Trenette Alle Noci and Crepes Suzette

Today was the day I had been waiting for, the first real cooking day in my Italian food class! We studied three regions in the Northwest of Italy: Piedmont, Valle d'Aosta, and Liguria.

We divide the class into three groups of four people each. Each group makes the same dishes, but this way everyone gets to help with every part of the process. First, we made trenette alle noci, fresh pasta with walnut sauce. Here's how: We measured out 300 grams of flour and dumped it on the table, making a hole in the middle. We cracked three eggs into the hole. (Use 1 egg per 100 grams of flour) Then add just a few drops of oil and a pinch of salt. Mix the eggs with your fingers, slowly working the flour in, and kneeding the dough for about ten minutes, until smooth and elastic. Then we wrapped the dough in plastic wrap and let it rest for a while while we started on. . .

Crepes Suzette. These were wonderful. First, mix two eggs with 20 grams of sugar; add 75 grams of flour, 1.3 dL (I'm not sure what dL is, but she told us to measure 130 grams) of milk, and 20 grams of melted butter. Grease a frying pan with butter, and make it very hot. Pour in only a little batter and swirl it around, waiting for it to cook.

Here's the real chef-y part. Toss it up in the air to flip it! I was really nervous. I envisioned crepes flying across the room, getting stuck to the ceiling, etc. No need to worry, though. It worked perfectly. I'm a pro.

Now, while those were cooking, it was back to the pasta and getting things ready for the sauce. This was the most fun part.

Using the pasta press!

Perfect! We've got to get one of these at home. . .

The walnut sauce was just:

• 300g (10oz) shelled walnuts
• 1 clove garlic (It was a really big clove)
• 2 slices country bread, crusts removed
• 300ml (1/2 pint) milk
• 50g (2oz) freshly grated parmesan
• 5-6 tablespoons light olive oil
• Salt and pepper

Soak the bread in the milk while you're doing other things. . . and when you're ready to make the sauce, put all the ingredients in a blender. Push the button. Voila.

Back to the crepes.

Melt 80 grams of butter in a big frying pan. Add 60 grams powdered sugar and zest of both a lemon and an orange. Add the crepes, folded in fourths to look like triangles, the juice from the orange, and four tablespoons of cointreau. Saute for a minute. Add four tablespoons of cognac, and fire it. (The teacher did most of our "firing")

Here's how our crepes turned out.

Our noodles cooked in boiling, salted water for just a few minutes. Here are the noodles being mixed with the walnut sauce.

Finally, we got to eat! The crepes were sweet and orangey and delicious. The closest thing I've had to the pasta is alfredo. It was definitely a different texture than alfredo (because of the walnuts), but it was really creamy and heavy and satisfying. Mmm. . .

I might have to buy a scale to measure food in grams for when I get home. I will probably want to recreate some of these recipes!

Stay tuned for next week: Risotto alla Milanese, Ossobuco and Caramelle alle mele. I forgot what exactly that is. But doesn't it just sound good?