Tuesday: The Cuisine of the North (Tuscany, Piedmont and Emilia Romagna) (10am-2pm)
Influenced by its Northern neighbors, mountain ranges and cooler climates, these regions of Italy are known for egg-based pastas, dairy-rich dishes, polenta, hard cheeses, dried pork products such as prosciutto, beans and bread. In this class we will make pasta from scratch, traditional pesto and a wonderful, once-baked biscotti. Our meal will be comprised of a summer salad with bagana cauda dressing, Genovese linguine with green beans, new potatoes and pesto, a white bean in herbed tomato sauce with fresh sausages, and almond biscotti.
Wednesday The Cuisine of the Central and South (Abruzzo, Campania and Calabria) (10am-2pm)
Many regions cover central and Southern Italy and the culinary landscape is vast. From Venice to Rome and down to Naples, food is at the center of Italian culture and the tradition of the trattoria, where an afternoon lunch can last well into the early evening hours, is still strong. In this class, we will create dishes from across central and southern Italy, such as fried quash blossoms, summer mushroom arancini, grilled radicchio with lemon hazelnut dressing, grilled eggplant with mint, ragu alla Napoletana and homemade tiramisu.
Thursday: The Cuisine of Sicily (10am-2pm)
On a recent trip to Sicily, the locals made it perfectly clear, that soccer aside “they are Sicilians, not Italians.” Sicily is a wonderful diverse island and depending on which shore you are on, the food is influenced by the nearest country: the East is influenced by Southern Italy and Greece, the South and West by Spain and Africa and the North by France and Corsica. This makes for a colorful journey around the island and a number of opinions on what is Sicilian food. In this class, we will feast on dishes from all shores: chickpea fritters, eggplant caponata on toasts, salad of oranges, black cured olives and arugula and Sicilian seafood stew with almonds and couscous, and zeppole (Italian doughnuts) with zabaglione.