Amazing

That is how i would describe my week. After a rough start on monday when i wanted to throw pots and pans across the kitchen the week could only get better from there and better it did. On tuesday i made some pretty darn good gnocchi, "fluffy and decadent", those were the words from Chef Guido and Chef Haley, so needless to say i quickly forgot about monday and was on cloud nine.

Wednesday was a very long day with language in the morning before heading to the kitchen and then immediately leaving after class to head to my first day at my internship. I am interning at Salumeria Rosi which is a little Italian restaurant/deli on the upper west side. The restaurant is owned by the dean of the program i am in. To date it is the best Italian restaurant i have ever eaten at. The food is so simple but so deep in flavor. Working the dinner shift wednesday night was an eye opener and i learned so much that night. Everyone in the kitchen working together to get dishes out on time and just right. It is a very small kitchen so you always have to be on your guard and watching every step you take. By the end of the night i was helping prepare a few dishes and eager to return to continue to learn.

Thursday was egg day and we prepared a frittata, a fiorentina, and a Pontormo Salad which is amazing. The pontormo salad is an original from my dean that he is famous for and can be ordered at the salumeria. Its full name is Insalata Uova e Carne Secca dell Pontormo and the recipe is as follows:

extra virgin olive oil
70g diced pancetta
2g parsley
2g marjoram and thyme
2 eggs
salt and freshly ground black pepper
mixed greens
red wine vinegar
balsamic vinegar
First you can make your dressing by whisking together the herbs, oil, vinegars, and some salt and pepper. Then in a small saute pan heat up some oil and put the pancetta in to render some of the fat. Cook until it just starts to brown then put in your two eggs. Just crack the eggs and put them right in and sort of scramble them with a spatula. You want a nice mix of yellow and white from the eggs. Cook for only a few minutes and leave the eggs just a bit wet. Toss your greens with your dressing then toss in the egg/pancetta mix. Toss that all around and plate and serve immediately. It is a fantastic dish.

Like i said the week only got better and we ended on friday with pizza day. We made the traditional pizza margherita and pizza bianca con rucola but then we were free to make as many pizzas as we wished with whatever ingredients we had in the kitchen. My favorite of the day was a calzone i made with roasted vegetables consisting of peppers, eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes, garlic, onions, and asparagus then topped it with ricotta cheese, some browned sausage and a spicy tomato sauce i made earlier in the day. Wrapped that all up and baked it....Amazing! At the end of the day we made some focaccia that was also pretty decent although i think we could have done a little better. Either way it was a great way to end the week.

Yesterday i worked my second day at the salumeria and worked the deli counter. You have no idea how many different kinds of salumis and hams there are til you come in to our store. And we sell it by the truck loads. The owner (my dean) currently has a whole walk in refridgerater dedicated to all the meats we have and has about 70 prosciutto di parma hams curing in Italy as we speak. Pretty amazing stuff. Again it was great to watch and help when i could with that area of the business because it is so different from the kitchen but at the same time we have to help eachother out with so many different tasks. So, an amazing week and thankfully i just get to relax today and hang out on a beautiful day in the city. Also, 7 weeks til Italy! Let the countdown begin!