“I love to cook. It’s my passion,” said Midway resident Lisa Braun. Braun has traveled abroad to experience other cultures and that includes foods from afar.
She took cooking classes on two separate trips to Italy, at the Mami Camilla cooking school run by chef Biagio Longo’s family in Sorrento located in southern Italy.
“It’s a beautiful destination; a lot of lemon and orange trees grow there,” Braun said.
Braun also went to a school in New Orleans to learn Cajun and Creole cooking and she likes Mexican cuisine as well.
“I do cook (traditional) Southern foods fairly well, but my specialty is Italian,” she said.
Braun’s favorite Italian dishes are:
1. “Neapolitan pizza; it’s really difficult to make. It’s a thin crusted beautiful pizza.”
2. “Potato parmesan; it’s like eggplant parmesan but made with potatoes.”
3. And 4. “Ossobuco with a risotto Milanese. This is a northern Italian dish; it is a slow braised veal shank with risotto.”
5. “Traditional tiramisu; –its’ extremely easy to make and you can adjust it to your taste. You can alternate jams or jellies, make a hot sauce with it to dip lady fingers in it. I often use Italian cooking methods with accessible (local) ingredients.”
For more information on Italian cooking classes, visit www.hinesvillearts.com.