Cooking in Milan

A couple weekends ago, I partook in an Italian cooking class. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would AND I had already heard great things from colleagues of mine that have done this same cooking class!

I took one of the Market Tour cooking classes with Cook in Milan. Clara is an Italian woman that began this business in her home around the time that I moved to Milan over two years ago. She is well-organized and a good manager, so that the participants get to take part in cooking as well as it being easy, productive, and fun. I am not a proficient cook but Clara put me in charge of the bechamel sauce for the lasagna and it turned out alright!

We began the morning in a local market to pick up cheeses and fresh produce for the menu ahead:

Clara explained the multi-course menu ahead in her living room:

I love an Italian kitchen! It is usually small, cozy, and packed with all the utensils needed.

The day's group included people from Germany, the Netherlands, and the United States!

Clara and I each enjoyed a bubbly drink during a quick aperitivo while the pie cooled before our meal. Italians do it well!

We made two primi dishes (yes!). One was lasagna di zucca -- lasagna with squash. The other was risotto al radicchio -- risotto with chicory. For the secondi, we had a lentil and meat dish (not pictured).

My new favorite is chestnut jam! I had never heard of it before the day at Clara's but now I have 3 jars in the cupboard  :P  We made a crostata di castagne -- sweet chestnut pie. I haven't liked roasted chestnuts when I've tried them in the past but this jam is smooth, sweet, aaaand delicious.

I was supposed to go to this cooking class over the summer with my mom and aunt but there was a glitch in the website's registration system. The system charged my aunt's credit card but did not actually reserve any spots for the day. D'Oh! Clara was very nice and apologetic but we were not able to fit into the cooking class during their time in Italy. That was a bummer. The fee was refunded to my aunt and Clara gifted one free class. My aunt then gifted the free class to me as a birthday gift!! Super sweet of her. I was excited to experience the cooking class BUT... the entire time, I was thinking about how much fun it would have been to do it together, the 3 of us. My mom and aunt would have loved it. (Maybe in the future!) Overall, if you decide to sign up for one of Clara's classes (I completely recommend doing so if you're in Milan!), I would follow up with her to make sure the registration went through on her end.

making spreadable butter

While I was in Denver this summer, my brother Lenny was making his own spreadable butter. I just tried it myself and will definitely continue doing this! Basically... this easy step cuts about 3/4 of the cost of this food staple... instead of buying a tub of spreadable butter, I can now make my own from a couple sticks and some canola oil (although I didn't have canola... so I used a mixed seed oil).

I followed the recipe found here and plan on trying to mix in a couple herbs for a smaller batch soon. Mmmmhmmmmm!

Funny timing on seeing Lenny do this at his house - as I had a huge block of hard butter in my refrigerator that was always impossible to try and scrap away at to use. ....Problem solved.   : )

Thanks Len!

QUINOA lovin

I picked up some quinoa at the grocery store the other day and am really happy with the recipe that I found online. This delicious and super healthy dish might just become a staple go-to of mine. My first time cooking quinoa -- success!

I mostly followed the recipe found here on skinnytaste.com but left out the red onion (simply because I didn't have one) and added in feta cheese. I love it!

When I have a small bowl of this, I cut up cucumber and avocado (like the recipe suggests) and also add more lime juice . Mmmmmhmmmmm.

my own pesto-tomato pasta!

I don't cook often... but sometimes will try something new. I made myself a yummy lunch yesterday... and am pretty proud that it came out tasting so good! (Often, that is not so much the case.)

It was an easy pasta dish... but even that, I don't often make the time to do...

It might not look very much like pesto... but there IS pesto inside... (I want to try making my own next time!) and then I also added some tomato paste (which I found in CoOp, shown below), some basil-tomato pasta sauce (which is why the red color took over), and then a dash of sugar, salt, pepper, oregano, diced garlic, fresh tomatoes, and some grated cheese on top. Mmmmmhmmmm... it was delicious. I made enough to have extra for Sunday or school lunches I figured - but ate it for dinner too!

Oh! and the pasta that I used is 25% vegetables! There were a few kinds and I want to try others... this one was made with zucchini and spinach.