Tag: Italy

Parmigiano Reggiano Tour in Parma, Italy

cheesemaking 4

I’m still dreaming about the most amazing honeymoon my husband and I went on 2 months ago. Halfway through our journey we dropped our rented car off in Parma and cabbed to our airbnb in the center of the city. We had zero expectations and nothing planned. Our amazing host, who happens to be a professional basketball player, helped coordinate a parmesan tour. She had never done this but apparently, all of the American visitors want to do all of these crazy food tours. There was a little miscommunication and awkward translation to describe how to get to the tour so our host drove us there.

We had no idea what to expect.  We were dropped off at a house in the middle of no where with a farm in the back filled with cows. There was a pretty bad stench of cow manure but we went with it. Not to long after, an energetic woman approached us, speaking in Italian, telling us to get in her car. We hopped in hoping we would end up at the factory tour. About 10 minutes later and a scary ride, we finally arrived at the factory, Ciao Latte.

We were warmly welcomed with a hot cup of espresso and small talk in Italian which we didn’t understand. The energetic lady who welcomed us turned out to be the owner of the small parmesan factory. Her sons work there, see the pic below. They really have the process down to a t and it was interesting to see the process happen before our eyes. The best part is that everything: cows, milk, butter, etc are all made/cared for in house. It’s tough to say this happens often in the US.

Cheese making 1

 

Cheese making 2

Have you ever wondered how the parmigiano reggiano name gets imprinted into the rind of cheese? The picture below is the official stamp that gets wrapped around each of the rounds. There was so much said but unfortunately it was hard understanding with the language barrier. Nonetheless, we successfully tried, bought, and toured a parmigiano reggiano factory in Parma, Italy. We had an interesting time getting back to our apartment but that’s a story for another time.

Cheese making 3

 ciao latte

Cooking Class in Bologna, Italy

Cooking Class Apartmen

After a year long engagement, my fiance and I finally tied the knot! It was a magical evening and everything we could have asked for surrounded by family and friends. A few days later, we embarked on our Italian honeymoon, #jankcation as we call it.

Our first stop was in Venice, the most romantic place possible. Unfortunately, George Clooney was getting married at that time and it was oh so busy in Venice. It was uncomfortably packed in this city 🙁 We made the best of it and wandered through the town peering out on canals.

Next, we rented a car and drove to Monte San Pietro, Emilia-Romagna which is about 15-20 minutes outside of Bologna. This was was absolutely breathetaking! The area was filled with Fattoria’s (agrotourismo) and unpretentious vineyards. We stayed at an airbnb that was decorated 70’s style named Cool Cat that looked out to other hill towns.

We arranged a market tour and cooking class for beginners (husband) and experienced (me). We started out by finding the teacher at a specific coffee shop. It was interesting finding it in a city we had never been to nor do we speak the language. After asking a few people and staring at our map, we found her!

She then took us to this amazing market that’s only held on weekends. Everything is grown locally and looked so fresh and beautiful. The market was surrounded by bakeries, meat stores, small grocery shops, convenience stores, and specialty stores. I was in heaven. After we gathered all of our ingredients and got all of my questions answered, we went to the teachers apartment to start cooking!

fresh produce Fresh produce

We started out making fresh pasta. The eggs that we used had bright fresh orange yolks.  If only I raised chickens in my backyard… I learned in school to make it by hand then roll it through a pasta machine. This time, we did it all by hand which took a bit of time but was worth it.

pasta we made M&Z with pasta

We then stuffed squash blossoms with ricotta and parsley.

Stuffed Squash Blossoms

Now it was time to get all of the sauces together: Bolognese, porcini marsala, and butter. Everything we made was very simple with simple ingredients but all were very fresh. The tomatoes, tasted like actual sweet and delicate tomatoes!  I feel like the tomatoes we get here in US are bland, picked before ripe and just have no taste.  This is really unfortunate.

We cooked up our pumpkin tortellini then sauteed it in butter then it got a fab drizzle of 25 year aged balsamic vinegar. Next, our over an hour simmering bolognese sauce was topped on our freshly made tagliatelle. Then of course we grated fresh parmesan from Parma.

pumpkin tortellini Bolognese

I’m pretty sure my husband and I agree on this, our cooking class in Bologna was by far the best meal we shared together in Italy. It’s no joke that Bologna is the food capital of Italy, it is the real deal.