A TOTAL FOOD LOVERS EXPERIENCE…read more....
WANNA GET PHAT? How can you not adore a city whose emblem is the tortellino. Bologna in the region of Emilia-Romagna is the phattest city in Italy. I love it so much here. Literally, even Mario Batali brags about the richness of Emilian cuisine. He's right, phat is cool!! More than that Emilian cuisine has soul!. You can't not love chefs like Mario-- no pretense, real and unrepentant. It's cool to be phat in Emilia-Romagna because the food there is known worldwide as the richest in Italy: the simple yet rich sauces, the Parma butter, the parmiggiano, the culatello, the mortadella, the simplest zen tortellini in a bowl of brodo, the balsamic vinegars, the ragu, lambrusco, over 25 grand cheeses, sangiovese, the desserts, the wines...To me it's all..freakin' outta this world Amore.
So what do you do IF you so love Emilian food and you want to take the experience to another level? Take a cooking class. Where? CIBO (The Culinary Institute of Bologna) which oddly means "food" in Italian, cool acronym. Still smilin' thinking about the class 3 months later. The pictures show it all. Gabriella, our chef/professore taught us how to shop for the best ingredients for a Bolognese and make it. Taught us how to make pasta from scratch with elongated Italian pastry rolling pins and made tortelloni in butter and sage (genius!), taught us how to make artichoke and cream in pasta (honored she showed me how to make my favorite), made tiramisú from scratch (that my American tiramisu haters loved) and a ragu, a genius Bolognese soup from the leftover vegetables (ecologically sensible). What else did I love about this cooking class? Wine and espressi kept flowing during the class. We loved it, it was awe-inspiring to learn traditions and secrets. And to make it yourself and serve it to one another is the ultimate. In the end, Gabriella shares with us a 25 year old balsamic and drizzles it over 24 month old parmiggiano....we took a bite. Heaven. I've had this in NYC many times, it was great. When I had it at CIBO, at the source, it was phenomenal. It always is in this part of the country cause I think Emilians do not export their best products, LOL. I don't blame them.
I loved this class!!! I hope you take this class one or 2-day when you go to Bologna. You'll get to feel the Emilian soul by experiencing this cooking class as we did. I made my own pasta, my own Bolognese, my own ragu, artichoke cream sauce, a memorable soup, a tiramisu 2die4. Move over Batali, I wanna cook for everyone!
Brava Gabriella, grazie mille, bacibaci!
Visits: 1 and future visits.
Tip: Be aware you are cooking your meal so plan for that. They provide vino, water, coffee. Such a great deal. Make sure to request Gabriella. Loved her expertise; she speaks of her grandmother who was an exacting pasta maker who taught her the techniques she shares throughout the class. Unfreakin'forgettable.