Culinary School Abroad

Pastry Chef Lauren at the Nell went to culinary school a quick boat ride away in Sorrento so I decided to charter the seas and visit her friends for a little authentic culinary school myself.

Chef Biagio at Mami Camilla was my teacher for the day, and he was a large, large man. Watching him move around the kitchen was like watching a car accident, on repeat. Every time he got near the stove, I feared for his life as his apron hung out over the flame. I also feared for the gigantic marble slab counter top that he might knock over every time he crossed the kitchen. Even his hands looked like they could dominate the oven! I was sweating, I can't imagine how he felt in this heat. Anyway, he was super accommodating and allowed me to formulate the menu around things I was interested in.

Look at that baby potato ricer! So cute!

As could be expected, I asked to work with him on pastas, so we made gnocci and he showed me a trick turning gnocci scrap into ravioli.

There is almost zero difference in the way Chef Biagio and I make gnocci outside of how much we knead the dough.

If you go back and read my blog called "Mint Gnocci" you'll see that I tested two methods of making gnocci with the goal of producing the softest and most pillowy dumpling possible. Here, Chef had us kneading the dough as if it were bread resulting in a rather dense version of the same thing.

Gnocci is just a 2 to 1 ratio of potato and flour and when you knead this dough the gluten develops and leaves you with a gummy instead of light dumpling.

Chef also taught me a way to turn the scraps of this dough into ravioli. All we did was add additional flour until the dough became thicker, more resemblant of pasta dough and kneaded it for a few more minutes.

I was surprised when the ravioli turned out decent considering the ingredients for the dough. I’d never make ravioli this way in the future, but it was awesome to find a way to put scraps to work.

We also learned the traditional method of “salt baking” whole fish. I’d seen Chef Ryan do it before, and fish showed up on the menu this way all over Italy so I asked to be walked through this process.

I couldn’t believe how simple this was. Seriously, give this a try at your next BBQ, it’s impressive and deliscious. Call me if you need any more assistance- Screw shish-ka-bobs, I’m never having another summer gathering again without a salt baked fish.

Salt Baked Fish

Ingredients

Whole Fish

Salt

Pepper

Herbs

Lemon

Steps

Either buy a whole fish that’s been cleaned and scaled, or get your hands dirty and gut the fish, scale it and give it a wash and pat it dry.

Use your judgement on the size and type of fish or ask your fishmonger the size of fish you need to feed the amount of people.

As far as type of fish to buy, stick to fish that's not endangered- heres a link to a handy guide for sustainable fish consumption. I keep one of these in my wallet just for reference when I'm planning a meal or out to dinner.

Season the fish with a little pepper. Stuff the fish with whatever accutremont you want. I’d throw some lemon slices, thyme, rosemary, and garlic in.

Line a baking dish with about ½ inch of kosher salt, put the fish in, cover it with more salt.

Put it in the oven at 350 for 30 minutes.

When you take it out of the oven, the salt will have formed a crust which you need to peel off then filet the fish as best you can for serving. Watch for bones.

I serve it with a little O.O. drizzled over the top and lemon wedges.

My step sister and her friend Maddy requested to make these fantastic Madelines:

Equal parts by weight of the following (start at 100 g of each)

Almond Paste
Sugar
Butter
Flour
And
1 Packet of yeast

Mix the first 3 together until smooth.
Mix the last 2 until evenly distributed.
Mix them together, pipe them into floured molds, bake at 350 for 10 minutes or so.
These were so good that the girls attempted to smuggle shirt fulls of them home, leaving a Madeline trail from the school until where my hitch hiking finally paid off and we got a ride to the ferry.

I couldn't finish my last blog about Capri without including some shots of my dream retirement restaurant. Nestled in a cove only accessible by boat, this restaurant has become famous for it's simple, delicious food in the most incredible setting.

Since it's only accessible by boat, you can anchor down outside of the tiny bay and swim in or wait for the never present transport canoe to come scoop you up. I swam.

Simple, fresh food done really well. I'm in love with this place.

Ciao Capri!