I love Mondays!

Yes, I said it. I’m not trying to rub it in, it’s just that I realized today that I once again love Mondays. I used to love Mondays when I started teaching, I loved my job, loved the kids, loved my co-workers. At the end last semester, I still loved the kids and my co-workers, I just couldn’t handle the rest of the principal job. So for the past few years I haven’t loved Mondays, until today.

I started language class today, Monday, and just smiled the whole time. I’m such a dork. We chose our three field trips. Our first one next Thursday is to Este- to visit a medieval castle, eat a delicious lunch at the trattoria and to visit the white ceramic shops. The ceramics are supposed to be beautiful and inexpensive- €5 for a Ralph Lauren ceramic dish. Full report to follow. Our other two field trips will include a trip to downtown Vicenza where our teacher will show us all the ‘secret’ places only Vicentinos know as well as a trip to a PURSE maker’s shop in Thiene!! (Sidebar- have I told you already about the Mangagatti? Vicentinos are called Mangagatti- yes, Cat Eaters. I’ve heard a couple explanations. The first time I heard Mangagatti was in Charlottesville. My brother’s little old friend moved to Charlottesville in 1976 and is a wine maker, cider maker, etc. I might have referred to him in my Thanksgiving post- stolen cider press? Anyway, his version of Mangagatti- because Vicenza and Padova used to go to battle repeatedly back in the day. The Padova crest included a cat on it so each time the Vicentinos won they ‘ate cats’. In cooking class I heard a different version- the northern Italians were poorer due to the war and therefore had to resort to eating cats at times. Hmmmmm, I think I like the first version better.)

Back to clase de Italiano: After learning all about the stazzione treni and all the associated places (ticket stand, information office, bag deposit, escalator, elevator, train schedule, toilet, etc), I walked over to cooking class. On the way I was glad to see Ciao Café was open today, unlike last Monday, so I grabbed a cappuccino and croissant of course before class. This week’s class- octopus and pasta!

Octopus- gross but intriguing! We placed each octopus in its own pot of water on the stove. The smaller octopus (under one pound) was placed in already boiling water while the larger octopus was placed in cold water and then brought to a boil (so the entire octopus is cooked throughout rather than the hot water cooking the outer layers of the octopus and not reaching the middle). If you would like the tentacles to curl up, just dip them in boiling water before placing it into the non-boiled pot. Add either vinegar or lemon to the water to help soften the meat. The Italian cooking trinity was then added- a couple carrots, a couple stalks of celery and half an onion/cipolle. Let it boil for 30 minutes. Maybe drink a little wine while you wait or go grab another cappuccino.

Pasta- seems like the simplest thing ever but…make a little indentation in the flour/farina pile to drop your egg/uova into. Use one egg for every 100g of flour. Mix it with a fork until it sticks a little and then use your hands to continue mixing and kneading. You have to feel it! Then put the dough through the pasta roller over and over again. Twice through the first setting and then once through each subsequent setting up through setting five. You really need two people to make pasta- one to feed the pasta through the machine and turn the crank, one to hold/guide the pasta as it comes out. Each time through the pasta gets a little thinner and a little more delicate. But it’s surprising how elastic it still is. Switch the handle to the other side of the pasta maker and send your pasta through the cutter- voila! I made tagliatelle! And guess what- it only boils for 2-3 minutes. Tagliatelle- ‘cut’ – is a very porous pasta thus make sure to serve it with a sauce that is a bit more saucy. We want to taste the sauce, not the pasta.

Try this for a quick yummy sauce: How could you go wrong with butter, cream and vodka?! Sautee some onions and garlic then add asparagus or zucchini or such. In another pan melt butter, add a cup of cream and ‘some’ vodka. Then add the cream mixture to your sautéed veggies. We also added smoked salmon. Yum!

Alright, the octopus is ready. Now for the gross part. Actually, let the octopus cool over night, just leave it in the pot on the stove, no need for a fridge (since Euro fridges are tiny!). Then gently rub the skin & nodules off. You can eat the nodules if you’d like but we prefer the tentacles nodule free. Don’t forget to take the eyeball out from the center of the tentacles. Yes- one eyeball per. **Shudder** The brains have already been cleaned out so just cut the tentacles & body/head into little pieces- we uses scissors for ease. Then cut up some of the cooked Italian trinity (carrots, onions, celery) and add it to the octopus slices for your octopus salad. Drizzle a little evoo/parsley/garlic/lemon juice and you’re set after you sprinkle a little salt over the top! *don’t use all the veggies from the pot, it would overwhelm the octopus. ** cut a garlic clove in half for your dressing, no need to chop the garlic up. Octopus salad ended up being pretty tasty actually. Poor Pat is going to have to suck it up and try it this week!

So tonight I made the fried artichokes and the frittata from last week. A few things I learned:

1-dip the artichokes in flour- this dries the water off of them so the oil doesn’t splatter when the artichokes are added. It also makes them a little crispier.

2- you can never have too much cheese fondue sauce!

3- cook the frittata over a medium, not high heat, so as to cook it thoroughly without burning. Oops :)

4- go easy on the potatoes, maybe cut them a bit smaller

5- add whatever you’d like to the frittata- ham, asparagus, spinach, etc

6- There’s a lot of grease to clean off the walls, dishes, floors after preparing fried artichokes and the frittata. But as the Italians say, eat fried foods at least once a week in order to jump start your liver.

Happy cooking!