Chef Tony

I can't really recall where I left off with my last post, so I'll just pick up where I deem it fit.

Wednesday
After our relaxing morning we drove into Canelli to eat at a pizzeria that had been recommended to us. It was very down-home, and the food was tasty. Oh, and cheap! I'm very glad of that in retrospect... but more about that later.

After lunch we were tasked to find our landlord and pay her for the week. Easy enough, one would think. We plugged her address into the GPS and then proceeded to drive around the tiny town of Canelli for probably an hour. Did you know that they have "regions" in Italy, where the roads aren't really named, and if you drive around you're just supposed to find what you're looking for. Sadly, our GPS kept trying to send us to a newly built mall. Fine by me, but not what we were looking for!

Eventually we found the landlord's phone number buried under a layer of junk in the car. We called her and she guided us to her house. Paid. More wine purchased (3.50 per bottle!). Back on the road.

By this point we were frustrated and exhausted so we just went back home. We tried to relax there as we waited for our mystery babysitter. Our landlord had promised us that one of her relatives would babysit for Elena while Nate and I took the cooking class. I personally was a little worried about leaving Elena alone with a stranger, especially since she has been a total grump on this trip (another tooth coming in, we can see it).

The babysitter arrived, looked trustworthy enough, so we took off to see Chef Tony. This time the GPS got us close enough to the correct place that we could follow signs to the restaurant where Chef Tony is head chef. We banged on the restaurant door tentatively (it was obviously closed) and waited until our jovial Italian chef came bounding to the door. He started spitting off rapid Italian, and we realized quickly that our dreams of learning to cook Italian food in English were just dreams!

But, Chef Tony was a very sweet man, spoke slowly (our Spanish helped), and was just an amazingly patient man. He popped open a bottle of wine and started teaching us how to make an Italian 'starter' of cubed zucchini, eggplant, cheese, olive oil, the works over pasta. I learned a more efficient way to cut a zucchini, and Nate now knows how to use sharp knives just like a chef. At one point he did exclaim that his knife was "more man than him", but I assured him that just couldn't be the case.

After we finished cutting our veggies and frying them up (Nate mastered the art of flipping the vegetables while in the frying pan... I wasn't successful, sadly!), Chef Tony taught us how to make pasta. You start with piles and piles of eggs and then add semolina and regular flour. We learned the chef method for breaking eggs. Basically it's a one handed approach, where you crack the egg, then break it open with your middle two fingers and let the egg plop out. Once again, I was struggling and Nate was moving quite efficiently. Chef Tony, an eloquent man, asked Nate if he was a gynecologist by trade. Nate blushed, and I laughed hysterically.

Next, you dump the eggs and flours into the pasta machine and it mixes them up to the proper consistency. Afterwards you knead the VERY TOUGH dough for a while, adding more of the semolina flour. Then, the fun part, putting the pasta through the flattener part of the machine. Hard to describe, but basically you just run the dough over and over through the machine, making it flatter and flatter, thinner and thinner, but very elastic. When it got to the proper elasticity, Chef Tony added a special attachment to the machine and we ran the dough through it, making tagliatelle noodles! Fun!!!!! (I think you'll understand more when we get home and upload our pictures)

Our final task was to learn how to make the dessert called tiramisu. This was definitely an alternative version of tiramisu, but ended up being delicious. We broke more eggs, this time using only the yolks, then added sugar to the yolks. Into the mixer it went and was whipped until (once again) a mystery consistency that Chef Tony decided upon. We added whipping cream that we had whipped up to the yolky mixture and then mixed it all together. Chef Tony brought out these little dishes and I filled the bottoms with our yummy eggy mixture. Nate dipped ladyfingers in coffee and placed them on top of the mixture, and then I added more mixture to the top. Then they went off to the fridge to chill up.

Finished! Chef Tony tried to explain to us that there was no way you could learn Italian cooking in one night. The Italian kitchen is "infinite!" he told us, and we certainly believed him.

We took off our chef hats and aprons and went out to the restaurant. Yes, we had the entire restaurant to ourselves. I guess it was closed on Wednesdays, but the Chef and one of his helpers had come in just to teach and feed us. Wow!!!

I think I forgot to mention that we got to cook up some of our fresh pasta and put the veggie mixture that we had created earlier on top of it with freshly grated Parmesan cheese. It was so tasty, and apparently our appetizer.

