During my time abroad in Italy, one of my most favorite foods to eat/make was pizza. Above is a picture of a pizza that I helped to create at the restaurant La Nichea. After the pizza lesson I continued to create mini pizzas of my own using the extra dough we were given to take home. I love that they are so simple to make, yet so delicious and they can be made in so many different ways.
I also loved the uniquely different ways that each restaurant made their pizzas their own. If I could go back to Italy now, I would absolutely make one of my first stops at one of the many pizza shops in Ascoli.
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For this weeks class, my classmates and I attended an olive oil tasting. When we arrived, we were given green and black olives to snack on as well as three plastic cups labeled one, two and three. Each cup was filled with a different olive oil, one was a cheap olive oil from the grocery store, one was an olive oil of decent quality, and one was a high quality, expensive olive oil.
Olive oil can be evaluated using an international olive oil council profile sheet. The sheet contains categories for defects in the olive oil such as fusty, musty, winey, muddy metallic and rancid, as well as positive attributes such as fruity, bitter and pungent. Olive oil #1 had the most overall positive attributes and the least negative, and was the most expensive one. Olive oil #3 had the most negative attributes and the least positive, and was the cheapest one. My favorite olive oil was definitely number 1, but considering the enormous price difference in the oils I’ll probably still stick with number 3.
Linked below is a case study evaluating the flavor profiles of monovarietal virgin olive oils:
For class this week we visited a bakery as well as a flower mill. At the bakery we had a lesson on the step by step process of bread making, and learned everything that went into creating the perfect recipe. We were each given our own bowls and combined out dry ingredients with water and the bread sourdough yeast. The yeast was key in creating the sourdough flavor. Once all of the ingredients were combined in the bowl, we kneaded the dough until all ingredients were easily mixed (photo shown above). We then let the dough sit to allow the yeast to rise.
After the bread dough was completed, we were given the opportunity to try some of the other delicious foods sold in the bakery. These included a pizza with potatoes and artichokes, a pizza with tomato slices, greens and mozzarella, a slice with cheese and mushrooms, and a multigrain seed bread containing pumpkin, flax and sunflower seeds. Each of the dishes we tried were amazing, and the bread was too after it was baked and we received it the following day.
For class on Tuesday, we went to a local pizza shop in Ascoli where we learned about the art of pizza making. We were given the opportunity to create our own personal pizzas using dough that we made ourselves out of just flour and yeast, oil, salt, and water. We then got to choose the toppings we wanted, and our pizzas were placed in a brick oven stove to bake for several minutes. I chose the vegetarian pizza which included tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, and lots of yummy veggies.
The following day we went on a trip to a beautiful restaurant only a few steps from where we live called “Ailruo”. We were each given a menu which contained the names of each of the five courses we’d be trying. The five courses listed were: Scottona Beef Tartar with Grainy Mustard Mayonnaise and Artigional Beer air, and a Slow cooked Egg with Lentils Cream and Roman Pecorino Cheese infusion(pictured above) as starters. Followed by Rosemary Risotto with Lime and Licorice and Rib-Eye Steak with Onion and Carrot Veloutes and Demi glace as Mains. Lastly, was a Deconstructed Tiramisu for desert. All of the courses were unique a delicious in their own way.
Could this food be considered art?
One of the main topics we discussed in class this week was the question of whether or not food should be seen as art. The pizzas we made as well as each of the courses eaten at our dinner could be viewed as art in my opinion. Creating and consuming food can be seen as a type of art form if we choose to look at it in that way, since it is subjective. I enjoyed each of the different foods from this weeks trips, as well as getting the chance to look at them as more than just food for consumption, but an form of art as well.
