by Maryann Ridini Spencer

Like Father, Like Daughter.   Just like her Dad (my brother Len, who went to Princeton University and was an exchange student at Oxford University in England), my beautiful niece Kimberly, a student at the University of Maryland, is studying for a semester abroad in Florence, Italy.  In between classes in Florence, Kim and her friends are taking some Italian cooking classes and touring Europe!   I asked Kimberly to share some of her cooking class recipes.  So, please ENJOY and Thank you, Kimberly!   P.S. Please send us more RECIPES & Photos!

Below, I’d like to share Kim’s most recent letter.

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Hi Aunt Maryann,
My dad said you wanted some recipes that I learned to make or some recipes that I got since being here in Italy. In the cooking class I had the chance to make the pasta but watched the chef make the soup, sauce, and tiramisu. She also provided us with an apple pie recipe. So here are the few recipes that I have so far. Hope you like them!

Love, Kim

Kim in the Piazza di Campo

RECIPES* (*please note the CONVERSION chart below).
PAPPA COL POMODORO (SOUP…this one was my favorite!)
Ingredients
1) 350g stale Tuscan (or any type) of bread
2) 300g of tomatoes
3) 10 cloves of garlic
4) A handful of fresh basil leaves
5) Extra virgin olive oil
6) ½ liter vegetable broth
7) Salt and pepper

Steps
1) Take soup bowl and put in the extra virgin olive oil (ONLY USE EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL!!!)
2) Throw in the garlic (use as much as you prefer)
3) On a side stove cook vegetable broth
4) Put the soup bowl of oil and garlic on stove and begin mixing together
5) WHEN MIXING MAKE SURE GARLIC STAYS WHITE AND DOES NOT GET BROWN!! YOU MUST CONTINUOUSLY BE MIXING SOUP!!
6) Throw in the basil leaves (as many as you prefer)
7) Throw in the DRIED AND THIN bread slices and mix THAT IS STALE AND APPROXIMATELY 2-3 DAYS OLD!!! If bread is not 2-3 years old cut bread thinly and place into the oven (not on) and let it dry out
Begin mixing all ingredients on stove with two wooden spoons so the bread absorbs the oil and the garlic doesn’t get brown
9) Throw in crushed tomato (looks saucy) and mix all ingredients together
10) Pour in vegetable brother (A LOT) because it quickly becomes absorbed by the bread
11) Continue mixing and then throw in a pinch of salt and pepper (or more if you prefer)
12) Place cover over soup and let it simmer on stove for approximately 30-40 minutes but still continue to mix soup while cooking
13) When finished cooking can put a small amount of olive oil or top if you’d like

Directions
Heat the garlic and olive oil in a glazed terracotta cooking pot. When the garlic begins to turn color, add a few basil leaves. Toast the bread cut into thin strips, in this oil, and when it has absorbed the flavor of he oil and garlic, add the tomatoes. Now add the broth and the rest of the basil, and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for 30-40 minutes, adding broth if the soup gets too thick. Put through a vegetable mill (if you prefer) and serve hot topped with a small amount of raw olive oil

GARLIC SAUCE FOR PASTA
Ingredients
1) 2-20 gloves of garlic (depending how many people your cooking for/how much garlic you like)
2) Olive oil
3) Ripe tomatoes
4) Basil
5) Salt
6) Chili (if you want, we didn’t make ours with that much chili if i remember correctly)

Simmer the garlic and the chili pepper in the oil without browning the garlic. Add tomatoes and salt and lave to simmer for a few minutes until the garlic cloves can be pierced with a fork. When pasta is done, put into the pan with the sauce and add basil. This sauce is recommended with “pici” which is a very thick kind of spaghetti.