We really didn't know what to expect. Our landlord had originally planned to have a local housewife who was a good cook come out to our villa and teach us how to cook 'Italian'. I guess that this poor lady came down with the swine flu and couldn't teach us, so instead we got the professional chef... I suppose we should have guessed that there would be a price increase (although our landlord had promised us the same price), but at this point we were in a happy daze and not thinking of money.

Another bottle of wine was brought out with the 1st plate. The 1st plate certainly tested my braveness. It was a completely raw piece of veal, covered in a olive oil, lemon sauce with small pieces of radish on it. I took the first bite, a bit concerned for my health, but nearly passed out when the flavors hit my tongue. WOW!!! Amazing!

2nd plate!!! This plate consisted of a roasted pepper stuffed with cheese and a roasted onion that had the insides dug out and filled with a sauteed mixture of veggies and cheese. All I can say here is that I've never been so happy to eat my vegetables!

Out came the 3rd plate, this time very small pasta stuffed with a mix of minced rabbit and veal AND a risotto that was flavored with heaven knows what. It was the best risotto I've ever had in my life. So incredibly aromatic, flavorful, I can't really describe. Did I mention that our chef had opened another bottle of wine for us to try with this plate as well? (The restaurant was also a winery, showcasing its own wines of course)

We were full. Reaching the point of overflow when Chef Tony came out with the main course. This time roast in a wine sauce with another sauteed veggie that I'm not sure of. I choked down the food. It was so good, it seemed a shame to let it go to waste, and we certainly didn't want to insult our dear Chef.

Finally, dessert time. The end was near. I (yes me, dessert queen) nearly cringed when I saw the large plate filled with not only tiramisu but also panna cotta. Two of the most perfect desserts ever created. Period. I couldn't finish them, but I did give it my best effort. All the while trying to sip down the dessert wine that had been opened.

I think we must have had 4 or 5 open wine bottles at our table. We kept shaking our head in amazement when he opened the bottles.

After dinner Nate had a shot of grappa and I had a shot of limoncello to help digest the meal. I felt like if I moved the entire meal would ricochet out of me, so I sat there, very quietly until the digestive started doing its job!

Finally it came time for the bill. Chef Tony asked for us to pay for the 'restaurant' portion of the bill (we also purchased some wine) with cash, so we dug out all the cash we had (but still came up a bit short). When he came to us with the total bill Nate nearly turned blue in the face. Let's just say that the price our landlord had quoted was only the price for his cooking class. The rest was the food, AND he charged us by the bottle for every single bottle that we had tasted during cooking and the dinner. And we wondered why he was being so liberal with the wine!!!!

We tried to explain (in Italian, ha!) the price that our landlord had explained to us, but he apologetically said that he was sorry, but that was certainly not the price. Nate reluctantly signed the credit card receipt, telling me that oh well, it was the best night we had had in ages, so let's just not think about the cost. So we didn't (for a minute or two!) until Chef Tony came back in with a bottle of grappa that we had considered too expensive to purchase. He gave it to us on-the-house, which made the pain a bit less. He also threw in a bottle of Chardonnay and gave us some of his homemade jam as well. What a sweetie!

Finally, stuffed to the gills, we headed home to our weary babysitter. Apparently Elena had cried the whole night except when she was sleeping. I felt terrible, so we paid her a bit more than we had planned to and then crashed into bed.

Most. Expensive. Night. In. History.
Most. Fun. Night. Ever.
Best. Birthday. Present. Ever.

Thursday
Nate had made us a reservation at a local winery on Thursday morning. We dragged ourselves out of bed and stumbled our way to the winery. I was mentally berating Nate the entire way there. Who makes a reservation to drink wine at 10am?!! Crazy man I married!!!

In the end it turned out to be a good thing. The wine was good and the prices were reasonable, so we added more bottles to our collection before heading into Canelli for some grocery shopping. We decided to stay home and cook, trying to save a bit of money after the madness of the night before.

I made a yummy tomato/cream/artichoke sauce that we ate with the pasta that WE had made with Chef Tony. Very chef-like, if I say so myself. We enjoyed it anyhow.

We then took a nice walk out in the vineyards around our villa. There were quite a few grapes still out on the vines, so we got to snack on grapes that tasted exactly like moscato wine, minus the alcohol.

Now we are just relaxing at home, probably going to eat some soup and watch a movie tonight. Nice and low-key, very vacationy. Hurrah!