Authentic Flavours from Emilia Romagna, Italy
This special Enak! Extra event was hosted by Maria Danilina at her lovely residence at the Community Events Hall in Desa Park City. All the 12 members who had signed up were escorted by Maria to the venue at 12:15 noon.
Keats Markandu made a short introduction of the event and Maria Danilina then did the main introduction of the Special Enak! Xtra for the day. The menu featured dishes prepared lovingly by Maria’s parents in law Claudeo and Claudia who are visiting for the second time from Emilia Romagna. The lovely couple had put in lots of effort with lots love in their hearts in preparing and cooking for this event. Some of the main ingredients were brought directly from their homeland by them since not all ingredients are available here in Kuala Lumpur.
For the starters we were served firstly with Scarpasot which Maria explained was a rustic savoury pie and is traditional to the region of Reggio Emilia. It is made with chard stems of a leafy vegetable. The pie was accompanied with Focaccia which is a fluffy Italian flatbread which is light and has air holes which are filled with olive oil and served with pesto sauce and formaca cheese cream. The authentic flavours were indeed really delicious and new to most of us. The portions were very generous and some of us overate the starters!
We were then served the first main course, Pasta Norma. It was made with fresh spaghetti, tomato sauce, olive oil, garlic, fried eggplant and grated ricotta salata cheese. This pasta was named in honour of, Vincenzo Bellini, the composer of the Opera Norma. It was proclaimed as a masterpiece like the Opera Norma by a writer, Nino Martoglio. (Reference Wikipedia) The ricotta is a salted version which was brought by Claudeo and Claudia as it’s not available here. The second main course was the Calamarata which is a pasta with calamari rings and tomatoes. The pasta itself is a specially ring shaped so that it blends in appearance like the calamari rings It has a smooth texture with no ridges and gets coated with the thinner sauces. This pasta originates from the southern region of Campania. It was quite a tasty dish and very suitable for a simple meal. We were actually quite full and were glad to have a break after this main course!
The demonstration of making the dessert was indeed a great idea. Claudia showed us a very simple and efficient procedure of making the Salame Dolce! The basic ingredients are castor sugar, eggs, butter, cocoa powder and crushed digestive biscuits. There is no baking and the shaped Salame Dolce has to be left in the freezer for 3 hours to set so we were served slices of the one prepared earlier for us. Just an amazing taste of chocolate and biscuit. A very simple procedure yet really delicious!
The second dessert was Torta di Mele con Crumble. Really a light buttery, warm apple crumble cake which is something to rave about. We were served lavishly with tea and water throughout the meal and Maria also offered coffee with the dessert.
After the group photography session and final closing speech the event was adjourned.
A very big THANK YOU to Maria, Claudia and Claudeo for such a warm hospitality and such an interesting session and a very delicious menu.
Review by: JAGDEV KAUR
