March 3, 2019

Sommelier Week ended on February 26th with a MORNING TASTING!  Got that?  Alcohol for breakfast!

To be sure, one reads lots about wine experts swishing and spitting when tasting wine, and I suspect they do much of the time.  I’ve always found that a bit curious though.  Granted, without swishing and spitting the accuracy and reliability of the tasting would decrease as the event went on.  Nonetheless, there is a whole sensory experience that happens when you actually SWALLOW the wine that cannot be achieved by swishing and spitting.  At least that’s been my experience.

I was pleased then, when on the first day of our Sommelier Week, Chef Mark McDonald suggested that we actually swallow the wine, at least once for each wine tasted.  I can truthfully report that everyone swallowed every time.  There was no swishing and spitting among members of our group.

The MORNING TASTING started with a very small pour of each of two different vintages of a Lebanese white wine.  The vintages were 2003 and 2001.  Each wine could still age for another 10 years.  That is amazing for white wine!  And, when you consider everything Lebanon has been through it just nothing short of miraculous that wines like this are still produced.

We had a quick taste of a 1997 Riesling before moving onto beer.

Think about it.  Beer is made from grain and yeast.  It’s really just liquid bread, right?  Not so bad for breakfast after all!

OK, OK, so I exaggerated a bit.  We spent a few hours in the kitchen preparing for the evening meal before starting our wine and beer tasting with Chef Mark.

That evening was a new experience.  We’ve had pizza night where each of us made pizza of our choice in the wood-fired oven to share with everyone.  We had a menu execution for which, as a group, we had to create and execute a multi-course menu.  We had a pizza and cocktail night where, in teams of two, we had to devise a cocktail and a pizza that paired together and execute both in ten minutes!

On the last day of Sommelier Week however, we each had to make a first course for 18 people.  These got executed in succession.  One student made a soup, another risotto.  The rest of us made pasta…starting by making the pasta by hand that morning.

In the lead-up to Pasta Night, each of us had to submit three different options for what we wanted to make.  The Chefs then got to decide which we would make.  We were informed of our choices in the morning and had to set about preparing everything for that evening’s dinner.

I got to make Pasta Alla Chitarra with Mussels in Tomato Sauce with Pepperoncino.  My other options were Linguine with Clams in White Sauce and Lasagna Bolognese.  I have become enamored of the chitarra (see below).

Chitarra is the Italian word for guitar.  It is also the word for a device that is used to cut pasta using guitar strings.  It fascinates me far more than cutting pasta using a pasta machine.  Apparently, the chitarra cuts the edges of the pasta more sharply causing a different reaction with the sauce than is obtained using a pasta machine (Italians are truly food obsessed and discussions like this are not uncommon, even among non-chefs).

After each of us made and served our Primo Piatto (First Course, which can be pasta, risotto, or soup), the chefs each created a pasta.  Each chef, that is, except Chef John (who runs the school) and Chef Chris who was planning on making a Barley Risotto (Orzotto) which got shelved until Saturday dinner due to time constraints.  Chef Juan’s Chocolate Dessert Lasagna is the headline photo for this post.

It was a lazy few days after Pasta Night.  We had two days off followed by a slow Friday followed by another day off.

On Wednesday, the day after Pasta Night, eight of us hired a driver to take us to Pizzo and Tropea.  They are wonderful towns on the west coast of Calabria.  Both are also largely closed this time of year.

Pizzo is known for its Grotto Church, carved into the rock.  It was closed, though we did manage to snap a few pictures through the metal bars before leaving.

We stopped for gelato across the street where the proprietor offered to call the manager of the church to see if he would open for the Americans.  Oh, if we had only come two days later when he had different hours it would have been possible.  (Possible only in the sense that the official schedule said the hours were longer starting March 1st, not necessarily that the official schedule would be adhered to [see below].)

After gelato, we met our driver who, before taking us to Tropea, asked us if we wanted to stop at the castle in Pizzo, telling us that it was open.  We agreed.  The castle, however, was not open even though the signage indicated it should have been open (see above).  The benefit, though, was that the castle, unlike the church, was near the piazza, which we otherwise might have missed, and where we had a wonderful al fresco lunch before heading to Tropea.

I had fileja (a local pasta not unlike strozzapreti, but thicker) with a sauce of ‘nduja and tomato.

Tropea was also, largely, closed.  There is a small Alimentari (food shop) that several members of our group had been to on a prior visit but it was closed when we arrived.  Since most businesses in Calabria (except restaurants) close from 1 to 4 (or 5) it wasn’t clear whether the shop was closed for the season or for the afternoon.

Lucky for us, the Alimentari was just closed for the afternoon.  After padding around Tropea, and finding a crumbing building perched on a bluff overlooking the sea that needed to be purchased and rehabbed, we discovered that the shop was open.  I bought two ‘nduja salami and a big package of pepperoncino.

Our luck did not hold out with the restaurant where we wanted to have dinner so, around 5 PM we headed back to the school where we had dinner prepared by Chef Chris.

Thursday was another free day.  The chefs made us an amazing brunch.  Mariana started us off with Blood Orange Mimosas made from freshly squeezed blood oranges.  This was followed by Eggs Benedict on Homemade English Muffins accompanied by Home Fries.  Next came Waffles with Market-Fresh Strawberries and Whipped Cream.

I opted for a 2 hour and 45 minute walk in the afternoon which included exploration of the hypermarket, Paoletti, in the nearby seaside town of Montepaone Lido.

Friday morning was a trip to the market followed by a free afternoon.  After the market in Soverato, we went to a restaurant supply store in Catanzaro Lido and then to the Guglielmo store.

Guglielmo is a local coffee roaster, the fourth largest in Italy.  Between the restaurant supply store and the Guglielmo store, I made quite a shopping haul.  Frank had taken my previous purchases (2 VERY LARGE sauté pans for pasta, 5 cookbooks, silicone molds, plastic drying racks for pasta and cheese, and four jars of spicy condiments) back to the States leaving me with more free space in my suitcase.

On Friday I bought a chitarra for pasta (see above); a press for fruits and vegetables (but also used at the school for octopus and terrines); a specially coated twine used for cured meats (much better than the butcher’s twine available in the States); plastic inserts for canning jars to keep the contents submerged under brine, vinegar, or oil; and porcelain espresso cups made to look like the flimsy disposable plastic cups used throughout Italy.

Saturday was another free day.  I was in the kitchen, however, experimenting on a focaccia recipe and making a batch of Carne Adovada thanks to Frank who brought New Mexico red chile on his recent visit.

Whenever we discuss the high quality of raw ingredients available in Italy, Chef John often points to the poor distribution system which means that most food is hyper-local.  International foods are in very short supply but if you can content yourself with Italian food, the hyper-local nature of the food supply means that meals are based on super-good and largely local ingredients.  Seasonality is a way of life.  Italians eat what is in season.  Not only is it better, it is cheaper.  For example artichokes are now 10 for €4, less than half of what they were just a couple of weeks ago.

As Chef John says, “Italy is blessed with poor distribution.”