New Market- New Friends

First class at my new space in Colle Val D’Elsa began on Friday which is marktet day.
If you have never have seen an Italian weekly market, it is like the Mall coming to you.

I will post more foto’s later on the variation of “shops” which are at the market, today just a collage of my new friends. Found my new porchetta guy and a new butcher. The butcher is a real shop in town, like most artisans, their family has been butchers since the 1500’s.

I adore seeing what the market inspires us to cook- and creating the menu with the students. It is like “Iron Chef” each class.

Today was Tuscan ragu and fresh pasta, Dario’s Tuscan Roast Beef, fresh artichokes and Panna Cotta.

Sometimes in class, the simplest essentials of Italian cooking are the best- it is all about the quality of the ingredients. Fresh pasta from semola flour ( not semolina, which is cream of wheat), farm fresh corn fed eggs (don’t you love the yellow yolks?), a pinch of salt and a drizzle of olive oil.

Italians eat dry pasta on a daily basis and save the fresh pasta for special occasions like long, slow Sunday lunches or holidays when hours are spent in the kitchen. But really with a small hand-crank machine, anyone can make fresh pasta anytime.

There is a simple ratio for making pasta:

100 grams of flour
1-  60 gram egg

They say this is a per person amount, but I think it is for two as a first course.

We made 200 grams of semola and two eggs. It was enough for the three of us with left-overs.

looks good enough to eat

We had a great class and I am looking forward to sharing my new village kitchen with everyone!