D is for Developing Flavor that is "Divine" and "Delicate".

Ahh, Culinary School.

Are there finer words? Yes there are, and they come in the form of a compliment from your chef instructors.

Our group has been together in the kitchen for 10 sessions now. Slicing, dicing, drizzling, gobbling, straining, draining and stirring our way though lesson upon lesson; mixing and blending our way through the lovely cuisine of Italia. After many days of antipasti and 

perfecting our knife skills, or taillage (the practice of cutting vegetables into uniform size and shape) we have begun to pick up the pace, or at least some of us have.

I now have an enlightened respect for all those tiny little uniform pieces of vegetables I have found on my plate over my years of eating out. Making a perfect brunoise, jardinière, julienne, or dadi piccoli is not as easy as it looks. TRUST ME. This take A LOT of practice. I’m an amateur at best, but one day I will be able to chop with the best of them. It’s my holy grail so to speak. 

So today was soup/bean day. Perfect day for it, considering the weather here in New York is dreadful, rainy and cold.

So soups’ on? Yeah, I’m there.

The day before was stock day, which, I also have a new found respect for because making the perfect stock, is seriously a work of art. Anyway, the kitchen was lively today. Happy little culinary students, working to create inspired dishes, but mostly working to please the boss. (Both of whom, by the way, are awesome and absolute inspirations whom you will hear about more in the future.) 

However, the ultimate result is usually something not quite near the standard of the dish we are to most resemble in the end result. But I listened intently today to the words of our teachers and “developing flavor” was definitely key.

 The Development of Flavor should be a manual. You could go out and buy all the expensive ingredients in the world, and still not know how to develop flavor. The one thing I must stress, if you too desire to develop this skill of deepening the flavor of a dish, I recommend getting really comfortable with carmelization. It is a technique that is 

learned by practice, so go out there and try it.

Today we made Minestrone as well as another dish called Zuppa di Farro (Farro Soup). Both were beautiful to look at, but more so to eat.  The deliciousness of them was because of developing flavor. Both, however, called for different development of flavor, but used almost identical ingredients to do so. The minestrone was lighter in flavor and brighter in contrast, while the zuppa di farro was richer, deeper and more complex and earthy. Its always so interesting how the same vegetables, when prepared in a different manner, can come out tasting dramatically polar opposite.

Farro, incidentally is absolutely amazing for you! It is an ancient grain packed with protein, fiber and lots of  vitamins which are heart healthy, and it’s an environmentally conscious choice because a little goes a long way.

Although I loved both, I will only feature Minestrone, because, not only is it Veggie friendly, it was absolutely superb with a dollop of our fresh made pesto from the day prior. I recommend making your own pesto, but if you have to buy the jarred stuff, the Trader Joes brand is pretty good. Also you could get some excellent stuff from Dean and Deluca.

Minestrone con Pasta (Vegetable Soup with Pasta)

Recipe : International Culinary Academy – Italian

Yield : 6 to 8 servings

Ingredienti:

25 g. Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 Onion, diced

1 celery stalk, diced

1 carrot, peeled, diced

¼ fennel bulb, diced

½ leek, light green and white parts, diced

1 garlic clove, minced

Pinch of red chili flakes

1 L Water. Or Vegetable Stock, warm

1 medium Russet Potato, peeled and cut into ½ inch cubes

½ zucchini, seeds removed, diced

2 asparagus stalks, peeled, chopped into ½ inch pieces

¼ cup frozen peas

6 Green Beans or Haricot Vert, trimmed, and chopped into ½ pieces

2 plum tomatoes, remove skins and seeds, diced

10 g chopped fresh parsley leaves, no stems

2 large leave of Swiss Chard, stems removed, julienne leaves

70 g cooked white cannelloni beans, drained

100 g cooked pasta, preferably shells or Orecchiette

Fresh grated Grana Padano or Parmigianino cheese

Pesto (adding Pesto to the top makes it a Genoa preparation of the dish)

Salt and Pepper to taste

Procedura:

1. In a heavy bottom soup pot, heat Olive Oil on medium heat, add onions, celery, carrots, fennel, leeks, garlic and chili flakes and cook for about 4 – 5 minutes. Make sure not to brown vegetables.

2. Add Water, or stock, if using, and increase heat to medium high, add potato. Bring boil. Add Salt 

(about 1 tablespoon) and pepper (about 1 teaspoon.)

3. Lower heat to simmer and add zucchini, asparagus, peas and green beans. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes.

4. Add tomatoes, parsley, swiss chard, beans and pasta.

5. Let simmer gently for 1 to 2 minutes. Adjust seasoning.

6. Ladle soup into bowls, drizzle with pesto, Extra Virgin Olive Oil and sprinkle with grated cheese. Serve to those you love!  

AMAZING.

By the way - the chef's compliment's so far have been "delicate" and "divine". Which,

I mean, were sooooo exciting to hear. I know, it may not be that big of a deal, but hey, I'll take what I can get. So thank goodness for the D entry!