Today's cooking lesson was fennel, crostini, ravioli, and saltimboca.
We began by preparing the fennel first. We cleaned the fennel by taking off the outer leaves of the root and cutting away all of the green and the fronds. The fennel was cut into quarters, then covered with salted water and allowed to boil for twenty minutes. While it was boiling we made a bechamel sauce. Then fried a bunch of chopped flat leaf parsley in olive oil. Then we sliced the cooked fennel and fried it with the parsley and oil. Then put into a oven proof pan, covered with bechamel and put it in a 350F oven for 20 minutes. the top browned beautifully, and it tasted wonderful.
It was a thrill how easy and quick the pasta was to make. Aside from the ravioli, Simonetta showed me how to make lasagna and tagliatelli and other types of pasta from the same dough and process. We made a spinach and ricotta filling, which she said was traditional. The dough, after being kneaded and rolled out (note ... roll always in the same direction holding the part nearest you), sat for a few minutes. Then we mounded the filling, cut between the filling, then folded the dough and pressed it closed with a floured fork. It was boiled in salted water, then drizzled with a butter/olive oil mixture which has been fried with sage leaves.
We also made the saltimboca .... veal rolled around prosciutto and sage, them lightly floured and browned in a combo of butter and olive oil. Then a cup of white wine was added to the pan and left to cook for about 10 minutes.
The crostini was simple ... robiola cheese (kind of like cream cheese, but a little looser and a little more tart) and lots of chives. This was mixed and let to sit until we finished preparing the meal. Then we spread it on crusty bread.
Then I walked home and got very lost, so I took pictures as I wandered. Check out the next entry for some of those pictures.
