Posts under ‘Italian’

After 36 weeks…72 classes, this is it, my last class at the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts! It’s been one heck of gut-busting ride. I still can’t believe that my culinary school education is almost over. I have exams on Thursday and Friday of next week, then I will be officially done with culinary school. [...]

I can’t believe I’m saying it, but it’s here…after 10 crazy and fun-filled months, this is it, my last week of class. By next Friday after I am done with my exams, I will be a proud culinary school graduate. Until then, we’re finishing up our tour of Italy with a visit to Sicily, or [...]

In today’s class, we discussed the region of Campania (capital: Naples), Italy’s second most populated, yet most densely populated region. The region’s stunning beauty, including the Amalfi Coast and Mt. Vesuvius make it extremely popular among tourists. The land itself is quite fertile, due in part to the abundance of volcanic soil. From this soil [...]

For class purposes, we combined the southern regions of Apulia, Calabria and Basilicata into one discussion. Agriculture is a thriving industry in these parts, especially in Apulia, which is known for many crops, including tomatoes, eggplant, figs, citrus fruits and olives. Grapes are another important crop to the area…in fact, Apulia is the leading producer [...]

Abruzzo (capital: L’Aquila) is one of the most mountainous and isolated regions in all of Italy. Historically, it has also been considered to be one of the poorer regions in the country, even though it lies only 50 or so miles East of Rome. The region is well known for its sheep farming and production [...]

Moving further south through Italy, today we covered the regions of Lazio, Umbria and Marche. Lazio is home to Rome, capital of both the region and the country. Agriculture thrives in this region due to the overabundance of nutrient-rich, volcanic soil (the same can really be said about many regions of Italy). One of the [...]

Today’s discussion of regional Italian cooking takes us through Tuscany (capital: Florence). Along with Piedmont, Tuscany is recognized as being a prime region for wine making, producing many famous wines such as Chianti and Brunello. The region is also quite well known for it’s production of olive oil, chestnuts, and a special breed of cattle, [...]

The region of Emilia-Romagna (capital: Bologna) lies directly south of Lombardy and Veneto. According to our chef instructor, this part of Italy is well known for being the largest pasta producer in the whole country. The region is also well known for its abundant pasture land, thus enabling the production of many different forms of [...]

Today in class we covered Veneto (capital: Venice). For class purposes, we subdivide Veneto into 3 further regions: Venezia Euganea (aka Veneto…which is kind of confusing, I admit) to the South and home of Venice and Treviso, Venezia Giula (aka Friulia) to the East and home of Trieste, and finally Tridentina to the West, which [...]

Today we covered the region of Liguria (capital city: Genoa), located just below the region of Piedmont. It is a small region, but the only one to include both the alps and the coast. Liguria is often referred to as the ‘riviera’ of Italy due to it’s expansive coastline and handsome scenery, making for a [...]