Siena, Italia
Up early studying and making sure my compiti is close to being correct. I could probably go to school full time for a year before I would truly know any Italian. The more time I spend in class the less I seem to know. Hopefully today is a little better.
Of course, if I knew the tenses in English an dhow to use them, it would be easier. However, I got a California public education which didn’t make one commit those things to memory. When Andrea says we are working on the futuro semplice tense I don’t really know what the means in English. Oh, let us know mention that there is futuro semplice tense in English!
In Italiano “I will do”; the English future tense, is “Io Farò”, the Italiano futuro semplice. So, what happens if it is simple? The only other futuro tense is “anteriore” aka the future prefect tense. This is “averò fatto” or “I will have done”. OK I did it! Oops! I did it is “L’ho fatto” – so why even have a futuro anteriore? See my headache now?
Class was good. Francesco’s last day. The girl with the phone is also gone, or didn’t show up for class this morning. Still only getting a percentage of what is going on, but seem to be able to hold my own. I am going to assume no one else has much of an idea of what is going on either. Doing my compiti helped a lot. It is easier when I don’t have to think on my feet and can take my time and double check my answers.
Mary waited for me and we walked to lunch. Actually, we just picked up a couple slices of pizza. Well, the truth be known, it wasn’t pizza. On Via S. Pietro, one of the streets we use to get to and from scuola, there is a small shop, called La Piccola Ciaccineria, that sells ciaccineria and pizza by the slice. Ciaccineria is really just Siena’s version on focaccia.
Ciaccineria is different than most focaccia. More like a calzone, but with out the risen dough and resulting air pocket. One might call it a stuffed focaccia. The goodies, often prosciutto and mozzarella are stuffed inside the crust. Most other places the goodies are simply placed on top of the focaccia. It is very good, and less messy than a slice of pizza.
We walked home, had lunch and began our compiti (oh, homework). We have to back at school for our cooking class at 17:30. That is one of the reasons for a light lunch. Tonight we will be learning how to make and cook: Antipasto – Frittatine nella pancetta; Primo – Tagliolini carico e pepe; Secondo – Braciole de capocollo alla pizzaiola cone fagioli; Dolce: Sbriciolata alla nutella.
Mary and I were the first to arrive in class, not that this unusual. We introduced ourselves to our instructor, Elizabetta and her assistant. There will be five of us in class tonight. Should be fun.
Frittatine alla pancetta di Beatrice is very easy to make and quite enjoyable. It is considered an antipasto. Basically, it is a frittata. Using a silicone muffin mold, line it with thinly sliced bacon, pour in a mixture of eggs, cream and basilico, back in oven. Totally gluten free. It was very good.
We then made the tagliolini. Now they used pecorino romano to make the cheese sauce. More often than not it isn’t;t made using just one type of cheese. Grana Padano or Parmesan is often used, and sometimes in an addition to or as an additive, pecorino romano is used. How do you decide which cheese to use? The best way is to probably made the dish with different cheese and combinations there of until you find the one you like.
Cheese from cow’s mike will probably work best. It should probably be aged enough that it is easy to grate. Grating is important because it helps you get that creamy texture in the sauce. Grana Padano is often compared to Parmigiano Reggiano, but it has it’s own unique flavor and characteristics. You are looking for a nutty savory flavor. Bitto could also be added, to some extent as least, but the flavor is quite strong of this dish. Like Bitto, pecorino romano is aromatic, but is significantly less spicy if tangy in flavor. Experiment.
This dish didn’t make it to the table properly made. The cheese sauce (cacio) had clumped or never been fully melted into a sauce. The flavor was there, just not the texture. It could also have to do with timing. This is not a dish that you can let sit. It has to be made and served. It may have just waited to be served too long.
The main course, secondo, was braciole di capocollo. AKA pork shoulder. This is the same cut of meat used in making coppa sausage. For this dish it is cut into chops which are then pounded. She deviated from the printed recipe and added a couple anchovies. That was not going to be a hit with me, anyway you cut it.
Basically you cook the pork shoulder in a tomato sauce and add beans. Again the problem was the dish was over cooked. The meat was tough, but then pork shoulder usually is, but it was clearly over cooked. It probably cooked for a half hour, when the recipe calls for just a couple minutes.
The last dish Miss Grace may want the recipe for. It is basically a Nutella cake. It turned out very nicely. Too much sugar for me; I mean really adding sugar to Nutella? It is already half sugar.
We sat in the dinning room while they served us. They let us chiacchierare (chitchat) while we ate. I think they took too long between dishes and that is why it appeared to be over cooked. However, it was very nice to get to talk with our classmates and schoolmates. Dinner finished up at 20:45 and we headed back to the apartment. Bellies full and very tired.
Buonanotte e ciao, Enrico e Maria
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