PIZZA WITH PINO & JULIA

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Before I start with today’s entry (again a day lag) I failed to mention one item from yesterday. When Jerry and I had finished our tour, we headed to the store to get a bit of wine for the room. As we arrived at Cavor street there was a large parade coming our way. We quickly crossed the street and then waited to see what the parade was about. Well, nothing fantastic as it turns out, just a very large anti-choice parade, mainly priests, nuns and men, a few women but the majority were clearly male, like they are the ones having the babies. Enough politics, today is about making pizza.

Part of the reason for this particular trip was that Pino, whom I first met in a cooking class in Paris, has since opened his own cooking school in Rome. He sent out e-mails to all of his old students to make the announcement. Once I learned this I had to figure a way to come to Rome, that is the genesis behind this trip. The school is in Trastevere, what was the mid-evil section of Rome and is now the hipster area.

Today was also the race for the cure, so we had to take a taxi to insure we arrived at time, given that the traffic had been rerouted and several streets closed. We have not been in a taxi in Italy since Naples 12 years ago and we thought we were going to die that time. Today’s driver was not as crazy. Christina met us at our hotel and we took the taxi from there. It took us about 30 minutes so we arrived a bit early. This was great, as it gave us an opportunity to meet Julia and catch up with Pino and hear about the other chefs I had taken cooking classes from, none of which are at the Paris school any more, they have all moved on with their culinary careers.

The name of the cooking school is Grano & Farina (located at Vicolo Della Penitenza 17). Pino and Julia run the entire school by themselves. The do all of the shopping, advertising, cleaning, and cooking, a lot of work for two people, but they seem very happy about it. I have learned a great deal from Pino, basically my brioche and other breads never fail now because of him. The school itself, is very inviting and laid out well. I will be coming back some day to take pasta classes for Julia, no machines all hand made. She is currently spending time with the Italian grandmas, learning the art of pastas not usually made so that they will not be lost forever.

The Class

The focus of today’s calls was Neapolitan and Roman style pizza’s. The first being thinner crust and cooks quickly, the latter square and a thicker crust. We started with the basics, learning about yeast, flour and how everything reacts together. We made both types of pizza dough, from mixing to kneading, then setting them aside to rest for the next class. Next, we turned to the making of the pizza. Starting with stretching the shaping the dough, then adding the toppings. The kneading is actually more difficult than it looks as you want to stretch the dough but not overwork it.

We had a nice rose form Umbria while we worked, (Julia knew the vintner) it was a nice light rose and very refreshing. After making, topping and cooking the pizza we of course got to eat it. There were several types that we made, with numerous different toppings. They were all really good but I would say my favorite was the Roman style.

It was a great class, informative as always and also a good visit with Pino & Julia. If your ever in Rome, this is a must take class and there are several to choose from.

Trastevere Walking Tour

After the class a combined walking tour was planned. We walked Christina to a taxi stand so she could go back to her hotel. Jerry and I then continued our tour. This being day 4, my feet and ankles were beginning to revolt. I of course twisted my ankle the day before so that didn’t help much either, but we moved onward, slower, but onward. This was also the hottest and most humid day so far so that slowed us down a bit as well.

This was a true walking tour, we just strolled through the neighborhood only going in to one church. Santa Maria Church, one of the oldest churches in Rome. The neighborhood was strikingly different than the last time we were here. On the first trip, it was still very much a neighborhood, few restaurants, mostly locals hanging out and wondering why we were even there. Today, it is a different world, hipster everywhere, restaurants everywhere and gentrification abounds.

We continued on the winding streets passing piazza’s and more until we arrived at our last stop Santa Cecilia, the Saint of Music. Couldn’t really see much as it is only open for very limited ours and today was gated off. From there we headed toward the Tiber and the oldest bridge in Rome.

Jewish Ghetto

The walking tour continued across Ponte Cestio on to the Isola Tiberina. In ancient times the island was made to look like a Roman war ship, now it is a small island with shops, restaurants, etc. We then crossed the Tiber a second time on Ponte Fabricio the oldest Roman Bridge, build in 62 bc. This took us in to the Jewish Ghetto. It was bustling with people having brunch, priests everywhere (catholic not Jewish) passed several kosher Italian restaurants. There were to sites here Portico D. Ottavia (roman theater and fish market) and Fontana Della Tartrughe (fountain of the turtles.

