La Cucina Italiana

It’s interesting that the words la cucina italiana can mean both “the Italian kitchen” and “the Italian cuisine.” Well, on Monday evening the students got a taste of both. We all met at the school at 6:00, and Kirsty proceeded to lead us across the river to what turned out to be a Socialist club. This is a place where local members can meet, converse, debate, play cards, drink wine, and, of course, eat. And the chef here is kind enough to open her kitchen several times during the semester so that AIFS students can learn the fine art of Tuscan cooking.

After scrubbing our hands, we all donned stylish plastic aprons and made our way into the tiny kitchen. Yes, tiny. The 25 of us pretty much filled the place! The chef, the wonderful Mirella Calvelli, who spoke only Italian, went over our menu for the evening, and Kirsty translated for the group. We then got immediately to work! Very quickly the chef had everyone doing some required task: separating eggs, mincing garlic, slicing bread, chopping cilantro, deskinning sausage, and stirring pots. Kathleen even got stuck washing dishes! And in what seemed a very short period of time, we had whipped up a Tuscan feast:

Crostini Campagnoli (thin-sliced bread topped with a sausage-cheese mixture and baked)

Penne alla Carrettiera (penne pasta in a spicy tomato sauce)

Roast Beef (seasoned with a cilantro-garlic rub and roasted to rare)

Piselli (peas cooked with sugar and pancetta)

Tiramisu (literally translates to “Pick Me Up,” which is appropriate given the espresso that is used to prepare it!)

And then the best part of the evening arrived – eating our creations! We carried everything into the dining room, toasted our good work, and dug in! Somehow food just tastes better when it comes from your own hands. Buon appetito!