Italian Regional Cuisine: Middle (Haze)

After last night's rec class and sleeping on a bellyful of steak, marrow, and ice cream, waking up was not easy to do. Considered not going to school, but decided against it -- it's Friday, people will be absent, it'll be quieter.

Alas, a quarter of the class was absent and there were no less than 9 recipes to charge through. Unfocused, I didn't even read through the recipes. First off, Dora the Explorer comes up to me and asks me to make the bolognese sauce -- the one recipe that everyone will want to take home. Up to this point, she has not asked for a recipe and we've given her the simple veg side dishes (all of which she's screwed up), so it was hard to say no....I asked Chef K if we could do a double recipe, and she said there was enough stuff in class for each team to do a quadruple. So I told Dora to do a single, while I went ahead and did a triple.

Not being good at measuring, Dora made a huge amount of shredded mirepoix in the robocoup. Chef K called her on it, then came to me to give me the extra. I said no thanks, I'll make my own. Chef K gave me a quizzical look and I said in a low voice, "to be honest, I don't eat anything that Dora makes. She works dirty, and has said in the past that she doesn't care." And that was that.

Class was really quiet, to the point of weirdness. The bolognese was pretty straightforward -- cook the hell out of the mirepoix, cook the hell out of veal, pork, and beef ground, deglaze with white wine, add stock and aromatics (basil, thyme, parsley in a sachet), simmer as long as possible. Dirty Dave and I decided to add a bit of heat, and I threw in some cumin, coriander and red pepper flakes in a spice grinder. Right before serving, added heavy cream to mellow the whole mess out.

Made another batch of pasta, experimented with rolling the hell out of it in the pasta machine. The more I worked it, the stiffer it got, until it actually crumbled and could not be worked anymore. Kinda cool, but not what you want to eat. Indeed, the final pasta came out a bit tough.

Was kinda unaware of everything going on cooking-wise, was just too tired. Dirty Dave made a beautiful roast pork with a pomegranate sauce that tasted even better than it looked. The others got out prosciutto-wrapped red mullets, fried mushrooms in olive oil and vinegar, braised artichokes and a white bean soup. Chef made a delicious zucchini cake frosted in a cream cheese concoction.

One more day of Italy, then off to Asia.

ADDENDA:
Ate weirdly today, as there was no formal meal. Grazed on some hummus stuff at B's cousin's house, then we went for a drink at the Boat Basin Cafe and grazed on way too much fried food.

BREAKFAST: 6:30am, smoothie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Kiwi, cherries, ginger, banana. Ginger gave it an interesting kick.

AM TASTINGS: 10:30am, fresh pasta with bolognese roast pork with pomegranate sauce, zucchini cake, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 1:30pm, hummus, whole wheat pita, 2 tiny falafel balls, health salad, 1 bowl, hunger 3/5

DINNER: 5:30pm, popcorn shrimp, onion rings, 1 beer, 1 bowl, hunger 3/5
At the Boat Basin Cafe, nothing good on the menu, ate the shrimp in memory of my mom, as this was the kind of shrimp she was used to -- tiny, breaded and out of the freezer bag.

EVENING DRUGGING: 9:30pm, 2 tumms
Dinner was not ideal.