That was pretty much it for the day, so we walked back to the hotel, for relaxation and of course wine. We were meeting Christina at her hotel at 6:45 for our last dinner in Rome.

Dinner

For our last dinner in Rome part 1, we headed back to Campo Di Fiori to a place called Ditirambo. This was one of the few places I was able to book myself because I could do it either through the Fork, or an Italian reservation app called Quando. All most of the other reservations were made by Nick’s cousin (Nick is an associate at my firm that works with me and his family is very Italian, many still living here), a few were made by the front desk at various hotels we stayed. So far there has not been a single glitch with the reservations, unlike the ATM’s but more on that later.

Ditirambo

The restaurant was about 1 block from the market we were at on Friday, but at night it is a much more peaceful area. It was difficult to find a nicer restaurant that was open on Sunday, which is one of the primary reasons this place was chosen, it was an easy bus ride and then a short walk.

There were both inside and outside seating, outside would have been nice as it was a pleasant evening, but all of the tables were full. We were escorted to the back-dining room. Not a bad table with the exception that it was right next to the bathroom, so a high traffic area. They were pretty busy and had on large table of about 15 retired people, we were in no hurry so just chatted drank our prosecco and looked over the menu. It was one of the more difficult choices because the menu had a lot of variety. As I go recite the course most will be in English as the menu changes daily and I wasn’t fast enough to write them down as we ordered.

Appetizers

* Piedmont Beef tartar
* Millefoglie di Zucchine alla Parmigiana – Basically zucchini lasagna
* Fennel Mouse

They were all good, but each lacked just a little something the tartar had not spices, pepper, or herbs was basically just raw beef, good beef, but nothing to make it stand out. The zucchini, other than we thought it was blossoms, lacked garlic and finally the Fennel Mouse was pretty bland. We love fennel, but nothing in the dish brought out the flavor of the fennel and there was no seasoning of any kind.

Primi

* Tuna Puttanesca
* Pappardelle with a Wild Boar white ragu.

The puttanesca was not even close to having the flavor that a good puttanesca should. There were no capers, anchovies (I assume the tuna was the substitute for that) no bite to it at all and zero garlic. The pasta is self was good, just the sauce fell short. The Wild Boar was the best dish of the night, the boar was flavorful, the pasta cooked perfectly and it was all seasoned nicely. Not sure why the called it a white ragu, as there was really not much of any sauce, but it didn’t really need it.

Entrée’s


* Irish Beef Cheeks – Christina continues your braised beef, but it was very good and melted in your mouth, the best entrée of the night.
* Beef Steak – Jerry continues his beef feast, with a perfectly cooked steak, but lacked seasoning.
* Veal Steak – I had a thick and very rare (to rare for even me) veal steak, It was very flavorful but very fatty. I am not sure where they are getting such fat veal, one of the reason I like veal is it is typically very lean. It was good,, but again lacked some seasoning.

We had a nice bottle of Brunello with dinner, except Christina, have not figured out what wine she actually likes yet her palate seems a bit inconsistent when it comes to red wine. We passed on dessert and headed back to the hotel to pack for the next stop on the journey.

Dish of the was clearly the pizza we made with Pino.

Rome Recap.

Just to wrap up the first city, here are my takes away. Rome is a beautiful city, but very hard to navigate and not overly walking friendly given the ruins. The transportation system is easy to use, but not very convenient. Never come in the summer, not only will the crowds just be to large, the heat will kill you and the humidity was bad enough with the cooler temperatures in July and August it would not be livable, mainly because air conditioning is pretty scares.

The best meal was far and away the one at Armando’s al Pantheon. The highlight of the four days was the cooking class, followed by Roman Forum. The biggest disappointment was the Sistine Chapel, it is probably a must do just for the Creation of Adam, but other than that, you better love crowds.

Compared to our first trip, this visit to Rome was 100% better, less heat and just overall more enjoyable. Will we come back, only to take cooking classes with Pino and to use it as a jumping off point for other points Italy.

Up Next 24 hours in Verona.

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Photos

Stretching the dough
Chef Pino to the left

Insalata Mista
Almost dish of the day but Pizza always wins over healthy