It does only make sense that the first recipes crafted in an Italian culinary program would be tomato based.  As my teacher said, you haven’t tasted a tomato until you’ve tasted one grown in Italy and it is a main ingredient in the majority of dishes, second only to garlic and olive oil.  But we actually began our kitchen journey with taillage or the fine art of cutlery aka knife skills.  These tomato recipes just so happened to showcase new techniques such as concasse and cuts like chiffonade, julienne, and jardiniere.  Remind me to thank the French for crafting such specific requirements for cutting vegetables, particularly for tournage, the turning of vegetables until they’re perfectly shaped with 7 faceted sides and two blunt ends…  I am unsure that I will ever master this tecnique, but I’m sure many a potato will be wasted in the process. 


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