No Reservations, Day 2: Italian

OVER-ATE! Couldn’t help it, the food was just too good…

We started the day with a coffee frappe, almond biscotti and an intro to Italian cuisine, and then got into demos and hands-on cooking of the recipes being taught.

Not all the recipes were new to me. Not surprising, considering Italian cuisine has made a place for itself in the home kitchens in India. I’ve managed to make pizza (including the dough), pesto, bruschetta and arrabiata sauce with fair success. But I did learn loads of new things. For example, while making a white (bechamel) sauce, if you mix the flour, butter and milk at room temperature rather than making a roasted roux first, you will have fewer lumps.

I think my biggest triumph of the day was managing to make a fairly decent risotto. I’ve always been led to think that risotto is a really tricky dish to make, and needs just the right precision. Turns out it doesn’t! It’s actually quite simple. You just need to remember not to stir it too much but to just agitate it gently. Agitating it every now and then with a spoon makes it become nice and creamy, but over-stirring makes it become one mushy lumpy mess.

The other highlight of the day was of course the EATING! :D

Next: Day 3, Spanish. Olé!