Submitted by Grace Nourse on the 2024 Winter HLTH program in Rome…
This Monday my group and I had the chance to experience hands-on cooking in Italy. Throughout the experience I learned firsthand how fresh and simple Italian cooking can be. The pasta we made consisted of just two ingredients: flour and water. At home fresh pasta is few and far between, and even when you think you’re buying fresh pasta I’m sure there are more ingredients than just flour and water. We also learned that in the south of Italy they only use water and flour but in the north they make their pasta with flour and eggs. We made an Italian dish called Tagliatelle o busiate all’Amatriciana. The ingredients for the sauce of our dish included fresh tomatoes, pork cheek, pecorino Romano, and just a pinch of chili peppers. It turned out really good and was a lot simpler to make than I imagined. Also, the list of ingredients was smaller than any recipe I have used at home. This was made with all fresh ingredients and didn’t even have extra salt, pepper, or other seasonings. After having this experience I am hoping to have a little more confidence in cooking and hope to attempt making my own sauce at home.
Following dinner we had a dessert that we also prepared ourselves. I bake a lot more than I cook when I am home and this was a recipe that was easy to follow, had minimal ingredients, and tasted very good! It was a creamy ricotta mixture that was mixed with dark chocolate shavings and we made a crumble out of flour, butter, and sugar that acted as our cone piece on top. It was the perfect way to end the cooking class! (Submitted on January 24, 2024)
