When we met Francesco and Annika in Africa, Francesco said that he loved to cook and when asked if wine was served with his dinner, he said "Rivers of wine". This was our last meal before we headed back to the US.
Francesco gave a short course on Italian cooking. He said it is minimalistic in preparation. I don't know about that; it was interesting to watch what he did. He said there are usually two to three courses with appetizers and dessert if desired. The first course is soup or risotto or pasta. The pasta sauce is determined by the kind of pasta, egg or no egg pasta. The second course is meat or fish with side--salad or vegetable or third course would be the salad or vegetable. He said in Italy they do not mix fish and meat.,
The meal he served us was from Southern Italy with the second course fusion with AustrianGerman influence. The meat in the second course was a breaded schnitzel from Germany. The first course was pasta with arriabata sauce. Arriabata means angry sauce and is quite spicy. Onions, garlic, hot red pepper, tomatoes, all sauteed--what a delicious smell!
While the pasta was cooking and the arriabata sauce simmering, he worked on the first course. The schnitzel was put in a tomato sauce, covered with mozerella cheese, spices and then covered over a slow heat. For the vegetable we had potatoes with garlic and rosemary baked in the oven with large chunks of garlic and olive oil.
Our third couse was a simple salad
So the dinner was--
First course: Pasta with arribiata sauce sprinkled with parsley (this is served immediately, no waiting)
Second course: Breaded schnitzel in tomato sauce with mozerella cheese and spices with garlic potatoes
Third course Salad
Wines served while fixing dinner, eating dinner and after dinner:
Brunello di Montalavo
Vendemmia 1994
Bourgogne Honore Lavigne
Pinot Noir
Berberana
Crianza 2004
Carta de Oro
Rioja
Vina Brava 2006
After dinner we sat and enjoyed visiting, enjoying the view and planning our next reunion. Annika fixed us some sandwiches for the train ride and the flight home. She also had some fruit for us to take with us. The sandwiches were delicious and such a nice thing to have!
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