Oppa bay go may

When I was a tiny small child, I must have really loved the "Happy Birthday" song, because even though I was a toddler with an extremely limited vocabulary, I made up my own words to the song.

"Oppa bay go may..." I sang at a birthday party, and it immediately became family lore.

I will celebrate my birthday this Saturday (it's really on Sunday though). It will be tons of fun, but weird for a very silly reason for me.

I will not be cooking a dang thing.

We are getting Hog Heaven BBQ. If you have never had it and you are a Nashville resident for shame!!! They do an amazing pulled turkey with their white mystery sauce. The sauce is positively divine. It has a horseradish kick, and I love me some horseradish. And, if there's any sauce left over (hahahhahhahaha does anyone have a straw?) it is wonderful on fish, pork, anything really.

Now, for the normal person, this wouldn't be a big deal, but I loooooooooove cooking, so the thought of not using my cooking muscles, and having ANOTHER PERSON'S FOOD IN MY HOUSE is just plain weird. But, at least the food is rather awesome.

Oppa bay go may y'all!

Grillin'

Have I mentioned how I do not like being in the kitchen in the summer? With the grill just outside on the patio, it just makes so much more sense to use it. A lot of Italian cooking is by feel, which is completely up my alley. As long as you know your seasoning ratios, it is a snap to create something wonderful in no time.

I love going to my local Farmer's Market with absolutely no meal plan in mind, and then create on based on the produce I find from my favorite farmers.

The easiest way to cook with the least amount of clean up is to make tin foil packages. All you need to do is chop up your veggies into roughly chopped pieces. You do not want to make them too small, because they may cook too fast and become mushy. I have always preferred my vegetables to be more on the al dente side. Place the chopped vegetables on good-sized piece of heavy duty tin foil. Here's the fun part. Go wild with your spices! Have a clove of garlic? Chop it up and throw it in there. As for oil or fat, a little goes a long way, as most vegetables have a decent water content in the first place. I would use no more than a tablespoon of oil or butter. I always zip the package up with a splash of either balsamic or white wine vinegar as well...perhaps a teaspoon or two. Add your salt and pepper to taste, but remember that a little goes a long way.

Seal up your package well, and throw it on your medium-preheated grill. After 10 or so minutes, you should hear it sizzling. It's ready! Carefully remove the package to platter, and carefully open the package. It should smell like heaven.

Now, if you want, you can throw a fillet or two of fish or chicken on top of the package before grilling...just be sure that the protein is on the thin side, so you are sure it is fully cooked. Have fun!

I'm off to make one of these awesome looking hats right now.

Fall Class Scheduling!

With fall fast approaching, it will soon be time to begin cooking classes! I have already gone through my waiting list, so my schedule is looking pretty darn good. I decided to do my fresh pasta class again in September since it proved to be very popular and delicious. The September menu is as follows:

Caprese skewers
Fresh Farfalle pasta with tomato vodka sauce
Fresh Crab Ravioli with creamy shallot sauce
Panna Cotta

I do still have one September date available, so the first four happy, hungry people to send me a message will get those slots. The class would be on Saturday, September 25, starting at 10:30 and ending around 12:30 or whenever. I never push people out of my home when they are enjoying a leisurely lunch!

I also have one date still available in October. That month will be all about delicious soups, perfect for the colder months. I cannot believe I am talking about soup and colder months, especially when my air conditioner is doing a valiant job trying to keep me cool. The menu for October is as follows:

Bruschetta
Classic Minestrone
Canederli in brodo (sausage spiked soup dumplings)
Creamy tomato with Parmesan crisps
Pizzelle with mascarpone and nutella

The available October date is Saturday, October 30 from 10:30 till 12:30 or whenever. Again, the first four to send me a message will get those available slots.

You will come away from the class with a full brain and belly, recipes in a handy dandy "Cucina di Tina folder" and great memories!

A Dinner Party!

I had two of my besties over last Friday, to celebrate the marriage of one of them and to celebrate the awesomeness of the other. I asked my friend what she would like me to cook, and she told me her beloved liked meat and cheese. Cannelloni immediately popped into my mind, so that's what I made!


Here's the finished product above. Y'all - this was certainly not the easiest thing I have made, but it might be one of the yummiest. First, I made the pasta sheets fresh, by hand, using 00 Flour, eggs and lots of elbow grease. The sauces were home made too. Besciamella went on the bottom, and a fresh tomato sauce went on the top. The meat mixture was beef, cooked ham, ricotta cheese and one egg. Parmesan cheese and mozzarella were thrown on top in copious amounts for good measure. Doesn't it look just beautiful? I was so pleased with how it came out, and my guests devoured it. I made two pans, and it was a good thing I did, because we had two left over...perfect for lunch the next day!

I also served my roasted garlic-garlic bread with the cannelloni, and a green salad. If you try my garlic bread, you will never buy that garlic dust in a can again. You take a garlic bulb, place it on a piece of tin foil, and drizzle with olive oil. Place the tin foil package in the oven on 350 for 30-45 minutes, depending on the size of the garlic bulb. When you can smell the garlic, it is done! Take it out of the oven to cool. Grab a stick of butter, and leave it out so that it can soften. Once the garlic is cool, take a sharp knife and lop off the top of the bulb. You should be able to squeeze the garlic cloves into a bowl. Combine with the butter, and that is your spread! After I spread the mixture on the bread, I sprinkled oregano on the loaves. So easy and flavorful!

