Sigh, all good things must come to an end. Three days of all the Spanish, Italian, North African and Greek food you can eat-- I will miss you. Here's the supplemental pics and comments:
The Avgolemano...yeah. Didn't try it. Why? I dunno. Wanna' fight about it? I had a hard enough time even remembering what it was (dang you weekend!). I know a girl in my group made it. I know it's an extremely simple soup working with a handful of ingredients (chicken stock, rice, eggs, lemon juice, lemon zest, salt, pepper, parsley). I'm going to assume it's a creamy chicken-ish soup with an acid zip. That's my culinary degree at work. Don't judge me...
Stracciatella-- it's hard to spell. I don't know how to pronounce it. And I made it today! It's an interesting dish. You heat up some chicken stock to a simmer, drop in some lamb meatballs and let those poach in the liquid. Once those are cooked you crank the mixture up to a boil and start swirling the water whirl-pool like with a spoon or something. In the middle of the vortex you pour an egg/Parmesan cheese/flour mixture. This creates almost a bed of egg on the top of the soup. I guess this is common in Italian soups. It's a bit...weird...but it tasted OK.
I discussed the Tapas in my previous post. Most are meat-on-a-stick variations (and yes, there's still time to NAME. THAT. MEAT!), so again-- what's not to like there?
Veal Romano is simply veal, pounded flat and dredged in a Parmesan cheese/flour mixture before pan frying it. You could do this with pork. You could do this with chicken. You could do this with lizard probably. If it's flour and Parmesan cheese, than it's Romano. Tasty-- those Romans were alright.
Veal Satimbocca (which literally translates to "jumps in the mouth") is pretty awesome. Before you cook it up you line a side with sage and prosciutto. The sauce is a citrus, beef stock, wine reduction. Whew...just delicious.
I think I missed trying to Lamb Tangine. I don't overly fret over this because actual Tangine is made in a thing called...well...a tangine. We don't have a tangine, so I can imagine some of the allure of the dish is lost. I'm going to have to chalk this one up on the To-Eat List. I'm sure there's probably a restaurant in the greater Pittsburgh area that serves an authentic version of it. Hmm...
The remaining dishes (Gnocchi, Risotto, homemade pastas) were more lessons in technique that anything. Gnocchi is a complicated beast to make correctly. Risotto is a more difficult medium to technically master (a lot more hands on than say, a rice pilaf). Both require you to make it a couple of times to get the methods down, but it's worth it-- both are big on menus across the country.
This is just a quick pic I snapped at a recent Enthusiast Course at school. Cinco de Mayo was the theme so people attending got to make everything from Sopapillas (fried Mexican flatbread coated with cinnamon and sugar) to homemade Enchiladas.
Aside from a free Mexican-themed lunch, I really enjoy attending and helping out with these courses because it's always fun to be surrounded with people that are interested in food. There's also a bit of fun role-reversal to know more than someone in a kitchen setting. Not it an elitist way, mind you, but in a 'fun to be the teacher,' not just spouting, "Yes, Chef/No Chef," kind of way.
Besides, when someone who doesn't know a pepper from a pepperoni finishes the day with say, a delectable vegetable chili...because of you...well-- it's a good feeling.
Keep sending in those names for the blog mascot (aka Mr. Meat On A Stick...for now)! I'm getting quite the chuckle and will probably put a few of my favorites up for a vote when a healthy amount of entries has been met. I don't know what the next cuisine is and I'm too lazy to look right now, so surprises for us all in a couple days! See you then!
No comments:
Post a Comment