Cucina Romana

When in Rome, do as the Romans do… so when in Rome, cook as the Romans do!

In just my second week studying abroad in Rome, I had the opportunity to participate in a cooking class taught by a born-and-raised Roman chef named Claudia. Claudia hosts her cooking classes dubbed with the brand “Three Inch Fat” out of her family’s restaurant Enoteca Corsi. The Roman restaurant is just a short walk away from Largo di Torre Argentina (home to Rome’s cat sanctuary) and the Pantheon.

For our meal, Claudia guided us in creating a selection of servings. My friends and I first began making tiramisu for dessert so that it could chill while we made dinner. Here are the steps we followed to make the tiramisu (in a pot, not in a pan):

1. Separate egg whites from eggs yolks from 2 eggs
2. Beat the egg whites until we had stiff peaks
3. Add sugar to the yolks and beat until colored as a light yellow
4. Add marscapone to the yolk and sugar mixture and beat until smooth
5. Fold the egg whites into the marscapone mixture
6. Break two (pre-made) ladyfingers in half and dip quickly into cooled espresso
7. Place ladyfingers in a pot or small bowl
8. Layer marscapone mixture on top, making sure to cover ladyfingers completely
9. Sprinkle with espresso/cocoa powder
10. Chill in refrigerator

Next, we prepared mozzarella stuffed zucchini flowers. We carefully removed the stamen from the flowers and pushed in tiny squares of sliced mozzarella. Claudia then took them to the kitchen to fry them for our appetizer.

Finally, we began working on the homemade ravioli. Here is how we did it:

1. Mash together chopped tomato and onion to be cooked in a pan and used later
2. Put down flour and form into a circle with an empty opening (like a ring)
3. Crack an egg in the opening
4. Slowly work the flour into the egg until you use up all the flour
5. Work the egg and flour into a ball and then roll it out, adding flour when necessary to reduce sticking
6. When thin but still manageable, slice the sheet of dough into a few long slices (I had 4 slices, about 3 inches tall and 10 inches wide)
7. Run the slices through a pasta machine
8. Mix chopped spinach with ricotta cheese
9. Drop dollops of the mixture a few inches apart onto half of the pasta sheets
10. Spread olive oil onto the bare spaces of the pasta
11. Place plain pasta sheets on top of the sheets with ricotta
12. Press down around edges and cut with detailed cutter to achieve scalloped edges
13. Boil in water to prefered consistency
14. Present with tomato and onion topping

After we prepared the ravioli, Claudia took the trays back to cook. We students sat and waited for our meal! Claudia, also a sommelier, prepared beverages for our meal, as well. We had champagne with our stuffed zucchini flowers red wine with our ravioli. The meal was absolutely delicious.

The zucchini flowers were definitely my favorite, and I felt very accomplished having contributed hard work to such a great meal. Although I do not personally like any sort of coffee, I liked the marscapone portion of the tiramisu that did not have any espresso powder on it. I ate what I could but passed it on to a friend to finish, so the tiramisu was definitely not wasted!

Our host Claudia was kind, helpful, and energetic about cooking! She was eager to teach and spoke excellent English. She even gave us certificates of completion with our own wooden cooking utensil.

Upon returning home, I definitely appreciate food a lot more. Although I never really had a taste for fast food, I now have a bit of distaste for American food production in general, both for health and ecological reasons. Even before my time in Italy, I had been avoiding meat, and now I am basically vegetarian, but I still eat dinosaur chicken nuggets. (Yes, really…)

Because of this, I have been cooking a lot more for myself and my family. I have made many different types of soup and a variety of other dishes. I made a white-bean pasta sauce, homade cannolis, veggie pizza, butternut squash ravioli (packaged, but I made the walnut sauce to top it), among a few others. Next, I want to make sweet potato gnocchi (packaged, but I will think of a fun sauce to put on top!).

In spite of sometimes limited supplies from the grocery store due to the pandemic, I have been seeking out fresh ingredients when possible. I sometimes taste a difference between what is considered fresh in America versus what is fresh in Italy, but I am taking what I can get!

If you have any recipe recommendations, let me know! Cooking has been very therapeutic during stay-at-home, so I am enjoying it quite a bit. I look forward to cooking more and making it a habit. Of course, Mom is happy about this, too!