Volunteering in the Kitchen at the American Academy in Rome

I thought it would be fun to be the volunteers in the Kitchen on Saturday, so I signed up Dr. C. and I to help out.  Since I already knew all the players, I thought it might be fun for him to get a sense of what has gone on this week.  Little did I know he'd rock the chitarra making pasta!  The Academy allows 3 volunteers on Saturdays to come into the kitchen and help the staff.  The other volunteer was a chef from the River Cafe in London, Master Yo, a friend of chef Caspar (who I think I may have to adopt and take home)  

 So the menu for the day was going to be fresh pasta with fava bean leaf pesto and guanciale, spring vegetable soup, frittata with borage and asparagus, garden salad, roasted carrots with roasted beets and a yogurt cumin sauce, sauteed bitter greens and foccacia with potatoes.    

 Caspar and Dr. C. were in charge of the fresh pasta

 I was put in charge of the soup, Tom (the resident Swede/Australian) was in charge of the frittata

Removing the flowers from the borage for the frittata, and the tender leaves; the leaves, and closed flowers need to be blanched for 1 minute before using in the frittata

Eggs, robiola, and Parmigiano along with the borage and asparagus---heaven on a plate

           Jeremy (our intern from Portland) was in charge of the foccacia and the roasted vegetables

The foccacia recipe is from Yo and the River Cafe, the potato topping was all Jeremy

                             Master Yo was in charge of the pesto, and finishing the pasta

This video gives you an idea of what preparing one serving of pasta for 40 people looks like

tasting the pasta

draining the pasta

Adding guanciale

Adding pesto

a few tosses

plating

Pecorino cheese, and we are done

Caspar on the left Master Yo on the right are an awesome pair

What I neglected to take a photo of was the orange blossom granita that Yohae and Caspar made; it was stunning, and delicious.  I love working with this group, they love what they do and are happiest in the kitchen.  Thank you Caspar, Yo, Tom and Jeremy for being so patient with Dr. C. and myself.  You are an awesome team.