Let's play catch-up!

No lame excuses. Let's just say that life got in the way of me typing 'round here.

The one thing that made me the most tickled was receiving my first check from examiner.com, where I have written about Italian food for months and months. With that money, I bought things that I have wanted forever!

I am truly allergic to buying single-use kitchen items, since I already am in dire need of space, but I decided to splurge with my examiner.com spoils, so here's what I got:

Pasta drying rack. I love it. Now, instead of draping my pasta onto floured counters, and then getting covered in flour myself, I can now neatly hang my pasta, and save on precious counter space.

Analog scale. I love this. It has a copious bowl, and it shall be filled with pasta flour.... oh yes it will.

Pizzelle press. Awwww yeah. I plan on making my first batch this very weekend. My house will smell like waffle cones. Who wants to come over?


Three tier cooling rack. This also will help with precious counter space. I can put my pizzelle on here to cool off, and this will come in handy for Christmas cookie baking time.

A really nice apron. I have needed one forever, as my oil spattered clothing can testify to. I look like such a pro now!

I still need/want eleventy million other things, but this will hold me for the moment. So happy!

Tuscan dreams

The radio bores me to distraction these days. It seems that the only artists that get any air time are Lady Gaga and that Beiber kid. No thanks.

So, the other day when I was at the lovely main branch of the library, I perused the books on CD section. I settled on Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes. I enjoyed the movie based on the book, so I figured it was a good choice.

Thanks to this book, I am completely enjoying my drives to and from work. Sometimes I take a longer route just to listen about her farmhouse renovation, the lovely markets she describes, and the fantastic dishes she creates in her humble kitchen, using the simplest, freshest ingredients that I absolutely covet.

When she goes into the formaggeria, the cheese monger knows (before the even orders) that she prefers the buffalo mozzarella over the cow version. Oh to have that sort of relationship, and the products that she has just over the hill in Cortona makes me positively jealous.

Her imagery takes me back to when I went to school in Italy, in Perugia, which is not far at all from Cortona. I remember walking down the block to the pizzeria and ordering my favorite pizza with funghi and prosciutto. It was cracker thin with lovely flavorful ingredients, and I washed it down with my favorite orange Fanta. Perfection.

I am so glad I am reading this in the summer, because if I read this in the winter, when good, local fresh vegetables are non-existent, I would be positively depressed. I have decided that, since it is summer, I will go to the Farmers Market for the bulk of my shopping, and only visit the big box grocery when absolutely necessary. And, since I'll be so close to Germantown, I'll hop on over to Lazzaroli pasta for some lovely fresh mozzarella, and whatever else tickles my culinary fancies.

I can't wait for the clock to read 5:00, so I can get back to my audio book. I'm at the halfway point!

Summer time...and the livin' is easy

Oh hi hello dearest blog. I have missed you, and I will try to feed you with more words. Let's see...where to start. My cooking classes are on summer recess. It is just too hot outside to be in a kitchen. And there are far to many lovely country roads that me and my husband want to find in his convertible. I will be starting up my classes once again when the weather is more temperate - in the Fall.

I have been thoroughly enjoying the bounty of produce at the Nashville Farmers Market. Seriously I do not know how I will bring myself to buy my fruits and veg in a big box grocery store again. I bought the most pristine eggplant at the Market the other Saturday, and I made (what I called) a deconstructed ratatouille with it, served over brown rice. But don't worry, I had ice cream for dessert, to balance out the healthiness of my meal.

When I go to the Farmers Market, I also go to Lazzaroli Pasta, just a hop and a skip away from the Market in Germantown. The proprietor has the loveliest home made pasta, pizza dough, salami and cheeses. It makes my soul smile. I picked up some doppio zero flour for future pasta creations, and a bag of Italian pretzels, known as taralli. But, my main reason for visiting them on a Saturday is very important.

She makes mozzarella on Saturdays.

Have you ever had freshly made, warm mozzarella? It is a gorgeous thing. All I do is slice it and dress it with freshly cracked black pepper, and perhaps a drizzle of a good balsamic olive oil.

There is also a fantastic appetizer that I make with fresh mozzarella, that I call an Italian quesadilla. It is so simple. You heat up a large skillet with two tablespoons of canola oil. Place a flour tortilla in the oil once it is hot, and then add slices of fresh mozzarella to cover, but try not to get too close to the edges of the tortilla. Add a dash of salt and freshly cracked black pepper. Continue cooking until the mozzarella begins to melt, and then add a second tortilla, and flip it over in the pan, so that the tortilla you just added to the pan is now on the bottom. This is why it is important to let your mozzarella melt before you flip. Once the bottom tortilla gets golden on the edges, remove the Italian quesadilla to a cutting board, and cut it into wedges, and serve. It is so crispy, creamy and perfect, that you may be tempted to smack your guests hands away if they dare to take a wedge, but don't. Sharing is a Kindergarten principle y'all.