For the past few weeks, we have had the great pleasure of taking cooking classes with the head chef of Glass in Trastevere, Italy. Glass is a high-end restaurant cooking top Italian cuisine and Cristina Bowerman is the creative and very talented chef we had the gift of learning how to cook from. We were taught how to make risotto, pasta alla carbonara, mackerel sandwiches and veal, tiramisu, chocolate cream, and pizza.
Four times this semester, we went to Convoglia, a restaurant in Termini Station to have our classes. Cristina would present the ingredients of the recipe of the day on a table and go through the directions, letting us know how the texture and timing would work with each dish. Then we break into pairs, grab what we needed, and head to our cooking stations to start the day. Cristina would walk around and tell us if we needed to add something, or stir faster, or turn the heat up or down, etc.
Of all the dishes we made this semester, risotto was my favorite to taste but tiramisu was the one I think we did best on. The consistency was very good and I think we mixed the cream to the perfect thickness.
I appreciated that Cristina would actually taste our dishes, so we knew if they were really successful or not. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to learn how to make some aspects of Italian cuisine that I will probably never have another chance to do. I've learned that making good food is an act of love and passion, because if you are not really concerned about what you are making, then it will never turn out right.
This is April and I working on our wonderful tiramisu!
I can't wait to go back to America and make a full course meal for my family- pasta for starters, veal and risotto as the second course, and chocolate cream for dessert, complete with lady fingers as dippers. Hope my mother thinks I am as good of a cook as she is!
-Sarah
Oh Sarah!! I just found out this link and your blog. That's awsome! Thanks so much for the kind words...Cristina
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