The End has COME...

The End has COME...in cooking class that is. (Feel free to cry with me here)

But as all things Italian are...the last day of class went out with a BANG!

I don't know if my mouth has ever been that happy :)

Libby grilling pumpkin

Cutting out the noodles

Ferdinando taught us all kinds of tricks when it comes to making pasta. This would be called the "grab and fling" (shaking out the noodles after cutting them into strips)

 Everything I put in my mouth was pure joy (even more so than usual). Hard to believe I know! But its the truth!

Focaccia bread with tomatoes and olives

This meal was the day of mushrooms. I'm usually not a huge "fungi" fan but this day definitely change my view on them! We used three kinds of mushrooms for the pasta sauce. I'm not sure what kind they were...regular looking ones, dried ones (too rare to buy fresh), and giant straight-from-the-forest-looking ones. We sauteed them in olive oil and parsley, then added tomato sauce.We made the noodles from scratch again and topped it all off with some Parmesan cheese of course!

Pasta with a Mushroom-Tomato Sauce

For the main course we sauteed chunks of pork tenderloin in a little bit of oil, then wrapped them in focaccia dough that was rolled out like pasta. We placed the pork in a little pillow of dough and pinched it close to bake in the oven. We served it with a mushroom cream sauce and grilled pumpkin.

Pork Tenderloin sauted then baked in a bread crust, drizzled with a mushroom cream sauce. Served with grilled pumpkins

And now for the dessert. I'm not even sure how to begin describing this. We made a whipped cream/mousse kind of filling with chestnut marmalade and added little chocolate chips to it. Then we blended a fruit called cachi, which is a kind of persimmon (and kind of looks like an orange rotten tomato btw) It is a very vivid orange color but has a subtle sweet flavor that is much more slight than you would think. It was the perfect balance to the sweet cream!

We served it similar to how we made tirimisu. You layer the fruit, cream, then biscotti cookies soaked in fresh-squeezed orange juice, then repeat! we topped it with almond/molasses biscotti.

and can I just say YUM?!

Pure sweet heaven for the taste buds

It has been a wonderful and adventurous semester with Chef Ferdinando! I have conquered the science of Italian Cooking and the art of Italian eating. Including conquering my fears of fish, mussles, clams, mushrooms, tomatoes, and octopi! (ok the fear of fishy things with tentacles hasn't QUITE been defeated...but hey I went up against them at least!)

I would say it's been a great success indeed!

Chef Ferdinando

Stand by to witness the fruits of my success when I bring my cooking skills home in a few weeks! Cross your fingers that they will be as successful...or at least eventually get there through trial and error! (sorry family...you are about to become the guinea pigs of Italian Chef Jenessa Rose)
Buon Appetito!!