Visiting Chef Series to Feature Cuisine of Southern Italy

Southern Italy native Sabrina LaRosa will lend her expertise to students during the next installment of the Visiting Chef Series at Pennsylvania College of Technology.

During her visit, she will instruct School of Hospitality students in rustic Italian cooking techniques, culminating with an elegant five-course Visiting Chef Dinner, produced and served by the students under LaRosa's direction, at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 4. LaRosa's Nov. 2 public cooking demonstration is sold out.

Raised in the Italian province of Reggio Calabria, LaRosa is an expert in authentic Southern Italian cuisine, specifically Neapolitan, Calabrian and Sicilian cooking. She learned at the side of her grandparents and her mother, Angela D'antuono, who founded and runs La Cucina degli Angeli, the "Kitchen of the Angels." There, LaRosa has taught others to cook traditional Italian courses.

"My skills were learned firsthand from firsthand sources, my mother and other prized "˜chefs' from the towns in which I lived," LaRosa says.

An experienced public relations specialist and language translator, LaRosa holds a degree in foreign languages and literature from the University of Palermo, where she majored in English and Spanish literature, and she holds a degree in French from Alliance Francaise.

Tickets for the five-course Visiting Chef Dinner, "An Evening of Authentic Southern Italian Cuisine," in the college's Le Jeune Chef Restaurant are $100. Net proceeds from the dinner and demonstration will be used for annual scholarship awards. To reserve seats, call the Special Events Office at Penn College at 570-320-5229 or email .

The menu and wines for the Nov. 4 dinner are:

First Course

Crostino alla Romana

Italian bread, topped with fresh buffalo mozzarella and anchovy butter sauce

Panelle Siciliane

Flaky puffs made with garbanzo flour and Italian parsley

Bocconcini di Parmigiano

Pieces of Parmiagiano Reggiano sprinkled with a Calabrese pepper jam

Planeta, La Segreta, Bianco, Sicilia, 2009

Second Course

Fettuccine fresche al funghi porcini in pentolina di pasta sfoglia

Fresh fettucine topped with porcini mushrooms in a pastry-covered casserole

Librandi, Ciro Rosso Classico, DOC, Calabria, 2009

Third Course

Zuppa di fagioli alla Napoletana

Savory bean soup with garlic crostini

Feudi Sanniti, Falanghina, Taburno, Campania, 2009

Fourth Course

Fettine di tacchino in crosta di mandorle

Tender breast of turkey covered with finely crushed almonds fried to a golden brown, with oven-roasted potatoes

Insalata Sabri

Broccolini, grape tomatoes, Genovese pesto, Parmesan and Pecorino Romano cheeses, garlic, crumbled hazelnuts and arugula

Rocca dei Sanniti Aglianico, Taburno, Campania, 2006

Dolci

Cassatelle Siciliane al forno

A favorite Sicilian ricotta and chocolate turnover

Florio Sweet Marsala, Sicilia, NV

To learn more about the academic programs offered by the School of Hospitality at Penn College, call 570-327-4505 or visit online .

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