52
MY
ROUSES
EVERYDAY
MAY | JUNE 2014
the
Chef
issue
“We shop, we teach, we clean. You eat, you talk, you learn.”
W
hen I was in 7
th
grade, my dad had just come back from
Rome, Italy, and promised that he would take me there to
shop and see the sights. Finally, after 18 years of me begging (and
a little help from my Aunt Cindy who wanted to go back, and my
cousin Ali who was about to go there on her honeymoon), my dad
finally came through on his promise. Of course, when I finally had
a chance to go, I was pregnant. But, I had waited for this trip for
more than half of my life; nothing was going to ruin it for me. So,
while everyone was enjoying the Italian wines, I was enjoying the
Italian food.
They say, when in Rome, do like the Romans, so after a walking
food tour of Italy’s famous markets, we took a hands-on cooking
class to learn how to use the ingredients and
negozi di alimentary
(groceries) we saw in the markets.
The class was held at
Le Fate
, which is located
on Via dei Fienaroli
in Trastevere, south of Vatican City. It was led by Chef Andrea
Consoli. There were six of us: my dad, our friend Steve, my uncle
Tim and aunt Cindy, my husband Jason, and me.
When we walked in to Chef Andrea’s kitchen, he had all of the
ingredients on display:
Type 00 Flour
, which you use to make
fresh pasta and tartes. (It’s a finer flour that you don’t have to sift.)
Guanciale, an Italian cured meat made from pork jowl or cheek
(here at home, we use
pancetta
). And platters of fresh meats and
cheese, cans of olive oil, and baskets of fresh fruits and vegetables.
All of these ingredients were bought at the different fresh market
we had just visited on our walking tour. Chef Andrea encouraged
us to taste every ingredient, which we did.
During the five-hour lesson, we learned how to make a five-course
meal. It included Roman-style Artichokes,
Spaghetti alla Chitara
with
Amatriciana
, Chicken
Cacciatora
, Roman-style chicory, and
crostata
with pears and walnut jam.
We first started chopping all of the fresh ingredients for each dish.
Then, each of us was assigned a different task for different dishes.
We learned about time management in the kitchen. We prepared
the dishes not necessarily in the order that we were going to eat
them, but so that everything would finish around the same time.
My Aunt Cindy and I began with the dessert (because it took the
longest to bake). We made a crostata (pie crust) from scratch, and
filled it with pears and walnut jam.
Jason and my Uncle Tim then worked on the
Amatriciana
sauce (It’s
pronounced A-Mah-tree-chana, and my Aunt Cindy was a pro at
pronouncing it by the end of the day). This is where the guanciale
comes in to play (it’s sort of like a bacon). It’s put into a tomato sauce
made with
San Marzano tomatoes
. (San Marzano tomatoes are
grown in the volcanic soil at the base of Mount Vesuvius near Naples).
Next was the
Cacciatora
. I’ve only had Chicken
Cacciatora
with
tomato sauce, but Chef Andrea taught us how to make it the
Roman way with
black olives, rosemary, white wine vinegar, and
no tomatoes
. In my opinion, the Roman way is better! My husband,
Jason was the sous chef. He’s much better in the kitchen than I am.
The Roman-style chicory (
Cicoria Ripassata
) was next. Chicory is
a bitter green (not like what we use in our coffee) and even though
we cooked it with garlic, oil, and chili flakes, none of us were a fan.
Next, we cooked the artichokes (my favorite dish to eat while we were
in Rome). We all had a chance to learn the correct way to peel and
clean them (
see the technique below)
. I have to say that Chef Andrea
was most impressed with my artichoke peeling skills. He was the
least impressed with my dad’s. I was very proud of myself, because in
the “real world” my dad is the chef, and I’m better off as a bystander.
Corso di Cucina
by
Mandy Rouse Martinolich
(left to right) Chef Andrea teaching his cooking class.
[A Food Tour of Rome] Fresh market in Campo
de’ Fiori. Butcher shop in Campo de’ Fiori. Jason
Martinolich with his authentic Italian pizza creation.
