While on our city tour of Bologna, we were told
that Bologna was known as "The Fat One" meaning
that the food from Bologna is rich.
I am now going to share with you some of
"The Fat One's" recipes!
While my husband takes the photo (he also sat in on the
classes) we are shown left to right - me, Antonella,
Tonya, Victoria and my lucky daughter Amanda, who
got to come along.
Victoria and Antonella are friends of Tonya who
come from aristocratic families and love to cook.
They were so gracious to shop for us and come and
give us lessons for two days.
Antonella also invited
us to her home. I will show you her home and her
kitchen later.
This menu I printed over the symbol of
Bologna taken from a picture I took of gates to a park.
We started with the Bolognese sauce as it needs to cook
for 2 hours.
Antonella and Victoria explained the various cooking
of some of the regions of Italy and said that
Bologna has lots of milk and butter in its
cooking (hence "the fat one") as they are
abundant here. I was surprised how much milk
they cooked with.
Bolognese Sauce Recipe
In food processor grind
1 carrot
1 medium sized white onion
1 stalk celery
Add to a pan with about 1/4 C. water and cook
about 15 minutes or until soft and the water
is evaporated.
Add 1/2 lb. ground or finely chopped pancetta
Cook about another 15 minutes until
the pancetta is cooked through.
Add 2 lb. ground beef (medium grind) and
cook until it is cooked through.
Once the meat is cooked through pour about
1 quart of whole milk over the ground meat.
It should almost cover the meat. Cook on
medium heat until all the milk is absorbed
into the meat, stirring once in a while.
(This was the most surprising step to me.)
Once the milk is absorbed add about a quart
of tomato sauce, again just about covering
the meat. Continue to simmer this for
about 2 hours.
After it has simmer for 2 hours add
salt and pepper to taste.
Once the meat got cooking we began the
pork roast as it cooks around 2 hours also.
Antonella brought her pans and they were
huge restaurant sized pans. My husband asked
about that, commenting on the typically small
Italian kitchen and so Antonella said that she
wanted us to come and see her kitchen the next
day and see how small it was, yet she cooks for
huge crowds all the time.
This roast was just "melt in your mouth" and was all done
on the stove top. It also cooks for a long time so we
got that cooking right away too.
Rosemary Roast Pork Recipe
Place a large pork loin in a large pan. You could
cut it in half if it won't fit into your pan.
Top the roast with 1- 8 inch sprig of fresh rosemary
and 1 clove of garlic, sliced.
(This is a picture of the pork roast we made when we returned.)
Pour in 1 quart of milk.
Bring the milk to a boil and then reduce to a simmer.
Simmer covered for 2 1/2 hours. Add more milk if
necessary so it doesn't boil dry. Check for doneness by
piercing with a bamboo skewer. If it comes out pink
it isn't done. I like mine to just melt in your mouth,
so you might want to cook it a little longer, until it
pulls apart easily with a fork.
When the meat is done, remove the meat and
let it sit to cool. Strip the rosemary leaves
from the stalk and discard the stalk. Replace the
leaves in the sauce and then blend the sauce until
smooth in a food processor. Add 1 pint heavy cream
to the sauce and bring to a boil. Reduce until thickened. Salt and pepper
to taste. (I added about 1 tsp. salt and a few grinds of pepper.)
Slice the meat and replace in the sauce.
This was so easy and so amazingly delicious.
Next we made the Cherry or Amarena Semifreddo
because it needs to freeze. This was a delicious frozen
ice cream that you don't need an ice cream maker for.
I had read about semifreddo before but never made one.
Amarena Semifreddo Recipe
4 large eggs, separated
1 1/4 C. powdered sugar
2 C. heavy cream
1/2 jar Amarenas in syrup
Beat the egg yolks with the powdered sugar
until well mixed. In a clean bowl beat the egg whites
until stiff. Set aside. Beat the whipping cream until
soft peaks. Fold the whites into the yolk mixture and
then gently fold the whipping cream in. Add the sweetened
cherries and fold in. Pour into desired pan.
Freeze about 6 hours until solid. Top with remaining
cherries and serve.
They had a wonderful silicone mold loaf mold but
we made it when we got home in a springform pan.
(These are pictures of the one we made when we returned.)
We brought home a couple of jars of the cherries. If you can
find them, buy them. They are amazing. You could use
any fruit filling to flavor yours. You will notice how much
more yellow the one we made in Italy was. If you have
ever used their eggs you will remember how orange their
yolks are. That is the difference. Mine at home was a
creamy white because our eggs are so much less intense in
color.
This was fantastic.
We finished the afternoon by making the homemade
pasta - tagliatelle. I had received the pasta attachment
to my Kitchenaid for Christmas two years ago but had
never used it. Antonella had brought her Kitchenaid
and she had the pasta attachment. Wow, was that fun and
so easy. We won't be making the pasta with the hand
cranked version again!
Notice again the bright orange color of the pasta
because of the color of the eggs.
We made the pasta with half regular flour and
half semolina flour which gives it a nicer, firmer
texture.
First the pasta was mixed in the Kitchenaid
then kneaded by hand until smooth.
Then a small piece was cut off , floured and rolled through
the pasta roller, once at number 1, then folded in thirds
and rolled again at number 1, then folded in thirds
and once again at number 1. Then we floured the
piece and rolled it once at each succeeding number
and finishing with twice at number 8.
The strips of rolled dough were then laid out on a sheet
and allowed to dry just until dry to the touch (15-20 minutes).
We then put on the pasta cutter and ran the strips through
and let them dry again in little nests until we were done
cutting the dough.
The noodles only boil about 30 seconds to 1 minute
after they resume boiling since the pasta is fresh.
Fresh Semolina Pasta Recipe
2 C. flour
2 C. semolina flour
6 large eggs
pinch salt
Mix everything with a dough hook in your mixer,
then on a floured counter, knead until smooth. Cover,
let rest for about 10 minutes, then cover again
while rolling out portions of the dough.
You should use about 1 egg per person you are
serving. The pasta is easy to freeze, just place
it in a ziploc bag, uncooked and freeze.
Here it is pictured with the Bolognese sauce and sprinkled
with Parmesan cheese.
The menu was rounded out with fresh peas cooked with
white onion and pancetta. What a lovely side dish
that made.
We loved this meal so much that our first Sunday home
we treated our kids and the grandkids to the roast pork,
a seared Italian steak called Tagliata, grilled Italian
flatbread, fresh beans with pancetta and the Cherry
Semifreddo and everything was as delicious as it
was in Bologna!
MOLTO BENE
We couldn't have had more beautiful and charming teachers
who gave us the flavors of Bologna. This was only
day one, I will follow this up with day two's foods.
I will be posting this with
