Lately, as my traveling schedule has multiplied from the first of the semester-- I seem to "live for the weekends". But this week as the sun finally peeked out of the clouds and brought the first real warm weather of the year, my weekdays are quite lively as well. I was able to get in a few great runs, a picnic by the Arno, and nice long walks. With this kind of weather--- I can't get enough of Florence. There are so many different landscapes to stumble upon and I'm really starting to appreciate the size of the city as well. I never thought I would consider it quaint!
School is in full session, and we have begun our first tests and quizzes... It's hard for me to really concentrate on pen and paper and textbooks when there is a whole new world for me to explore, but my goal this weekend is try and get back in the swing of things. (Mom, Dad: I'm not failing.)
But for two of my favorite classes (Sketchbook and cooking-- wait you call those classes Ainslie?) it was a busy week! For Sketchbook in Florence we headed to the Accademia and spent most of our time sketching the David. Yes, THE David. He was more incredible than I had imagined. Of course I had seen the replica outside of Palazzo Vecchio, but never had set eyes on the real one. I still can't imagine how someone could take a block and carve a masterpiece like that. It was really great to be able to sketch the incredible work of art as well. As you can not take pictures inside the Accademia, it was my own little snapshot of the statue.
For cooking, we learned all about Pasta. And if you know anything about me, you know that my favorite food is pasta. We learned where certain dishes come from, what sauces to put on what pastas, the difference between fresh (a thicker pasta made with egg used for ravioli etc.) pasta and dry (less heavy, you don't have to refrigerate it) pasta is. Then we even got to make some of our own fresh pasta!! (see below for the recipe) We also learned how to roll the dough into the old shape of Maccaroni (in the past pasta had been called Maccaroni--all shapes--not pasta). With our homemade pasta we made our first fish dish.
Corzetti con Pascatrice
I personally think it could be made with any pasta, but we used a type of fresh pasta
Or you can make your own pasta:
300 gr flour
3 eggs
oil
salt
Make a foundation with the flour on the table, add the eggs in the middle, salt, and a few drops of oil. Work with the dough with your hands for about 10 to 15 minutes until it gives the elasticity of skin. Cover it with saran wrap and let it rest for 10 minutes at room temperature.
Roll the dough/ flatten and cut into circle shape (3 cm diameter). You can use cookie cutters!
6 servings
400 gr Monkey Fish (you can substitute swordfish--- cook for 2 min. longer)
4 ripes tomatoes
20 black olives
30 gr. pine nuts
1 garlic clove
1 bunch of basil
Oil
Salt
Pepper
Wash the tomatoes, place them in boiling water. After a minute or so, take tomatoes out of water, peel, take out the seeds, and cut into cubes.
Cut the fish into cubes as well. Peel the garlic and saute in oil. Then add the fish in the same pan. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes and then add the tomatoes, pine nuts, olives (chopped), salt and pepper, and then cook for 8 minutes more.
Cook the pasta in boiling water for 5 to 6 minutes, strain. Saute the pasta in the pan with the fish. Serve with chopped basil (tear don't cut basil to keep the flavor).
voila!
For our second dish, I enjoyed it so much and found it pretty easy that I made it for the flat on Thursday. I didn't exactly measure out everything to a T, so it wasn't as good as the kind we made in class, but nevertheless I really enjoyed it. It will definitely be a dish I make over and over again--- maybe one day I will get all the proportions correct.
Strozzapreti con Spinaci
Serves 6
400 gr strozzapreti pasta (or any dry pasta would do)
120 gr spinach
30 gr white almonds
3 sun dried tomatoes (preserved in oil)
100 gr fresh goat cheese
oil
salt
pepper
Boil Water.
Wash the spinach and dry. Chop 100gr of the spinach and put in a no stick pot.
Chop the almonds very fine and chop the sun dried tomatoes into 4 or five pieces. Add both into the pot of spinach. Sprinkle with salt and pepper an add 8 tablespoons of olive oil. Warm the mixture in a bagno marie (double boiler) for 15 minutes. Make sure to mix a few times.
Cook the pasta in the salty boiling water, strain and mix with the spinach mixture you just made. Place the pasta in a serving plate.
This is where it is up to you. If you are a goat cheese lover, add the cheese (has been cut into pieces) and sprinkle with more pepper and the raw left over spinach. However, if you are like me, and not the biggest fan of goat cheese, the dish is completely delicious and flavorful without it.
Stay tuned for my post about our short but sweet trip to Barcelona! Ciao for now.
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