PICI
Ingredients
1) 500 gr. flour
2) Salt
3) Water

Steps
1) Mix white flour and semolina flour
2) Mix both flours together with a pinch of salt in a bowl
3) Put flour on cutting board and make it in the shape of a circle, where it will look like a donut with flour on the outside and you see the cutting board in the middle
4) Pull flour in with a fork with the bottom part of the fork facing outward
5) Add about 60% of the water you have in a glass while continuously pulling flour from the outside into the middle and mixing it together with the water. Keep doing this until the flour gets doughy (can use all water if you need to, depends on how dry the flour is)
6) Once basically all the flour and water are mixed together and doughy, use a spatula to bring rest of the flour into the pile of dough
7) Keep flipping the dough TOWARDS yourself and do this for about 10 minutes so that dough is really soft/smooth looking on the outside
Then put the dough under a glass bowl so that no air can touch it and let it sit for about 5 minutes
9) Then take the dough out from under the bowl and cut a small piece off and put the rest under the bowl so it stays moist
10) Work from the middle to the outside with fingers to make dough go into a long straight (spaghetti) piece BUT make it a bit thicker then normal spaghetti.
11) After you make all the pieces of spaghetti sit for about 5 minutes
12) Then put spaghetti into the pot of bowling water
13) Enjoy!

Directions
Mix flower, water and salt into a dough and knead it. Stretch it, until it gets thick about 1 cm. Afterwards cut in long strips. Work them with your hands so that they look like big “spaghetti”

APPLE PIE
Ingredients
1) 4 big apples
2) 3 eggs
3) 150 gr. of flour
4) 300 gr. of sugar
5) 100 gr. of butter
6) Rasins
7) Pinoli (she thinks is like a pine seed?)
Basking powder
9) Lemon
10) 1/2 glass of milk
11) A bit of salt

Directions
Join the eggs with the sugar and move the mixture quickly with a fork. Then join the melted butter, flour, milk, basking power, the skin of the lemon, pine seed, raisin, and salt. Spread the butter and some flour in the pot for cakes, out the mixture inside. Put the apple (skinned and cut in thin pieces) over. Cook for about one hour at a medium temperature

TIRAMISU
Ingredients
1) 4 eggs
2) 150 gr. mascarpone (cheese)
3) 300 gr. savoy biscuits or lady fingers
4) 3 tablespoons espress coffee
5) 2 tablespoons of whisky (although any alcohol will do)
6) cocoa powder

STEPS
1) Crack the eggs and put the egg whites in one bowl and the yolks in a separate bowl
2) Beat the egg whites in one bowl for approximately 10 minutes or so until VERY CREAMY which pretty much looks like fluff but should be very light tasting – use a mixer for best results
3) Beat the egg yolks and sugar together until thick and frothy and then add the mascarpone and beat for approximately 10 minutes or so and should be VERY CREAMY and fluff looking as well
4) Then mix both mixes of the egg whites and the yolk together with a whisk and it will have a light yellow look.
5) Then dip the biscuits of lady finger into the coffee and whisky
6)Then place the biscuits or lady fingers on the bottom of a cooking pan that is a single layer (like one you use to make a cake or bake something in the oven)
7) Then spread the creamy mixtures on top of the biscuits
Then sprinkle on some chocolate chips and cocoa powder on top and keep repeating until all the cream is used
9) Put a piece of plastic wrap on top and put into the fridge for at least 1 hour before serving

*Will look more like pudding then an actual cake*

CONVERSIONS (according to the cooking instructor and she gave 400-500 g both as 2 cups)
Grammi (g)
10 g = not listed
50 g = 1/4 cup
100 g = 1/2 cup
150 g = 3/4 cup
200 g = 1 cup
250 g = 1 1/3 cups
300 g = 1 1/2 cups
350 g = 1 3/4 cups
400 g = 2 cups
500 g = 2 cups
1 kg g = 4 cups
1 1/2 kg = 6 1/2 cups
2 kg = 9 cups

Celsius
160 degree – 300 degree fahrenheit
180 degrees – 350 degrees fahrenheit
200 degree – 400 degrees fahrenheit

Liters
1/2 liter = 2 cups
1 liter = 4 cups
1 1/2 liters = 6 cups

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