Finally Cooking Class

The new cooking class day finally arrives.  We head out for the Bus Station and it only takes us 20 minutes, we now have this route down pat!  We get on the correct bus and away we go.  The scenery of the country side is picturesque and I find myself wishing we had more time to explore some of the smaller towns. We get to Colle Val D'Elsa a little late but Judy and the other two students are waiting for us at the Pasticceria. We get acquainted with Edith and  Carol, who are taking the full week course.  Next we take off to the butcher's shop.  The most gorgeous selection of fresh meats.  The shop is family owned and has been a family business for at least 3 generations. We buy prosciutto, thin sliced veal and a top round veal roast.  Next to the co-op for bread,cheese and veggies.  Last to the little market for the balance of our ingredients.  We head to Judy's apartment which is also her studio for classes.  We put on our aprons and discuss the menu we are about to prepare.  We are making a light Spring meal, Rissotto with spring onions and asparagus, Veal Saltimboca (veal that jumps in your mouth), Vitello  Tonnato and Panna Cotta with Cherry sauce.  The Tonnato is a tuna mayonnaise, which sounds disgusting but is Molto Bene!  It is so easy to make and on fresh sliced tomatoes with a few capers, delizioso. We put it as a sauce on the simply dry roasted roast that we thinly sliced and served at room temp.  We snacked on sheep milk cheese made by the woman who sold it to us.  She has a flock of 1,000 sheep and makes her own cheeses. The bread we had was made with olives in one loaf and sunflower seeds in the other- all local ingredients.  The Saltimboca is a piece of thinly sliced veal, a sage leaf and a slice of prosciutto on top of that, what more could I want except maybe a little Parmesan cheese.  It is sautéed in olive oil and the smell alone makes your mouth water.  For dessert we made Panne Cotte, which tasted nothing like any Panna Cotta I had ever tasted before, could be because the cream was unpasturized and full of that real cream flavor, no need for adding vanilla.  We made a fresh cherry sauce that was pitted cherries (Donna was the queen cherry pitter) sugar and red wine.  We cooked it down to a light syrup and spooned it on top of the Panne Cotto after we umolded them on our plates.  Then to finish them off and I mean taking it from buona per prefezionare (good to perfect) we drizzled a little 30 year old balsamic on the top.