Cooking Class Round Up: What I've Made

One great part about this trip besides all the travel was also the food. Italy is known for having amazing creations (no wonder Italian is my favorite)! I've made quite a few dishes during my cooking classes here in Italy to embrace this food culture and willing to share them all with you.

One class was purely food and the other was pairing food & wine.

Here are some of the magical recipes I've made through these classes (ignore the chicken scratch on some - I had to take notes!):

Spaghetti with Homemade Pesto

Bucatini alla Amatriciana

 

Chocolate Lava Cake with Pear

Polenta with Mushrooms

Risotto Milanese with Veal Shank

Spaghetti with Clams

Tiramisu

Orecchiette with Broccoli Version 1 (above)

Orecchiette with Broccoli (Version 2)

Pumpkin Ravioli

Eggplant Parmigiana Version 1 (above)

Eggplant Parmigiana Version 2

Baccala (Cod Fish) with Potatoes

Chocolate Mousse with Cat's Tongue Cookies

Saltimbocca (Veal & Prosciutto Slab) & Involtini (Veal & Prosciutto Rolls)

Lamb Shanks with Pan-Fried Artichokes

Pumpkin Risotto

Cannoli

Pork and Rosemary

Chocolate Truffles

Pasta alla Chitarra

Cantucci (Biscotti)

If you want to recreate any of these recipes yourself, feel free to and comment your results below!

Ciao!

Touring Tuscany: Siena, Cortona & Chianti (again)

Another travel post! This one is from my trip to other parts of the Tuscan region of Italy (besides my home away from home, Florence). Follow along below!

Siena

First stop on our tour was the beautiful city of Siena. From the churches lined with history (like a piece of Jesus's cross - how crazy is that??) to the square where Quantum of Solace (the James Bond movie) was filmed! I had no idea this city had so much history within it. I also now get why there's a color called "Siena Brown" since a lot of the building are the same reddish-brown color!

One of the oldest banks in the country

The Square

Fun Fact: Families in Siena used to each belong to a "clan" of sorts that each had a mascot of an animal - think of it like a predecessor to neighborhoods. Each house would have the animal on the outside of their house present (statue, flag, etc) and it was a big deal when a child was born. They would be christened into their symbol by a basin with the matching animal on it (see one of the basins for christening pictured above). The city would have a race every year around the city and each animal would have a team to cheer for - putting ribbons on their houses for decoration to cheer them on!

Amazing dessert - the creme puff was so good! 

The little cookie next to it is a specialty of Siena.

View from our hotel - one of the prettiest ones I went to in all of Italy!

Relic of the Cross

Cortona

This town is known as the location for the movie Under the Tuscan Sun - my roommates and I actually watched it before we went and it helped get a feel of the city a bit more!

Chianti Region (round 2)

We toured a castle that got turned into a vineyard and the grounds were so beautiful as well as the wines and food we tried!

Fresh Rosemary

Lemon Trees

Tried a Chianti & a Super-Tuscan - I approved of both! The salami & prosciutto were great too along with the olive oil we tried on the bread later.

Cantucci with Vin Santo

That's it for now, see you in the next post!