No I am not talking about the guy with the long blond flowing locks who got smacked in the face with a goose on an amusement ride and made "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" ads. And for those of you who knew me back in the day I am also not talking about my Himalayan cat with the long blond flowing locks, big blue eyes and a squished face. I am talking about Fabio Viviani who is the part owner and Chef at Cafe Firenze and who was a contestant on Top Chef. This weekend my girlfriends and I decided to take a cooking class with Fabio. And as many of you know I love soup so when I heard he was doing a soup cooking class I definitely had to con some of the ladies into going with me.

Potato and Fennel Soup

Lobster Bisque

I expected to have a good time, learn a thing or two about soup, have a glass of wine with the girls and probably laugh a little at his broken English. However, let me just say he is hysterically funny. I never expected to laugh as much as I did but never fear I did learn a few things about cooking. So we made 4 soups-gazpacho, which was so incredibly easy as its served cold and its done in the blender. The 2nd soup was a potato, fennel and apple soup and as many of you know fennel was one of my 2012 goals. The soup tasted great but I couldn't really pick out the fennel. We did learn that potato can be used to make a soup creamy in lieu of cream which is a good way to save fat and calories. Then we learned how to make a traditional tomato soup and finally lobster bisque.

Gazpacho

Tomato Soup

Now this cooking class was different as all of the recipes are available on-line so if you are inclined to make any of the soups go to: http://fabioviviani.com/category/general-recipes/soups-and-soupy-dishes/

So let me share with you some random soup/cooking knowledge that I gleaned from Fabio:

1. The #1 cooking search for January is soup hence the inspiration for the class. This was pretty funny as it was 77 degrees outside.
2. You can't digest pepper so its just for flavor and it goes through your system. 
3. To make lobster bisque the lobster meat and shell goes into the blender. The shell gives the soup more flavor and once its blended the soup is strained so you don't get pieces of shell in your soup.
4. Onion, carrots and celery are the holy trinity in Italy. These 3 vegetables are used in everything from soup to sauces to pasta dishes. 
5. And my personal favorite lesson is that a pinch (like a pinch of salt or pepper) is not 2 fingers like we all do its a 3 finger pinch. And he described a pinch as a "game changer." He gave the analogy a little something like this however picture this described by a dark Italian man with a thick accent. So you are cooking breakfast in the morning in your chonies and your significant other grabs your tushy and gives you a 2 finger pinch and you think damn did I get something on my chonies. However, if your significant other gives you a 3 finger pinch well thats a game changer and breakfast can wait. 

Purple Paradise