We didn't eat anything, figuring there would be plenty of food on our plates this afternoon. We arrived right on schedule and entered a large beautiful kitchen with lofted brick ceilings, just as the instructor was finishing setting everything up. We were welcomed with our choice of water or coffee, and we took a seat at the nicely set table. Within the next 20 minutes, the other six members of the class arrived, all of them belonging to the same group of friends. After introducing ourselves, we gathered around as Chef Marco demonstrated how to make our dough, with us trying to mimic his techniques. It was a fun introduction getting our hands dirty in the kitchen!
While our dough balls sat out to rise, he went about making us the first pizza variant of the session. In a rectangular tart pan, he placed one thin layer of pizza dough, and then set about making the filling. In a generous pour of olive oil, he sautéed capers, anchovy fillets, garlic, hot chili flakes, and raisins, stirring them regularly as the kitchen was enveloped in one of the most enticing aromas I've ever smelled. Once the anchovies dissolved into the oil--yes, they dissolve, and give the oil incredible umami, salty depth--he began dumping copious amounts of crisp romaine lettuce into the pan. I've seen (and enjoyed!) variations of wilted spinach, but the humble romaine would never have occurred to me (fun fact, romaine lettuce has a great nutrient profile with lots of vitamin K, contrary to the notion that lettuce is "basically just water"). But it smelled amazing, so I my skepticism was almost immediately vanquished. With the filling made, he layered it over the dough, placed another layer on top, and deftly folded the edges around to seal the creation before popping it on the floor of the oven. Ten minutes later and we were sitting down to enjoy his romaine calzone with some champagne.
We talked with other members of our group, learning they were all from various provinces in Canada, and we seemed to hit it off pretty well with them! They were an interesting bunch, and we shared our Italy itineraries, and rejoiced in the appetizing afternoon that lay before us.
Next it was time for us to try our hand at calzones. I forgot to mention the incredible spread of ingredients that occupied the center of our large communal table, around which the eight of us chopped and kneaded. Fresh, colorful vegetables, a generous assortment of meats, basil, marinated vegetables, vibrant tomato sauce, and mounds of various fresh cheeses. It was an indecisive person's worst nightmare. It was like my salad bar dilemma. Let me explain. I love salad bars, and I hate salad bars. There are so many delicious choices that even when I feel like I'm only adding a little bit of one ingredient, when I do that with every ingredient, it ends up being way too big a salad. Also, the bevy of choices invariably clouds my judgment of flavor profiles, often resulting in a hodgepodge clusterf*ck of items that do not mesh together. Forgive the language, but for someone who loves both salads and cooking as much as I do, my inability to master salad assembly is pretty frustrating. With this background in mind, it won't surprise you that my calzone--and later, pizza--was, to put it mildly, overloaded. Onion, zucchini, fresh AND marinated mushrooms and peppers, ham, prosciutto, mozzarella, artichoke, capers, tomato sauce, garlic, basil, and fresh tomatoes all made their way inside that doughy pocket of love. 10-15 minutes of high heat later, and we sat down to enjoy our artisanal (read: ugly and amateurish) calzones with some good wine.
Post-calzone, we were then prepared to fetch our own dough and prepare our pan pizza. I would say everyone overdid it on the amount of dough, although some may like an extremely thick crust. In any case, we delicately rolled our airy dough balls into smooth flat rectangles, and assembled our pizzas in a similar fashion. This process was slightly less daunting because, as I joked to the rest of the group, unlike encapsulated calzones, pizzas lack a "ceiling," leaving me to pile on as much topping fare as I wanted. This, of course, provided amusement for the rest of them, as I added salami, spicy salami, olives, extra sauce, and ricotta to the already heinously long list of toppings. It was the archetypal "everything" pizza, and it looked the part. Perhaps the greatest satisfaction of the day came when, after poking fun at my over-doing it on the toppings, everyone looked at my baked finished product with envy, commenting how good it turned out. Thank you, thank you very much. Maddie kept hers impeccably simple and neat, some sauce, and perhaps two or three sparsely scattered toppings, a masterpiece in its own right.
And so we feasted on our culinary handiwork, managing only to consume a couple of slices before asking for tin foil to take the rest home. Some more wine, some more socializing, and before we knew it, 3pm had crept up on us. We thoroughly enjoyed the fun class, making some delicious food, and socializing with the fun and interesting group of fellow students. With doggy bags in hand, we departed for home, stopping to drop off our leftovers before heading back out to peruse some shops last minute.
After a relaxing couple of hours of walking around, I dropped Maddie off at the apartment and set off to explore by myself. The original goal was to get some snacks for the travel days ahead of us, but I took this time to deviate from our normal street pattern, exploring new little alleyways and such. I eventually made a ways past the Duomo, ordered a couple of smoothies to go--although I'm not tired of pasta, pizza, and sandwiches, I'm starting to crave fresh fruits and veggies every day--and headed back home sometime past 7pm. We went out, grabbed a couple of sandwiches for the following morning, and returned home to pack.
And now, itchy and tired, I'm ready for bed. It's an early morning tomorrow to get to Corniglia, our first stop in the Cinque Terre. Florence has been absolutely amazing to us, and we will miss this place dearly. But now it's off to the sea!
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