Cooking Class Number 2!

So if you haven't noticed, I like Italian food.

Once again, I was invited into Grazia's cucina for a trip to somewhere in Italy via my stomach. This time, we focused mainly on the region I now call my home: Lazio! We actually made something that comes from Viterbo itself, which was really cool. We also headed down south to Sicilia for our contorno.

On the menu:
Aquacotta Viterbese (Vegetable, Bread, and Egg Soup)
Caponata Siciliana (Eggplant with other Vegetables and Spices)
Spaghetti alla Carbonara (Spaghetti, Pancetta, Egg, and Cheese)

Now for the Italian cooking secret of the week! The eggplants Italians use are black and NOT genetically modified, unlike purple and "debittered" in the USA. Eggplants are naturally bitter, and in order to get a fresh, delicious flavor without the bitterness, it is essential to cut the eggplant, toss it with LOTS salt in a colander, cover, and weigh it all down as the colander sits on top of a bowl for the water to drain into. After a while, you would be surprised at the amount of brown water that will need to be trashed! So, in short, try and find organic eggplants and salt them properly to get true Italian flavor!

Aquacotta Viterbese: 
Caponata Siciliana:


                                          

 


Spaghetti alla Carbonara:




We're becoming the best chefs around!





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Il Giorno delle Passeggiate

Image
When I woke up this Sunday morning, I knew it was going to be an interesting day. There was an ucellino  or little bird in the house, causing my host mom and I to scream and duck for cover while my host dad ran around with a broom with the aim of whisping it outside. It was quite the sign I was in for an adventure. My host mom told me we would be spending the morning "trekking". We pulled up into a parking lot off the side of a main road of southern Viterbo where many many people from the university community were listening to two archeologists. These archaeologists were quite the characters. They guided all of us along the side of the road until we came up to a locked gate. Little did I know right off the side of a seemingly normal highway is a medieval villa waiting to be explored. The archeologists pieced together bits and pieces of information about the villa, explaining a rich Viterbese family of the 14th century must have lived there. Between poetry, mythology, and ...
Read more

The First Lady on the Importance of Studying Abroad

Image
First Lady Michelle Obama went to SYA China recently. The school was honored to meet her, Malia, and Sasha, and to be honest all of us here in Italy were wondering why Mr. President didn't pay us a visit while he popped over to Rome last week.... Whilst in China, The First Lady spoke on the importance of studying abroad. If you have a couple of minutes, I think her speech is worth a listen.
Read more

sicILY

Image
9 giorni. Solo nove giorni per scoprire la vita Siciliana. On little sleep and with heavy suitcases, we boarded our bus to start our next adventure as a class- one we will remember forever- the annual Sicily trip. After several hours on the bus and an AutoGrill stop or two, our first destination was on the mainland at  Ercolano.  Herculaneum is the lesser-known archeological site with artifacts from the incredibly destructive 79 AD Vesuvius eruption that buried Pompeii. It was a coastal city and took less damage than it's counterpart, and we got to see some amazing Roman paintings, mosaics, houses, and streets. Our friends in Latin classes and the Archaeology class gave very informative presentations on the site and letters we have that detail the eruption. Apparently the gas was the most deadly part- you can still see wood in the structures there even after all this time because it carbonized instantaneously. The afternoon was spent in Naples where we got some p...
Read more