One Month!

I can't believe that I arrived in Florence a month a go today. A city that once seemed unfamiliar has become my home away from home. Time is moving by so fast and I want it to slow down. Four weeks of classes have already gone by and mid-terms will be quickly approaching. This week in my cooking class we prepared two different dishes. The first dish was Croquette di Baccala which translates to deep-fried fish croquette. Baccala is cod fish, which typically comes from the Atlantic Ocean on the northern side of Europe.  Cod is a lean fish, which is rich in omega 3 fatty acids. We put on our aprons and started the preparations! First, we need to remove the skin of the fresh fish that was bought at the market that morning. Trevor and I volunteered to clean the fish. We used a specific knife to remove the skin and then had to check for bones and remove any that were still present. Once the fish was cleaned we began to chop the rest of our ingredients. We waited for our potatoes to boil as we chopped garlic, black and green olives, and parsley very finely. Once the potatoes were soft enough to remove the skin we were able to mash them. Next we placed the fish, potatoes, an egg, and all the chopped ingredients into the food processor. After the ingredients were all combined together, we made circular balls and then rolled the balls in bread crumbs. Once all the balls were breaded we began to fry them in a olive oil. Once they were all fried they were ready to serve!

The other recipe we made was Gratin di Zucchine. First we chopped the zucchini up very finely. The zucchinis here are much smaller than the size we are used to seeing them at home. We grated some fresh cheese to add to the zucchini. We combined the zucchini, cheese, eggs,  milk, cream, salt, and pepper all into one bowl. Then once the mixture was properly prepared we poured it into the cooking pan. Once the ingredients were placed in the cooking pan we topped it with more cheese and place it in the oven to bake. Finally, it was time to sample our creations! The fish croquettes were good, but a little too fishy for my liking. The zucchini au gratin was absolutely delicious!

Just your typical day of class!

This week in wine class we focused on white wines that comes from the San Gimignano region. It was rather interesting learning about these wines considering we had just visited San Gimignano. White wines can vary in colors ranging from pale greenish yellow, straw yellow, gold yellow, amber yellow, and brown. Every grape has a primary aroma which gives the wine particular aromatic characteristics. Alcohol fermentation helps to reveal wine's primary aromas. The harvesting of usually occurs during September and October.