Cooking with Dario

This afternoon ... our first cooking class with Dario (who is adorable, speaks some English, and is a very good chef).

We are making eggplant parmigiano and tiramisu. Oh goody!! His technique with the tomato sauce is different than what we would have done (slow cooking, no added liquid); the basil is broken up with the fingers, not cut with a knife (the knife makes it bitter! He slices the eggplant very thin and does not salt it.

We love the way he dipped the eggplant into the flour and then the egg and then fried it in oil. We did that and loved using his skinny tongs!
Then it was all layered in individual dishes to be baked in the oven. He removed the foil for the last few minutes of cooking to brown the top and melt the cheese.

He made the tiramisu with espresso coffee and crispy lady fingers. The egg yolks and egg whites were incorporated with mascarpone cheese. Again, much more folding and mixing than we would have done!

above: tasting the tiramisu in the kithen ... fewer calories when you eat standing up ... LOL

After all this: we sat down to eat this wonderful dinner. What a treat! We learned so much from Dario, and it was SO much fun! Check out those beautiful eggplant parmiginas on the table. SO delish!