As I said yesterday, today was my first day of classes for the pre-session. It's hard to believe we have italian for four hours each day, BUT it's only for two weeks so I can't complain too much. The class went by a lot faster than I thought and Kaitlin and I (who met in our UNC italian 101 class) thought we just may have learned as much italian in those four hours that we did all semester. It was purely conversational. Of course, we didn't know all of the words so the phrase "come se dice" was used often. Either way, I really started to feel like I was learning a lot.
Afterwards, we went to out cultural activity groups. The cultural activity for today was shopping around the Mercato Centrale with one of the cooking professors, Marco. He was one of the most vivacious people I hav ever met. His love and knowledge of food kept me in tune with the day and made learning how to cook as fun as possible (even when it is already a fun talent). We all walked around the market with notepads and cameras in hand listening to his trick of the trade when in the market. The colors were so incredible and the meals that we cooked turned out to be better than expected thanks to the help of Marco!
Marco gave us many suggestions about the freshness of the vegetables. You have to read this and think of a lively, scatter-brained italian cook to get the true experience. If they are shiny they are fresh! You must ask the produce seller if you can tough the food. The tougher it feels, the fresher it is. And then of course if it smells good, it will be good. The basil we bought for our pesto dish was greener than ever. And once the food was cooked, the freshness of everything from the market really paid off.
At the market you will find every color imaginable. Below is the large assortment of dry fruit that we saw at the end of our tour.
First course: Focaccine Farcite with three different fillings. For those who were vegetarian, their only choice was buffalo mozzarella, sun dried tomatoes, basil, olive oil and a little bit of oregano. (which was okay with me!) The other two contained meat: Prosciutto, pecorino cheese (like parmesan but stronger flavor), sun dried tomatoes, and basil or Cooked ham, olive oil artichokes, Parmigiano Reggiano shaves, and fresh sage leaves. Our group made the Focaccia bread appetizers and they turned out really well if I do say so myself! With it was served pasta with a homemade pesto sauce. Hint: To add flavoring to the pasta, chop up string beans, potatoes, and zucchini. Then boil all of the ingredients with the pasta. It gives a sweeter bolder taste to the meal!
Second Course: Petti di pollo alle Melanzane or chicken with eggplant, oregano, mozzarella, and a tomato sauce. (You can also use fresh tomatoes for a topping). This dish is considered a vertical dish because there are different layers of flavor as you move up. Potatoes with herb were served as a side dish. Even with little ingredients, the second course was SO full of flavor-- I was amazed!
Third Course: Torta Di Cioccolato e Frutta It was basically a dark chocolate sponge cake with powdered sugar on top. The fruit salad was made of seasonal fruit, for flavor and to keep the fruit fresh lemon juice was mixed in. I was very impressed with the sponge cake. Made from scratch, it was a very light end to our meal and was delicious. The acidity of the fruit was a nice contrast as well.
It was a great first of classes, but I am exhausted. If you want the recipe to any of these dishes, send me a message and I will be happy to send them to you! A domani! (Until tomorrow!)
