mrandmrsr: Cooking with Mamma Agata! (Part 2)

Hmmm... where did I leave off.... Ahh... the Eggplant Parmigiana! I have to admit, I have never been a HUGE Eggplant fan! I have always eaten it if it were put in front of me, but I would never intentionally order it on a menu. T admitted that Eggplant wasn't his favorite, and Chiara said that 'it was her mission to get him to like it!'

There were many many layers of the Eggplant Parmigiana! Here is how she layered it in pictures!

First layer: Lots of the lightly fired eggplant

Second layer: Parmesan cheese

Third layer: Fresh Mozarella

Fourth Layer: Aged Smoked Mozzarella

Fifth Layer: fresh basil

Sixth Layer: The tomato sauce that we previously made (on previous post)

We did this same process three times... yes THREE times... it was piled very very high! But she said that the eggplant would shrink a little!

I think both T and I have changed our minds about Eggplant! It was delicious! Here is the final product!

YUM!!

The next batter that we made was for the fritters! They were also delicious, and we definitely had quite a few! We had to make the batter ahead of time so that it could rise while we were making the other dishes. She used her hands to mix everything, and dissed the food processor... one of my favorite tools!

Chiarra and Mamma Agata mixing the batter... then they let it sit in the corner with a towel over it, and we let it sit until the other dishes were finished. Here is how we prepared them after they sat, rising for a while!

Mixing delicious things into the batter: Parmesan cheese, zucchini, zucchini blossoms, etc.

Frying them in the oil

The finished product! YUM!

The next dish was the lemon, garlic chicken! This dish also took a little while, so we started it first!

Mamma Agata cooking the garlic... Tip: she said that in real Italian cooking, you never use garlic and onion in the same dish! I never knew that! In this dish, she uses just garlic. No oil or butter. She basically browned the garlic before adding the chicken.

Then she adds the chicken, stuffing the pan with as much as she can.

After adding lots of sea salt, oregano, and rosemary, she put the cover on and let it cook on low heat, making delicious juices and a natural sauce. When it was finished, she topped it with lots of lemon juice and served it hot. It was so moist and again... delicious!

YUM!!

The next dish was sausage and peppers! T was excited for this one!

For this dish, she used a red onion... no garlic! and butter!

She said that they usually do not use butter, that is more french, but it would help the onion from burning. To the left is the peppers that she is sauteing. I got to help chop them and we tasted a few, they were so juicy and fresh and yet again.... delicious!

After the butter was melted, she put in the fresh sausage that they made themselves. I must admit, I tried this pasta, but made a point to eat around the sausage pieces. This was T's favorite dish!

She then added the peppers, fresh cherry tomatoes, and basil. This dish also took a little longer to cook, so we quickly began on the dish to the left, the farmers spaghetti.

This next dish is called 'Farmers Spaghetti' because if you have a garden, you could basically put everything from your garden into this sauce. We first put in the fresh cherry tomatoes, we made sure they were fresh by checking to see if they were extra red! Then, she added two different types of olives, green and black (from their garden), then lots and lots of basil, sea salt, and then added the capers on top. Everything that we used was fresh from their garden!!

Adding the final touch... the capers!

The finished product! YUM!

The also use a lot of arugula here (they call it rocket)

While we were waiting for our dishes to finish cooking, we were able to explore the garden and terrace, here are some of the pictures that we were able to take!

Here is the homemade wine that we drank throughout the day!

After we were finished (and stuffed), we went to the city center of Ravello to have a look around! It was a quaint little town, and some local music was even playing in the streets! After we were finished having a look, we met our driver, and made the hour long journey back to our hotel. When I say stuffed, that is a understatement! I have never been so full in my life!