I think I mentioned before that I love cooking class Saturdays at Amici Miei! It is such a pleasant experience to go and watch Chef Davide create wonderful foods, learning about the different styles of Italian cooking, and then enjoying the fruits of everyone's labor along with wonderfully paired wines. And all with a group of people who are definitely enthusiastic about the same things.

And so this month, we had a great menu, complete with Ligurian Easter pie, farrotto with asparagus (made in a style similar to risotto), Abruzzo-style lamb, and a dessert of strawberries with mascarpone. Chef Davide had two helpers in the kitchen, Jim and Mike, who are a lot of fun to watch and tease about their cooking styles! Ernie had headed off to a different cooking class - I had purchased a gift certificate to a cooking school for him and the class that he chose ended up conflicting with the Amici Miei cooking class.

This time, Chef Davide started with the Easter pie, since this dish is traditionally served at room temperature. He says that Italians make this pie ahead of time, then take pieces of it on picnics. Two layers of puff pastry are put into the bottom off a springform baking dish, then a mixture of sautéed swiss chard and onion, marjoram, parsley, and ricotta cheese are poured into the pan. Chef then put a number of indentations into the swiss chard/ricotta mixture, then put an egg into each of the indentations. Another two layers of puff pastry are laid over the top, and the pie is baked in the oven. After baking (and the cook must be sure that the eggs are completely cooked!), the pie is left to cool.

Layering in the puff pastry while Mike oversees.

Yum - ricotta mixed with swiss chard, onion, marjoram, and parsley.

Jim and Mike showing off their skills in filling indents with eggs!

Next, Chef made a serving of the farotto. This is actually made from wheat farro, which is a wheat grain. The farro is made in the style of risotto, where it is slowly cooked along with sautéed onion and carrot while adding in small amounts of either chicken or vegetable stock and stirring constantly (much to Jim's dismay, as he is not a fan of standing and stirring for twenty minutes - I actually love the stirring of risotto). At a certain point in the cooking process, pureed asparagus is added to the farro, which creates a green hue. When the farotto is done, it has a bit of an "al dente" consistency, but it is soft enough to chew. The dish is completed by adding a drizzle of reduced wine (typically Barbera wine) along with honey. This is actually a time-consuming process that Jim got to monitor - a bottle of wine is slow cooked along with honey, and the combination gradually reduces over time to create a thickened syrup. To complete the dish, a few asparagus heads are added, which makes it look beautiful and taste even better!

After the farotto, Chef made the lamb. This was an creation made the way Italians in the province of Abruzzo make lamb. Cubes of lamb are braised with vegetable stock and vegetables after the lamb is browned. Once the lamb is braised, a mixture of egg and pecorino cheese are added to the lamb. Then that is baked in the oven until the egg/cheese mixture is cooked. The salty pecorino and the egg mixed with the chunks of lamb is truly delightful.

This is real cooking - and controlled chaos. Jim is cutting strawberries, Chef is directing one of his staff about other dinner preparation,s and Mike is deterring what goes next into the mascarpone.

Finally Chef made the dessert, as this needs to be very fresh. He had Jim and Mike cut up strawberries into chunks, then they pureed some of strawberries along with the liqueur, Gran Gala, and some sugar. That mixture is put into the bottom of a martini or parfait glass, then the chunks of strawberries. The strawberries are topped with a wonderful concoction of mascarpone cheese mixed with zabaglione (made of cooked egg, liquour, and sugar). That is topped with more pieces of strawberries.

And so how did Chef Davide's creations go with Roberto's chosen wines? Wow, amazing as usual!

The farrotto dish was paired with a 2011 Santa Cristina Orvieto Classico wine, which was a superb match. The crisp, lemony flavor of the wine went well with the beautifully chewy farrotto and the asparagus. And the drizzle of syrupy wine and honey added just a touch of sweetness.

I love an Orvieto wine, and this was perfect with the farotto!

The Italian Easter pie was paired with a 2012 Zenato San Benedetto Lugano, which is made from Trebbiano grapes from the Lake Garda area. The wine was perfect with the pie - which tasted somewhat like a quiche but with the pieces of now hard-cooked egg. Yummy!

The Lugana wine made from Trebbiano grapes.

The Abruzzo-style lamb with the pecorino and egg was paired with a 2011 Cecchi Chianti Classico (complete with the distinctive rooster emblem on the label). While the dish looks somewhat simple when plated, it was tender, tasty and delightful! It is definitely comfort food, with the chunks of lamb and the scrambled-egg-style mixture - but it is not a breakfast dish! The dry wine and the lamb with the pecorino flavor went so wonderfully together.

Yummy - an Abrozzo-style lamb with pecorino cheese and egg.

A lovely Chianti Classico to go with the lamb.

And just when we thought we couldn't eat another bite, out comes the strawberries and mascarpone. Of course, one cannot skip that - what a delightful end to the meal!

A perfect ending to the meal - strawberries with mascarpone!

I think I mentioned that Ernie had gone off to a different cooking class. About half-way through the preparations, Ernie suddenly showed up at Amici Miei, coming in on his knees begging for forgiveness and admission! The other class had completed quite early - it was an "interesting" experience, and quite humorous when Ernie regaled us with the rather odd cooking styles. He was extremely happy that Chef Davide was able to accommodate him, as the food was tremendous - and much better prepared than then other class!

And thus ended the April class, as the group of us again waddled out to go home and enjoy our food coma! We are looking forward to next month, which unfortunately will be the last class ahead of summer vacations.