Cooking school

We went to cooking school last night and it was a real kick! Our teacher is Mario who had a tremendous enthusiasm for his subject, spoke no English but we were fortunate to have another student (a TV newscaster from Catania) who translated for us. Here Mario is instructing us in the preparation of couscous in the traditional Trapenese way. The pot on the stove is kind of an improvised double boiler with the top being a very heavy ceramic with holes in it. It's sealed to the bottom pot with dough so no steam can escape. The couscous has minimal seasoning but the boiling water below has a lot of aromatics in it that penetrate the cous cous. The couscous cooks for 1 1/2 HOURS! Then it's served with a fish "soup" that's ladled over it and some fish...any kind will do and maybe shrimp, calamari, etc can be used. It's really tasty but not something I probably would ever consider making at home.




The restaurant where the class was held has a woodburning pizza and bread oven and gave us a sample of bread with salt and oregano to snack on (along with some wine.) Now you see how we can get Dick to smile.













Here's our entire class with the cassata cake that we were taught how to make. The woman to the left of Mario is the newscaster. She had a great personality and kept us entertained through the hours that we spent there. (Altogether we were there for 7 hours, including a very lengthy and wine soaked dinner....none of which we minded at all.)













Here's most of our meal....the caponata appetizer, the couscous, the fish "soup" to go on top.

Overall, a terrific addition to our vacation!