). I would use fresh plum tomatoes or tomatoes without the puree. I used mediocre Italian bread (found at our local grocery) which was so light that even when left out to dry, it would not. I sliced it and dried it in the oven. Then I used mainly the crust. I think the texture would have been better the first day with a Tuscan style heavy-crusted denser bread. I'm hoping Tim may be inspired to bake bread or I'll use a better quality bread which I can find in Greenville. Also, I didn't crush the beans since Bonnie didn't remember crushing them when she made the soup in Tuscany. I might crush half of them next time to help thicken the soup.
I made notes on amounts and what I did. Let me know if you want more info.
Carolyn
Hello???
Is anybody out there?
Tim
Tim and Carolyn --- tell us what you are cooking!!
Diane
Hi Diane,
Back to our regular eclectic fare. Did make a boar ragu using pork butt this week, excellant. Main effect of cooking school for me is a change in procedure ie. stock of mixed beef and chicken and only one main herb. Current fantasy is winning ten day cooking school with Olive Garden at their Tuscan cooking school.
What's up with you?
Tim
Post a Comment