'Miaou'

Mediterranean Chicken

Hi Simona what is boiling in the pot? This is the message I received yesterday from a reader of the blog! And so here I am to write a few lines about what has been happening. To explain things in order I will say: Cooking, drinking and studying, but let’s go step by step.
Cooking: At the Supper Club last Sunday, for the first time, the guests included some Italians, which not only made me very happy but also a bit nervous. Italians are very critical about food, eating a bad meal is, for us , a bit like having a little catastrophe in life, we will talk and criticise it for months. So the tension was very high for me but I am happy to be able to say the lunch went really well and the guests loved every single dish. Great, test passed ,my life is saved!
The week had only just begun and I had no idea that I would face more severe food critics later in the week. After spending a day in Rome to follow my ongoing professional chef course, I was called on Tuesday night and  asked to cook a dinner for a fantastic couple and their guests who I met during one of my Supper Clubs. Great, I thought, the menu was decided and I was ready for it. The guests began to arrive and on this occasion there were mostly Italians and among them was the Mayor of Orvieto. Mamma mia , I thought, let’s hope everything goes ok. The owners had a wonderful kitchen and it was a pleasure to cook there. Although, I do not know how or when, I did manage to shut the owner’s cat in a drawer ….I kept hearing a loud ` miaou `and finally there he was, in the bottom drawer! Anyway apart from that everything went wonderfully well, so well that the Mayor has invited me to cook for his wife because, `she is a great food lover and she will enjoy your food `he said. So  … a great result….you know, for me, it was a little bit like receiving the keys to the city!
Drinking: During my Sommelier course  I had the opportunity, in the last few weeks, to test some amazing wines. Our teacher decided we should meet once a week and taste some wines that economically we could never manage to buy. His idea was that each participant could pay a few euro and be part of a different world wine experience. So lucky me I was able to sample some beautiful wines that, because of this great idea ,became accessible to us mere mortals ! Fantastic, don’t you think?
With regards to the study: the subject is painful because I have not had much time to do any and unfortunately my final Sommelier exam is now very very close. I have only a few days and three books to study. So in the end I decided to follow Nick’s advice: focus on the practice of drinking good wine and eating something good with it. Plus, he said, he would be glad to help me on that. Nice, he isn’t it?

So  yesterday I made this Mediterranean chicken and with a good glass of red wine and knives and forks at the ready, Nick and I got stuck into the studying!