Italian Regional Cuisine: South (Cheese Please)

Today we focused on the south of Italy, and within Chef K's lecture, she mentioned that the south is the home of pizza, but didn't go into any detail about the history of method of my favorite food -- only that we would be making it next mod, not today. She had a short list of famous NYC pizzerias, but excluded the really good ones -- Una Pizzeria Neapolitana, Isabella's Oven, and some famous but not top-rate ones, like Lombardi's. She made the bold assertion that good pizza can't really be found in Manhattan anymore, that you have to go to Brooklyn to a place like DiFaras. She has a point, but she was overgeneralizing.

The menu today was making fresh mozzarella, Mozzarella in Carrozza (fried cheese sammiches), Pasta con Cavolfiore (rigatoni with cauliflower), Miccheroni con Salsa de Pomodoro e Ricotta (buccatini noodles in a spicey red sauce with ricotta), Pesce all'Acqua Pazza (bass in 'crazy water'), Agnello Cacio e Uova (braised lamb in eggy sauce), and Gattó di Patate (cheesy potato bomb).

First up, everyone made cheese. This was of particular interest to me, because to be able to make my own cheese could only mean the opportunity to kick my own home pizzas up a notch. First, you start with cheese curd, which we received in a big block. According to Chef K, you can buy it by the pound at better Italian appetizing stores -- and it ain't cheap, usually just as expensive as premade mozz. We cut it into even-sized cubes. (I wonder if this is the same fabled cheese curd that is needed for poutine?)

Then you get on some hand protection, in this case three pairs of rubber gloves. On the fire you need a large pot of boiling water, extra-salt. The water needs to be much saltier than pasta water, almost like sea water. You cover the curd with the boiling water and immediately the water becomes milky. You need the super-heated curd with your hands into a ball, while keeping it in the water. Once it comes together, it should start to look a bit shiny and be able to be stretched. Don't want to overwork it, it will become tough. Roll it into a ball (or whatever fancy shape, wrap it in plastic and hold it in the white water in the fridge). The water will keep in fresh, but the plastic will help prevent too much salt from being absorbed.

We divvied up the recipes and I worked on the Gattó. I don't know what the official English translation is, but Potato Cheese Bomb would be appropriate. Basically you boil and rice a few pounds of potatoes, mix in a lot of whole butter, a lot of Parmesan cheese, chopped up salty soppressata, egg, half and half, marscapone, and smoked mozzarella. In a buttered and bread-crumb-laden cup, layer the mixture with a layer of fresh mozzarella in the middle, then bake that bad boy till it's hot all the way through and golden brown on the outside. It tasted....like a cheese n' potato bomb went off in my mouth, with little sopressata citizens screaming bloody murder as I chewed them right up. I could see this being sold on a stick at the state fair in Minnesota (sorry, E!).

We all took a crack at frying mozz sammiches. Take squares of crustless white bread, slap some freshly-made mozz, a little fresh tomato and basil, dredge in flower, then dip in some eggwash pan-fry. I would of had some pictures of these pretty tasty squares, but my phone died for a while after being handled too close to a bowl of hot mozz water.

I was done by 10 with my stuff, and was inspired by Dirty Kim -- she too had finished her stuff, and was going over with Chef K a recipe for bread pudding to use up the tons of crusts we generated for the sandwiches. So I told Chef K I wanted to make some fresh pasta ravioli, using ingredients laying around. I made a stuffing of smoked mozz, ricotta, egg, Parmesan, basil, parsley and salt, which tasted ok. However, I decided to experiment with the pasta. I purposefully under-kneaded the dough, let sit for only 30 minutes, then ran it through the machine quickly. The dough was tough, crumbly from the get-go and never quite got the right pasta feel. I made ravioli by hand to practice, but by the time I was done there was no time to cook them. Still, it was the kind of exercise I would have never done at home....

Tommorow, off to the islands of Sicily and Sardinia.

ADDENDA
Cousin J had a going-away get together this evening so I whipped out the bundt pan and made a pound cake:

Lots of eggs, heavy cream, sugar, nothing good for ya. Used better eggs and a better quality flour, and baked it a bit shorter this time, came out a lot less dense and moister than last time. To balance its natural density, I whipped cream cheese with sugar and whipped cream:People seemed to like it, about 2/3 of it was gone when I left. I also brought fresh mozz I made today in class and got some organic heirloom tomatoes from the farmers market, some organic basil and dressed in with olive oil and basil:
That was gone by the time I left!

BREAKFAST: 6:30am, good granola with good milk, .75 bowl, hunger 3/5

AM TASTINGS: 10:30am, several eggy fried mozz sandwiches, a few bites of potatoey cheesy stuff,taste of pasta and red sauce, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Didn't eat too many, but there were so dense just filled me up.

PM TASTINGS: 3pm, lemon pound cake in various states of cooking, bits of whipped cream/cream cheese frosting, .5 bowl, hunger 3/5
Making an over-the-top pound cake for cousin J's going away thing, gonna make a great tomato and mozz plate too when I'm there.

DINNER: 6pm, several pieces of fresh moz with basil and yummy heirloom tomatoes dressed in olive oil and salt, couple of tears of bread, a small piece of frosted pound cake, a small piece of vegan chocolate cake, 1 glass wine, 1/2 beet, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING WATERING: 10pm, quart of water.