European Art of Taste - Via Milano

The second event of the European Art of Taste (EAT) was held at Via Milano, and this was a more fun event. It was a cook off for home cooks, and the cuisine was... obviously Italian! The idea was the showcase Italian food and cooking using some prime ingredients like olive oil and pasta.

Chef Gianfranco Angelillo of Italy was down to show Italian food at its simplest and evocative best. Via Milano was the venue where the good chef would demonstrate how to prepare four dishes and then the contestants would have to replicate one of the dishes based on the one they drew from lots. So what did I have to do in all this? Why, I was one of the judges, of course! Along with Nisha Millet, the former swimming champion. The contestants were a bunch of random people and teams were formed by mixing the people to form heterogeneous groups. The image on the right is of Chef Gianfranco prepping for one of the pasta dishes - penne in a mushroom ragù. Mind you, the Italian ragù is quite different from the French ragout. While the latter is generally a main dish stew, the former is sauce made by simmering meat with finely chopped vegetables.

The event was a fun event, and all the participants had a gala time, and as judge, I had a splendid time, first tasting the dishes made by Chef Angellilo, and then tasting those made by the contestants. The hardest part Nisha Millet and I had was selecting the winner, and after constantly reworking our scores, we settled on a team for first and second place.

Below is a set of photographs of what Chef Angellilo prepared. Simple, and tasty.

Sautéing the mushrooms
In go the cherry tomatoes
Voila! Penne with cherry tomatoes and mushrooms
Tossing fusili in the Carbonara sauce
Fusili carbonara with zucchini
Crespelle - Italian crepe stuffed with squash and carrots
Making a frittata
Frittata with squash