Cooking Class with Matteo Morra

 Dr. C. and I had the chance to have a cooking class at a beautiful restaurant in Barolo Country arranged by our tour guide, Lucia DeMaria.  Matteo Morra is a young, gifted chef, having studied with Michelin starred chefs, and coming back home to cook the food of his beloved region.  Passion defines his work, and instead of deconstructing the food, he's all about the flavor of the foods of this region.  We had the best time working in his tiny kitchen at this beautiful restaurant.

The restaurant just celebrated its first year anniversary.  One thing we noticed is that there is a lot of space between the tables, giving you an ambiance that is lacking in many other places.

Dr. C. and Matteo mastering the Battuto Fassone, basically veal tartare

Dr. C. sharpening his knife skills

Matteo mixing the ingredients, flaky salt, olive oil, that's it

plating

Voila!

Between each course, we got to sit down,eat and sip adult beverages

Champagne --- Italian Style

On one side of the dining room is this wine barrel; I wanted to take it home, but our car was just too small!

Back in the kitchen, Matteo's mom is making meringue cookies

There is veal being braised in Barolo for 14 to 16 hours

Matteo, the sous chef dealing with Mama's meringues (which were delicious!)

Next up is fresh pasta, the local specialty called Tajarin made with 30 egg yolks

Dr. C. working the pasta machine (he's an ace!)

Look at that pasta, man wasn't born Italian, but he's got it!

Bellissima pasta

Tossed with butter and rosemary, and covered in shaved black truffle

Now it's time to eat our hand made pasta

Next up, eggs with truffles

butter and shaved truffles

eggs added

plated with more truffles

Our last course was veal that had been braised for 16 hours (no we didn't have to wait!) in a beautiful reduction sauce made over the course of several days (that's his French chef influence)

meanwhile Mama is making the staff lunch

True confession time now, I lost some of the photos when transferring them to my laptop and those are all the photos I have of the morning.  Matteo made us the typical dessert of this region Bonet, and we sampled mama's meringues and they were amazing---I'm not a fan of macrons or meringues, but I was nibbling on them for the rest of the time while drinking my favorite dessert wine, Moscato di Asti.  These are some other photos of Matteo and his restaurant.

Bonet

Matteo Morra (R), Sous Chef Matteo (L)

When you get to the Barolo region, make reservations, Matteo is a gift chef, and what the Italians call molto gentile.  We had the best day with he and his staff in this beautiful restaurant.  It could not have been better.  Grazie Matteo, ci vediamo presto!