Salad, Pizza and Tiramisu

The first cooking class at Let’s Cook in Umbria was everything I had hoped for.

If there is an adjective which surpasses stuffed, I’m that right now.

Tonight I met a lovely Australian couple as well as our instructor.

We made a delicious pear and brie salad, three pizzas and tiramisu. All dishes were served with wine and spirits from the owner’s vineyard which is mere steps from my doorstep.

Although we’ll get a copy of the recipes at the end, I wanted to write down and organize my photos one day at a time. If I find any discrepancies between my memory and the real recipe, I’ll update them later.

I hope you enjoy this as much as I did!

Wild Greens with Pear, Brie and Walnuts

Ingredients

• Fresh mixed greens
• 2 pears, sliced thinly
• Brie, sliced thinly
• olive oil
• balsamic vinegar
• salt and pepper
• large handful of walnuts, coarsely chopped

Method

1. Drizzle the greens with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Gently massage. Flavor with salt and pepper.
2. Dress the salad with the cheese and pears. Sprinkle walnuts over top and serve.

Pizza Dough

As the instructor said, “Don’t mess with pizza dough. Simple is best.”

 Ingredients

• about 1/2 bag all purpose flour (500 grams)
• 1 block fresh yeast
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 2.5 cups warm water
• 1 large pinch salt

Method

1. Dissolve the yeast in 1 cup of warm water. Feed the yeast with the sugar.
2. Pour the dissolved yeast into the flour and salt and work in with your hands, adding more water as necessary to form a good dough.
3. Be careful not to use too much water, but if it happens, just add more flour!
4. Turn out onto a floured surface and kneed for a few minutes, until the dough is soft and elastic.
5. Place in a dusted bowl, cut an “X” in the ball of dough, cover with a dish towel and let rest in a warm place for at least 1 hour.
6. The instructor says the longer the rise, the better. She even makes the dough the day before and completes the rise and knead cycle up to 7 times.
7. Once you’re done rising and kneading, cut the dough into 3 even balls, roll out and continue to top your pizza.

Pizza with Red Onions and Sage

This was my favorite pizza of all three. Who would have thought I’d like a pizza with no cheese so much!

Ingredients

• 1 pizza dough
• 3 red onions, thinly sliced
• 1 handful fresh sage, chopped
• olive oil
• sea salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Top your prepared dough with the onions. No need to keep an uncovered crust!
2. Drizzle heavily with olive oil. Sprinkle the sage, salt and pepper on top and bake in a hot oven just until the edges of the dough begin to turn golden.

Pizza with Radicchio and Mozzarella

I was most surprised by this pizza. I really dislike how bitter radicchio is and never by it. After eating this pizza, my hope for this bitter leaf vegetable is renewed.

Ingredients

• 1 pizza dough
• 1 head radicchio, chopped
• 1 ball fresh mozzarella, torn
• 1 ball smoked mozzarella, cubed
• olive oil
• sea salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Layer the pizza dough with the cheeses and then top with the chopped radicchio.
2. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake in a hot oven until the crust is golden brown.

Pizza Margarita

This classic was prepared for us while we ate the other pizzas so I don’t have a finished product photograph. You’ll have to take my word that it was as beautiful as it was delicious!

Ingredients

• 1 pizza dough
• 1 cup tomato sauce
• 1 Tbsp. dried oregano
• big pinch of salt
• sprinkle of sugar
• drizzle of olive oil
• 1 ball fresh mozzarella, torn

Method

1. Mix together the tomato sauce, oregano, olive oil, sugar and salt to create a sauce.
2. Spread a thin layer of pizza sauce over the prepared dough. Distribute the mozzarella evenly over the pizza.
3. Bake in a hot oven until the edge turns golden brown.

Tiramisu

I had no idea tiramisu was so easy… or that there were raw eggs in it.

Ingredients

• 1 package mascarpone (200 grams)
• 2 eggs
• 2 1/2 Tbsp. sugar, divided
• Italian sugar biscuits, not to be confused with lady fingers!
• fresh espresso
• coco powder

Method

1. Separate the egg yolks and whites.
2. Using an electric mixer, cream together the egg yolks with 2 Tbsp. of sugar until the yolks turn white and fluffy. Again, using the mixture ever so briefly, combine the yolk fluff with the mascarpone and set aside.
3. In another bowl, use the electric mixture to beat the egg whites and 1/2 Tbsp. of sugar until it begins to stiffen. You don’t want stiff peaks like in a meringue, stop just before it reaches that point.
4. Mix in about 1/3 of the egg white mixture with the egg yolk mixture. This will allow the two different consistencies to become more similar.
5. Gently fold in the remaining egg white mixture. Your cream is now finished.
6. We made 3 individual servings out of the recipe. Place 1 scoop of the cream in the bottom of each bowl.
7. The biscuits we used were similar to lady fingers but not as thick, fluffy or soft. These were hard, thin and brittle. Dip 1 biscuit in the cooled espresso at a time, layering on top of the cream. Repeat cream, espresso biscuit layer 1 more time, finishing off with a layer of cream.
8. Sprinkle with the coco powder and refrigerate between 1-4 hours before serving.

The entire dinner was divine. The company made it even better!

I can’t wait to start it all over again tomorrow morning when we will be learning how to make tagliatelle pasta and pork with grapes for the meat eaters.

In the afternoon, I hope to go truffle hunting!

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