Passion for Pizza- BONCI

i couldn't help myself--- when I saw there was another session with Gabrielle Bonci in  Rome for pizza workshop- I had to go again!

Larger than life-- with a heart as big as a mountain and a passion for his dough like no other.

He talks so fast and is so full of great ideas that really one needs to take the class twice to have it all soak in. This session some friends  came with me  and we had our own little corner.

kim, andrea, me and terry

The reason we came to class was to learn the secrets of the perfect pizza dough-- for the roman style pizza al taglio from the master himself. With only three ingredients, they must all be of the highest quality. Gabriele told us of the  "trinity" flour, water and yeast. But truly the secret ingredient is TIME.

Time to let the dough develop. 

I usually hate pizza as it sits in my stomach for days after. That is the result of people rushing dough.

my dough after 12 hour rising

We used flour from Mulino Marino, Bonci's favorite, but where ever you are he suggested a stone ground organic flour for the best results.

inspired pizza toppings- so untraditional

With 14 students in the class, we made a ton of dough which then turned into a ton of pizza's, plus Gabriele had already also prepared a lot of dough to demonstrate different preparations with the dough, we even baked a whole chicken, a boneless rolled stuffed rabbit and whole artichokes.

BE CREATIVE

STAY HUNGRY

whole artichokes roasted in dough

Between classes we did a morning market tour and lunch with Elizabeth  Minchilli author of the great food APPS EAT ROME and EAT FLORENCE. We had  a great day!

Our pizza crusts were like palettes for an artistic creation! Not only lovely to look at but made with fabulous seasonal ingredients- how can you go wrong!

Next, back to practicing my dough and will write-up my home experiments.

here is a link from one of the other classes I took with Bonci and another link.

My friend elizabeth did a video too from the first class we took together, which has the recipe if you want to try this at home.

Diva's Dirty Little Secret- Gnocchi in 10 minutes

I am not a kitchen Nazi. I also use short-cuts when I can or teach people how to make life easier and simpler. One of my favorite tricks in the kitchen I learned living here is to use instant mashed potatoes for gnocchi.

I had bought some incredibly tender potato gnocchi in the grocery store and reading the label to see what the ingredient list was, noted they used mashed potato flakes. So simple.

Italian mashed potato flakes are really fabulous and I use them a lot for a quick side dish, so I thought, why not try.

The secret is to only use the water as the liquid to basically rehydrate the flakes into a mashed potato and not add the milk, which then makes "mashed potatoes". OK?

It would take an hour to boil a WHOLE potato in the skin in salted water for the traditional recipe.

Most recipes I have seen also add an egg. I don't use an egg.

I think one of the reasons most people make heavy gnocchi is they end up adding too much flour.

Right now I am on my way down to Rome to take a pizza class with Gabrielle Bonci of Pizzarium like I did last January. So will just give you a basic idea to play with on how to make my gnocchi, which basically is how people give you recipes here, spoken with no real measurements.

Divina Cucina Gnocchi

Here the maskhed potato flakes come in a box in packages. I use two packages for about 4-6 people as a first course.

Each package says to use 300ml of water. I salt the water and bring to a boil and then stir in the flakes. Once i have the rehydrated potato mixture I put in on the work space to cool.

This lets extra steam out and cools it down.

I start with about a cup of Italian 00 flour, which is like a pastry flour in America, delicate and low gluten. I knead the flour into the potato until it is not sticky.

You may need more flour, sometimes I just need to flour the tabletop I am working on.
( yes you can use a bowl)

Meanwhile bring a pot of water to boil to cook the gnocchi, add salt.

Roll out a test rope of the gnocchi mixture, and cut into small pieces and if you like roll on the back of a fork to create ridges, which let the sauce stick to the gnocchi better and at the same time you are creating a little belly button on the other side, which makes it thinner and cook faster.

Drop some test gnocchi into the water ( turn it down from a hard boil).

The gnocchi will float to the top when they are done.
DO NOT LET THEM SIT IN THE WATER TOO LONG!

Take them out of the water with a strainer, draining off excess water. I lightly press to see if they are firm enough and not slimy. If they are perfect, then  I roll out the other gnocchi and start cooking.

I like to have my sauce already made and in a skillet, where the gnocchi can stay hot.

As you layer, you can also sprinkle with some parmesan cheese and lightly stir to cover with sauce.

I usually do a simple garlic and chili infused tomato sauce that cooks in the time it takes to boil the water for the gnocchi.


A great recipe to teach kids and was perfect for this family class!

Rolling your own is a blast.

If the dough is too wet, add a little more flour.
Don't form all the gnocchi until you have poached a test gnocchi.

Keep the sauce simple.

Brown butter and parmesan
Tomato
Pesto
Gorgonzola



The basket you see in the foto is from Calabria and is for putting ridges on gnocchi- then I flipped it over to use to take the gnocchi to the pot to cook.


Another IMPORTANT detail- DO NOT COOK ALL THE GNOCCHI AT ONCE

They cook quickly and you can weight them down so they don't rise up to the top and then they will overcook and get water-logged.

Cook in small batches.


Let me know how your's turn out!

Enjoy

A for Eggplant? Aubergine!

Recently on an expat forum, someone threw out that it would be fun to get ideas on something different to cook, asking friends for recipes.

The Gastro-Casa Throw down in on----  Something starting with an A--- I said almonds..... but aubergine came out. We are almost all American so I am not sure who really calls eggplant aubergine in America or Americans living in Italy, but I am game.


I adore eggplants in anyway I can get them, but right now I am craving strange flavors and went for an easy Baba Ganoosh recipe.

As is in my style, I made it easy.

I don't salt or do anything to my eggplant, I didn't slow roast it and then let it sit in a bag.

I simply cut it, skin and all, into small cubes and sauteed in olive oil with garlic and salt.

When soft, I let it cool and pureed with tahini, lemon, olive oil and some water.

My husband who hates eggplant adored it, so much I made it two times in one week.

Simple Baba Ganoush

1 eggplant, cut into small cubes
2 cloves of garlic, sliced
Extra virgin olive oil
salt (to taste)
2 tbs Tahini sauce
juice of a lemon ( to taste)
water to thin

Saute the eggplant cubes and garlic in olive oil, I like to use a lot as eggplant soaks up quite a bit.
Add salt,this will bring some of the water out of the eggplant and also add flavor.
Stir to cook evenly.

Let cool.

Puree with the tahini, lemon juice, more olive oil.
Add a little water to create a smooth sauce.


For a little kick I also add chili into the mix but you can also serve on the side or sprinkle on top.
I think it tastes better then next day when the flavors have blended.

Pretending I was having an "arab" meal, I bought pita and made a "Carrot" falafel, using a recipe from Abruzzo.

200 grams carrots, grated
200 grams breadcrumbs
1/2 cup grated parmesan
4 eggs
salt to taste

mix everything together and make "Falafel" and pan fry until golden on both sides.



To serve my bab ganoush, I toasted some pinenuts and added warmed extra virgin olive oil and some  ground chipolte pepper I have in my pantry.


Here are some more Italian eggplant recipes I have online:

Grilled Eggplant
Naples Chocolate Eggplant dessert
Caponata
Sicilian Caponata
Eggplant Timballo - foto


I LOVE EGGPLANT
enjoy