The Last Supper

We got to sleep in this morning, and I think it was because we needed to be well rested to tackle the pastry portion of our week. At 10 am we were making profiteroles – pastry puffs filled with chantilly cream and topped with a dark chocolate sauce – and Florentine petite fours – small cookies great with coffee made of dried fruits, toasted almonds, and honey, held together by egg whites. We also made a panna cotta – a beautiful Italian custard that has to set for several hours-- for dessert this evening. The profiteroles and petite fours were for lunch of course , along with that lasagna we made earlier in the week. (I am still fitting in my clothes . . . just not as well. It’s very possible that I may have some sort of lactose withdrawal when I return).

Remember that lasagna? It was Neopolitan-style with meatballs, and smoked mozzarella, hard-boiled eggs, grated parmesan, and both tomato and béchamel sauce. Crazy good and different.




And look at these profiteroles. I may recount this statement later, but making those puff pastries was not as difficult as I expected.



This afternoon, we had an olive oil and wine tasting in a wonderful wine shop in Lucca, Enoteca Vanni, named best wine shop in Tuscany by one of the wine magazines which is an impressive feat. I liked the place’s controlled chaos. Things seemed to be in no particular order, a bottle priced at 12 euros sat next to one priced at 95 euros. Underground there was a vast maze of cellars laid out much the same, with the addition of cobwebs, dust, and humidity. For the tasting, we were taken down into a particular Roman cellar that dated to 200 AD when it had been used to store vegetables and was probably at street level. Emmet with a PhD in organic biochemistry wanted very much to take a scraping of a spectacularly-colored mold on the brick back to his lab.



The things we prepared for our meal tonight, our last supper, make my top five list of all the things I have eaten this entire two weeks, and god, that is saying something because I have eaten like . . . what comparison do I use here? . . . I have eaten like some combination of the Queen of England, the late Julia Child, and Shaquille O’Neal.

These three items just fell perfectly into my tastes and preferences:

Orecchiette with Broccoli prepared with broccoli rabe, pancetta, and some heat with red chili pepper
Ossobucco Alla Milanese – veal shanks with a rice pilaf prepared in the oven on the side
Panna Cotta served with a berry sauce

Here we are trying to make those damn ear-shaped pastas. Needless to say, many parts of the anatomy were produced, probably only 40% in any way resembling ears.



Unfortunately, there is no picture of the veal. Terrible I know, but I forgot and ate it. But what about this beauty? This stuff was smooth as silk with a hint of lemon, downright heavenly.



It was our last day and we had a small celebration before dinner and received certificates stating what we had mastered. I don’t think it’s going to get me a job at Babbo, but I’m pretty proud of all that we did. This really isn’t a beginner’s classroom, and Chef Valter said as much while reflecting on how much it is a pleasure and a challenge taking on students for a week in this manner.

We were challenging and I’m chuckling as I write that – loud, opinionated, obsessively inquisitive. Seriously, Diane lost a 50 euro bet to her brother that she couldn’t not ask a question for one hour. She went double or nothing, and lost again! I love her curiousity and it just goes to show you how serious we all took this and how much we wanted to learn while we were here. You just don’t get the consultation of a professional chef every day.

And I do feel like I have been adopted into several new families. This could be like summer camp and we promise to stay in touch and never do, but we’re grown-ups, not teenagers, and we didn’t seemingly have much in common when we arrived, but we have our love of food and now we have this experience together and our profound appreciation for the skill, knowledge, and artistry it takes to prepare it well.



Tomorrow, I am back to Florence and then fly home on Sunday morning. I think I’ll make one more entry in this here blog and then call it a vacation.

Tip of the day
Ignore the expiration date on olive oil. They put it there just to move inventory out of store in order to make room for this year’s production. Olive oil is best used when it’s new, but will last long after the expiration date.