Wow What A Week!!!!!!

Well you all know I was late posting my blog last week because my flight was cancelled. I got into New York at 7:30 am and thought I would get to school on time. This was not in the cards. We (Cindy and myself) were in a cab for 2 1/2 hours. I was finally at school at 11:00 am and still got deducted 5 points from my grade. I was not happy about that but not much I could do about it. I missed making the Spaghetti alle vongole, ( Spaghetti with clams). I was not upset, I can take clams or leave them. The rest of the day was great. We Made Rigatoni con melanzane, (Rigatoni with eggplant), Spaghetti Alla Carbonara, and Orecchiette Con Cime Di Rapa, (Orechiette With Broccoli Rabe). Cindy was excited when I got home with all this great food. We went shopping for shoes and came home to study. Tuesday was Gnocchi day: potato gnocchi, ricotta gnocchi ( also called Gnudi), Gnocchi alla romana (semolina Gnocchi), and Strozzapreti (Swiss chard and bread gnocchi). This was nothing but fun, fun, fun. We learned to shape, cook, and of course eat Gnocchi. Wednesday I took my test for serving safe food, not to sure I passed, will let you know when I do. It was a lot harder than we all thought. After the test we spent the day doing Risotto. Good eats all day and dinner. Parmigiana Risotto, Risotto con Funghi, and Farrotto Primavera, most of us had to redo our first risotto but after that we were set for the day. The mushroom risotto was awesome, and the farrotto was really good. If you would like any recipes just email me and I will see you get them. We moved to eggs on Thursday. Eggs with spinach, I was in heaven. I only got to eat a bite or two but wow. A salad with pancetta and scrambled eggs, again it was really good. It was salty and the wilted salad was just right. I will make this again. Onion frittata was next. Very tasty but best of all, I flipped that thing. The first try was not so good but I put it back together. You know the way Julia childs did in the movie Julia and Julia. After putting it back together I bravely tried again a success. Wow was I excited. We made crepes with spinach also very tasty. Then ended the day making pizza dough.

Cindy and I went for pizza and a walk through Little Italy. We had a new martini called a Lemoncella martini, Lemoncello and vodka. It tasted like an Italian ice. We tried to take it slow. The week is just flying by. Friday was Pizza day: Pizza Margherita, Pizza Bianca, Calzone, Focaccia, and Grossing. I think you know what everything is, but maybe not the Grissini. The long thin crunchy Bread sticks. These are easy and really good. Today I am giving you a great Focaccia recipe. This on is for you Patsy. I promised you a good easy Focaccia.
Focaccia Bread
Yield: 1/2 sheet pan
7 g active dry yeast
300 g warm water
3 g sugar
150 g extra virgin olive oil
550 g all-purpose flour
3 g fine salt
coarse salt as needed
extra virgin olive oil as needed, for drizzling

Procedure

1. Combine the yeast, water, and sugar in a bowl and let stand until foamy, 2-3 minutes
2. Add olive oil, flour, and fine salt and mix by hand until the dough comes together.
3. Knead on slightly floured surface until smooth, velvety, and elastic, about 5 minutes.
4. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl then oil the top of dough to prevent from getting a crust. Cover with plastic wrap.
5. Let rise until doubled in volume, about 1 hour. To make the dough a day ahead , refrigerate the dough after it has risen 30 minutes, punch down, cover and chill.
6. Stretch the dough to fit a rectangle pan then press into an oiled half sheet pan sprinkle with polenta. Brush the surface with oil and sprinkle with coarse salt. Cover with plastic and let rise again until almost doubled.
7. Press indentations into surface of the focaccia with oiled fingertips.
8. Bake at 350 until golden brown on top, about 25 minutes.

You can add herbs or topping as you like.

Now the good stuff. My friend Cindy and I went to L'ecole, www.frenchculinary.com/lecole They have a a price fixed menu. We tried for a reservation and could not get in so we settled for eating at the bar. This ended up being a good choice. We started with a cosmopolitan and chatted with the other dinners at the bar. My first course was a version of a Nicoise Salad without any greens. The seared tuna, potato, green beans, quail egg and a hot sauce on the side, was as good as it was beautiful. Cindy got a baby beet salad with a sherry vinaigrette. Second coarse was polenta with some really nice sauces and flavors. My duck was oh so good. Desert: Blackberry and peach tart with pistachio ice cream, Lavender cake with apples on top, and some good coffee. We walked back to my apartment. Saturday night was another great night. My chef told me about a restaurant named Peasant, www.peasantnyc.com This was another great night. It worked so good the first night we had a Cosmo. A Margarette Pizza with peppers, A cows milk cheese with roasted tomatoes, great bread and olive oil with ricotta. Second coarse a glass of wine and mushroom Gnocchi for me and vegetable risotto for Cindy. We passed them back and forth. We could not decide which was better. Coffee and peach tart with white chocolate Gelato. We again walked home. Both restaurants are about 1 1/4 miles away. The walk home helped with burning some of the calories. I think I am stretching it but it helped justify the food. No pictures this week. This Internet will not let them download for whatever reason.