Buon Appetito #2

Here is cooking class number #2!!

Today was the day of fish. If you know me well at all, you know that Jenessa and fish don't usually belong in the same sentence together, unless its a joke of course. Well let me share with you that I have now baked a fish, gutted it, deboned, AND eaten an entire fish!!! (I know most of you won't believe me so of course I documented this milestone)

Here is the appetizer: Bruschetta!

This is one of my favorite tastes of Italy and this was by far the best I've had! And so easy! I even learned a few tricks to take home with me.

For the first course we made pasta with leeks, zucchini, CLAMS, and parsley pasta.

We made the noodles from scratch..again! How cool/Italian are we?!

 I ate every bit of it! The clams weren't too bad once I got past the squishiness of them.

Libby and I pulling the clams out of their shells...slimy

And for the MAIN EVENT! Here's these beauties:

This is the salute of the fish. While they were baking in the oven all their little fins stuck straight up! Creepy yet also hilarious!

 We stuffed the fish with salt, parsley and garlic, drizzled them with olive oil and topped them off with cherry tomatoes before sticking them in the oven.

After baking, we were shown the art of de-heading, de-tailing, de-finning, and de-boning the fish. Can I just say NOT SO EASY.

Yes that is the skeleton of the fish. I did that myself :)

Not too bad eh?

And guess what?! I ATE THE WHOLE THING!!! (Did you hear that family? Papa?) I ATE AN ENTIRE FISH!!! (If you still don't believe me...I have it on video)

This was a very big deal for me and pretty sure the only reason I was able to do it and SEMI enjoy it was the fact that I'm in Italy. When in Rome do as the Romans do! Here's to conquering fears/disgusts/weaknesses eh?

Of course having this to wash it all down afterwards wasn't too shabby!

Bavarian Cream with Lemon, topped with strawberries and mint.

This week's tricks of the trade:

1. When making bruschetta, only use the firm outer part of the tomato

2. To make green pasta, blend chopped parsley with one egg before adding eggs to the dough

3. Only tear, never cut herbs to preserve their natural oils/flavor

Buon Appetito!!