Dropping Some Sweet Food Science

I almost feel bad about writing this post. I can already imagine the overwhelming sense of regret and lamentation and hear the collective gnashing of teeth of all those who weren’t present for the launching of the L. Pants WORLD COOKING CLASS TOUR! [insert wild applause/crowd noise.]

Well, it’s really not a tour and, uh, if I’m being honest with myself I’m not really going around the world so much…and well ok, it was kind of just a one off, weekend kind of thing-

But still, you missed the L. Pants TWO DAYS OF COOKING STUFF IN CALIFORNIA THINGY-DEAL!

That’s right. It was awesome.

The lovely folks over at the amply named VIVA: The Culinary Institute of Florence and Italian Cultural Center in Sebastopol arranged to fly me and Girlie out for a little visit (ok, we had to buy one of the tickets. It’s a cultural center not Wells Fargo.)

They had contacted me a few months earlier and asked if I would be interested in concocting a couple of cooking seminars and then dissembling that knowledge to an eager group of food loving Californians. How could I say no?

The classes could be about anything provided they were Italian in style (I don’t mean starting late, riding a Vespa, and downing espresso – I just mean the food). That was pretty wide open. I would say that I didn’t know where to start, but the truth is risotto immediately sprang to mind.

For some reason I have a passion for showing people how to make good risotto. I’m continually waylaying guests in my home as well as the occasional passerby, dragging them into the kitchen and then forcing them to watch me stir rice. I promise it’s more exciting than it sounds. Anyway, a risotto primer class was a must. (You can check out previous risotto posts here, here, and here.)

The second choice was a little more difficult. I tossed around a lot of options but ultimately settled on another passion of mine – tiny food. Yes, I just can’t help but love the petite little yummies that start any great meal. They really do set the whole mood. Besides, Italians are crazy for antipasti so the topic fit the bill nicely.

I started out on Thursday getting to know the lovely Viva kitchen, making stocks and doing a little last minute testing and tweaking. After that Mme. Pants, Heather (one of the fabulous ladies who runs the school) and I went out to do a bit of grocery shopping. With all ingredients accounted for, we knocked off early and prepared for the next days’ classes by drinking copious amounts of wine and eating too much.

Viva's totally sweet kitchen with overhead cam "Whoowee! I'm on the teevees!"

The next day was brisk and beautiful, perfect for making antipasti. People started showing up around 5:30. After a little initial nervousness and the reclaiming of a misplaced shoe, things got off to a rollicking start.

We began with a classic Tuscan bruscetta, Crostini Toscani. It’s basically a very rustic pâté made by slow cooking chicken liver with such delightful ingredients as anchovies, capers, onions and red wine. Liver isn’t for everyone, but this stuff is so good that the whole class had bits smeared around their faces. One woman told me she hadn’t eaten liver in twenty years but she was sure as hell gonna start. I hope she has.

Then we moved on to making some fresh ricotta. It’s a surprisingly easy task with an extremely impressive pay off. Who doesn’t want to go over to someone else’s house and be told that the cheese was made fresh just for them? (Here are some step by step instructions from a previous post.)

We used the ricotta to make hot and cold versions of some adorable little tomato bites. Basically, you just season the cheese to your liking and then stuff some hollowed out cherry tomatoes. You can serve them as is or stick them under the broiler.

Following these little guys we made some eggplant napoleons. This is a simple dish with a striking presentation that I modified/stole from Beccofino, the restaurant I worked for in Florence. All it really is is baked eggplant mixed with garlic, olives and chopped tomatoes, layered between thin slices of fried eggplant rounds. Garnish with a little basil vinaigrette, bocconcini and confit tomato and you have a dish that’s a guaranteed crowd pleaser.

Last of all we assembled some figs in both a hot and cold preparation. The cold ones are simply sliced, stuffed with goat cheese and topped with prosciutto. The hot are pretty much the same but we substituted blue cheese and then baked the whole mess. For a really cool garnish, I was fortunate that all of the rosemary bushes around (and there were lots) were in full bloom. You don’t see them used a lot, but rosemary blossoms are gorgeous and they taste great too.

By the end of the class things had really taken on more of a casual party atmosphere aided in no small part by James from the Wine Emporium showing up with several bottles of his quaffable fare. Everyone was great and seemed to have a good time so I left feeling a bit more relaxed about the next day’s demonstration of notoriously finicky risotto.

Saturday, a day for rice. My helpful hosts had gone out of their way to procure all three types of risotto rice that I had asked for: Arborio, Carnaroli, and Vialone Nano. I thought that it would be interesting to use all three side by side so that people could really get a feel for the differences.

I used the Arborio to make a basic asparagus risotto. I went very traditional, just using onions as the soffrito and veggie stock that I’d made earlier for the liquid. A good tip is to toss the tough asparagus stems in with the stock for even more vegetably-yumminess.

The carnaroli went towards a more unusual strawberry risotto. This is a savory (as in not sweet) dish that goes great with meats like duck or pork. It’s perfect for using up some of those tart, end of season berries.

The soffrito is melted leeks and the liquid is combination of milk, water and sweet vermouth. Strange sounding I know but this is one seriously tasty side dish.

Finally, we made a shrimp and fennel risotto with the Vialone Nano. Vialone is probably my favorite risotto rice. It’s quite a bit smaller than the other two and really retains its shape well. It’s not quite as forgiving as the other varieties so you have to keep an eye on it, but when it hits that perfect al denteness this grain really shines.

As a bonus, at the end of class we fried up some risotto cakes and served them with sautéed spinach and poached eggs. Not only is this one of my all time favorite brunch dishes, but it’s also a really great way to use leftover risotto. And polenta.

This class did a lot more note taking and didn’t devolve quite as far into a bacchanalian state as the previous day had. All in all though I think it too went really well. I’ve already gotten several emails from some of the attendees telling me that they made the first perfect risottos of their lives. [Beaming smile of satisfaction] What more could I ask for?

If I go back for another teaching stint, and I’d love to, I’ll let you Californian folks know in advance so no one has to pull out hair or spend days sitting in the dark due to the missed opportunity.

Girlie triumphant after it's all said and done.

Stay strong out there.

-L. Pants.

Comments

[Kristina Shahbazian]

Would you be willing to share the actual recipe for the eggplant dish? Your blog is my absolute favorite on the internet!

[Boots in the Oven]

Thanks, Kristina, you're very sweet!

I've added the recipe to the picture's Flickr page - so if you click on the picture, you should now see the recipe underneath. Hope that works!