Grape Wine Journey

The Kitchen for the cooking class

Chef Beppe

There was a cooking class with an Italian Chef, Chef Beppe Sardi, during the Piemonte wine trip.  Chef Beppe was late for 2 hours; somehow he was attending a conference in the morning, and on his way back he made a wrong turn on the motor way.   Before he knew it, he was at Milan.  We laughed and asked how fast he was driving to make it back to Piemonte.

The cooking class was more for us to prepare the ingredients, but it was a lot of fun.  We were all amazed with the eggs that were required for the meal.  

Red Pepper Flan w/Anchovy Sauce

The first dish was a red pepper flan with anchovy sauce.  It was made with red pepper puree mixed with flour, baked in the oven for 20 minutes. Then served with a sauce made with fresh anchovy and olive oil.  The red pepper flan was very light on the palate and blended very well with the salty anchovy sauce.  A dish not normally find in an Italian restaurant in Hong Kong.

Prosecco

Upon my return from the trip, my husband was eager to prepare the dish at home.  I brought home some fresh hazelnut, so with the dessert in mind, we invited some close friends for an Italian feast at home.

To serve with the red pepper flan, we opened a bottle of Prosecco – a light sparkling wine from Veneto.

For the main dish, slow cooked oxtail in red wine sauce, our friend brought a bottle of 1995 Mouton Rothschild.  What can I say, red meat with Bordeaux, a perfect match.

Home made hazelnut cookies

Then the home made dessert – freshly baked hazelnut cookies; to match the Italian theme ….  Passito from Veneto, a sweet wine from Italy.

Italian sweet wine

Hey, life is good!