Pasta! Pasta! Pasta! Cooking Like an Italian (Recipe Included:)

One interesting experience in Rome has been the cooking. Eating out in Rome is extraordinary, but if you live there you have to try your hand at some Roman cuisine yourself. 

 

So a group of us from CUA went to an Italian cooking class in Trastevere where we learned how to make some Italian dishes. We made sautéed mushrooms, roman artichokes and rosemary potatoes, handmade pasta in a Sicilian Norma sauce, and tiramisu for dessert!

We learned the key to the great taste really is the fresh ingredients! The only way to get excellent tomato sauce is to go to the market to the tomato man who has his own tomato farm and buy the big red ones he picked yesterday. We didn’t do that exactly, but the Italian supermarkets are much for fresh than our Albertsons or Giant.

But don’t worry there are still ways we can try to imitate the Italian freshness. For instance, try buying your spices fresh rather than in a shaker. The premade granules may be quick and easy but the taste of fresh herbs really spices up a dish, pun intended. Also try your hand at fresh made pasta. All you need is some semolina flour and you can make all types of shapes! Lastly, you can never have enough olive oil. Let me rephrase that- EXTRA VIRGIN olive oil. You know it’s the really good stuff if the glass is tinted and it’s a little more expensive.

Throughout the semester Kat, Delaney, Victoria, and I made pasta for each other using our Italian tricks we picked up along the way. We had some excellent pastas and really enjoyed each others company. There’s nothing better than gathering for a family meal.

Now you try! Here’s the recipe for the Norma sauce (Serves 4):

- 2 large eggplant, thinly sliced

- 2 tbsp coarse salt

- 1Lt / 4 cups sunflower oil for frying, or any frying oil

- 1 kg / 2,2 lb Tomatoes on the vine

- 1 small bunch of fresh basil

- 5 tbsp Extra virgin Olive Oil

- 50g / 1/2 cup freshly grated baked ricotta cheese (even parmesan or pecorino)

Place the eggplant slices in a colander and sprinkle with salt. Let drain for 1 hour. Heat the sunflower oil in a large deep frying pan until very hot. Shake the salt off the eggplant, dry them out with a paper towel and fry small batches until golden brown, 2-3 minutes per batch. Drain onto paper towels. 

In the meantime blanche tomatoes in a pot of boiling water, remove the skin, and chop coarsely. 

Brown garlic with extra virgin olive oil (keep the skins on) in pan, then add tomatoes for about 15 minutes until soft. With an immersion blender make the sauce creamier, and then cook for 10 more minutes on low heat with the fried eggplant. Add basil and serve!