Today was planned as another day of relaxation. The only planned event was a 4-hour cooking class to create (and eat!) a 4-course Italian meal. After a light breakfast and walk to town, we met up with a driver who took us to the resort where the cooking class was held. During the drive, we chatted with a couple from Toronto who were on a whirlwind honeymoon through Italy and Turkey. It was nice to have conversations in English!
It turned out that there were 11 people in the cooking class from all over the world, including Canada, Australia, England, and Finland. The chef did not speak much English, so there was a translator to explain all the steps.
The first course was an appetizer of fried Neapolitan pizza. We mixed all the ingredients to make the dough, and then made individual pizzas that were topped with tomato sauce, parmesan cheese, and basil after the dough was fried in peanut oil. The dough was incredibly good, though I would have preferred more exotic toppings.
The next course was Capri style ravioli stuffed with a 3-cheese blend of ricotta, mozzarella, and parmesan. After kneading the dough, we had fun adding the filling, folding the top over, and cutting out the ravioli shape. We could tell which raviolis we had made based on the obscure shape and size of each piece!
The main course was called “Crazy Water Fish Fillets”. It consisted of a local white fish, baked with olive oil, cherry tomatoes, salt, garlic, onion, parsley, celery, and oregano. The “crazy water” name comes from the fact that it is supposed to be pan-fried in olive oil, which causes the water to pop and crackle when the fish is added. However, for our demonstration there were so many people that we had to bake it in an oven instead. It was incredibly tasty though, even to me as a person who does not typically like any kind of seafood.
The final course was an authentic Tiramisu, complete with whipped eggs, dark rum, and coffee-soaked lady fingers. By the time we got to the dessert, all of us were already stuffed from all the other great food we had eaten. I made it only a few bites into the Tiramisu before I threw in the towel. It was fun to see how to make it though. We left the cooking class with copies of all the recipes so that we could try them all out at home. I know that we’ll try the fried pizza for sure!
After lunch, we stumbled back to the house for a long siesta. After we woke up, we headed into town to grab some groceries for a light dinner and headed over to Europecar to rent a car. It took over a week, but I have finally built up the courage to drive with the wild Italians! Our plan is to drive the Amalfi Coast tomorrow, so we rented a Smart Car for the adventure. It is a funny little diesel car with a pseudo-automatic transmission, but it should be the perfect way to explore the coast without worrying too much about fitting into parking spaces!
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