Irene in Rome

I have so many places in Italy that I want to write about; Perugia (where I had an art epiphany rather than a wine one), Siena (where I realized I’m a little claustrophobic), Florence (from where I’ve most recently returned with visiting Barbee), and I want to tell you about my two (soon to be three) hiking experiences on the outskirts of Rome. But, no, those will have to wait for future editions, because everyone has been emailing me asking about: Cooking School!

As most of you know, my dear friend Barbee was visiting me here in Rome for a week from Nov. 12-19. Since she had been here as recently as last May, we wanted to do something different than see the sights of Rome again, so I went online and found us a cooking school to go to about an hour north of Rome. As a result we spent two days in Rome, two days in Florence, and two days with an Italian family learning to cook Italian food. It was a wonderful experience with a peek into the daily life of a local family.

We arrived by train to Terni on the afternoon of Nov. 16^th from Florence. We were greeted by Susan and her husband Bruno. Susan is an American who married an Italian about 40 years ago, and has been living in Italy ever since. Some time ago, they moved from Rome to the countryside; to a tiny nearly deserted hill town called Paterno. There is room in this town for about 300 people. Approximately 15 live there, Susan and Bruno being two of them. They remodeled an old home and turned it into and bed and breakfast. Recently, there has been so much interest in Italian cooking; they decided to concentrate on this aspect of the tourism industry.

Our first stop before we even go to the bed and breakfast is a fantastic castle in Labro. The van climbs up into the hillside until we see a tiny town perched on the side of the hill. As we approach, we spot a turret, and are introduced to the elderly owner who is still living in the castle. He proudly escorts just the four of us on a tour of his home. The most impressive room to me is the archive room where the shelves are lined with 6 inch thick volumes of all the records of the castle; all handwritten, dating back to the 1300’s. He shows us documents signed with the giant red wax seals of Louis XVI, lists of what was purchased for use in the castle on a day to day basis, and records of ownership going back hundreds of years. We climb the castle turret in time for one of the most beautiful sunsets I’ve ever seen….a blood red sky burned into my memory forever.

On our way to the bed and breakfast, we stop at a roadside stand to buy some porchetta and pecorino cheese for dinner. The porchetta man is adorable and asks me if there are men as handsome as he is in America. He happily agrees to pose with his pork, knife in hand. After settling into our room, we head to the kitchen of the house where tonight Bruno will be making pasta for us. He uses the last of the fresh tomatoes from their garden along with olive oil, garlic and basil to make the most simple of pasta sauces. This bowl of comfort is served with the porchetta, pecorino, bread and a salad. And for dessert? You won’t believe it……chestnuts roasted over the open fire! Irene is in heaven. Bruno slits each chestnut, places them all in a special pan similar to a cast iron skillet but with holes punched through the bottom, and takes the pan to the fireplace where they are shaken around until the skins pop open. The golden nuggets are then served with red wine……mmmmm good! Off to bed because we need to store up energy for all the real food consumption that will begin tomorrow.

The next day brings us a typical Italian breakfast….small. This is a good thing, because over the next 12 hours, I will consume more food than I have eaten in one day in a long time. Susan takes us for a walk through her ancient hillside town of Paterno, showing off the view of the small lake below, and pointing out the few houses which actually have people living in them. When we return to her house, there is chef Maurizio clad in his Tuscan yellow apron and white chef’s toque waiting for us. He has decoratively spread the kitchen table with all the ingredients we will need to make lunch and has set out cutting boards and knives for each of us.

We start by helping Maurizio chop up pig’s cheek or “guanciale”. It has been hung to dry and has been aged approximately 6 months, making it very firm and while the small stripes of meat are very dry and have a wonderful intense flavor, there is still a large portion of pork fat. Barbee has a problem with visible meat fat. She is looking at me askance especially when all our pieces go into the frying pan with absolutely no fat trimming involved. A lot of the fat melts to a pool of liquid and when seasoned with salt, pepper, and a little dried red pepper, this is what becomes the “sauce”. Chef pours tubes of freshly cooked, drained pasta into the pan and tosses them with the seasoned pork fat and strips of remaining fatty pork. Guess what? It’s done. How simple was that? Pour this into a bowl, sprinkle with pecorino, and believe it or not, there is so much flavor here, I consume every fatty bit. Barbee is trying.

Our main dish is a fantastic pork stew with, you guessed it, roasted chestnuts. See the recipe column to the right for directions. Also accompanying our meal was a fennel salad. We basically sliced the fennel into thin strips, added black olives, a chopped up orange, and dressed it with a combination of olive oil, tangerine juice, salt and pepper. Chef Maurizio also prepared cauliflower for us in a way we’d never seen before. I must admit, I’ve been most unimaginative when it comes to cauliflower in the past. He adds several garlic cloves to a pan of hot olive oil and when they begin to brown, he tosses in all the florets. He stirs often and seasons with salt, and when they begin to brown, he adds about 2T. of red wine vinegar and two wineglasses of white wine. It’s been on high heat to this point. Now cover, and lower the heat. If the liquid begins to dry out, just sprinkle with more olive oil and white wine. When the florets are tender, sprinkle with a splash of red wine for color, and serve.

So far, we’ve had Pasta alla Gricia, pork stew with chestnuts, fennel salad, cauliflower and bread. We are stuffed but he insists on fixing us dessert. He quickly whips up some crepes made with, take a guess…..chestnut flour, and stuffs them with, guess again…..chestnuts which have been soaking in brandy and then drizzles them with caramel sauce and grated dark chocolate. Just a reminder here: this is merely lunch. We will take a much needed walking tour of the nearby town of Rieti and come back to make dinner……….which I will tell you about next week. Stay tuned for another episode of “Irene eats her way through Italy”.