My favorite recipes

Damien’s home is in northwestern Italy at the foot of the Italian Alps on the south side of the Matterhorn. The best day of his life, according to Damien, is Aug. 22, 2013, the day he and his father climbed the peak, 4,478 meters elevation, about 14,692 feet. They had guides to help them.

Fran Jones and the late Leonard Devlin are Damien’s grandparents and his family normally spends three to four weeks in the United States visiting each year. His mother, Gina, married an Italian, so they have been visiting the United States since then.

Damien is 18 and has been experiencing an American high school, which is quite different than his Italian high school. He enjoys having a car here, so he said he has friends and a life – especially since he lives in the country. The car goes to his sister when he leaves and his sister needs it to attend Walla Walla Community College this fall. Her car can be his when he returns to Italy. Speaking English as well as Italian, along with French since it is the second language of northwestern Italy, Damien has an advantage in many career areas.

Damien still has one or two years of high school left in Italy, where he attends a culinary high school. Common in Europe, these schools give students with an interest in food a running start in their careers. He has worked in the summer at restaurants to gain experience. He wears a uniform with short hair, no facial hair and polished shoes for school. Although he enjoys the culinary high school, he doesn’t know if he plans to be a professional chef.

Damien will have a week of tests before he returns to school in Italy. When he passes all of his exams, he will be able to go on to college. If he passes all of them at the end of next year, he is finished with high school. If he does not pass any of the tests, he will attend another year of high school and then take exams again.

An Italian high school student can change career tracks by calling a school he or she wants and taking any needed entrance exams. This year in Colfax, Damien has been taking sophomore, junior and senior level courses. In order to graduate from Colfax High School, he would have had to take a couple of different classes and complete a senior project. Damien’s favorite classes at CHS are wood shop, science and food and nutrition.

He is not a formal exchange student, like the Rotary exchange students, but it is a family exchange. Colfax students count him among their exchange, though. He enjoys warm weather in Dusty, but said that in winter, the chief activities are plowing the lane and feeding cows. After completing high school in Italy, Damien would like to tour the world, including Europe and America.

Damien began cooking at home – pasta, and other simple things. His mom’s friend is a chef, and Damien began helping them, then later began working at his father’s restaurant. His culinary high school also places students for two-week and four-week assignments in restaurants and hotels. The work is generally unpaid, but managers may choose to pay the students who are doing very well. He has worked as a waiter and host at his father’s restaurant. At this time, he likes the idea of hotel and restaurant management instead of working in the kitchen. He prefers cooking for his family.

There are no school sports in Italy, but Damien probably wouldn’t be in school sports anyway. He loves free-style skiing. He loves to jump – “The bigger it is, the better it is.” He skied only once this winter, while he usually skis twice a week. There’s a glacier above the town where he lives, so people can ski in the summer. He plays golf fairly well. Their local course is the highest elevation 18-hole course in Europe.

In contrast, school sports in Colfax are “huge.” Damien participated in Mr. Bulldog this spring. He turned out for baseball, but found he could not manage both activities at the same time and keep up with homework. Homework is less important in Italy, where grades depend on quizzes and tests. He feels more responsibility to study for tests.

Other contrasts he has noticed include no school uniforms and it seems that everyone in high school drinks soda in the morning. Classes in Damien’s school cook meals for students, one meal per class each week. In his culinary high school, meals feature more meats and vegetables and healthier food. He noted Chef Jamie Oliver’s efforts to improve school meals in the United Kingdom.

Damien has tried to correct his Uncle Bryan, who wants to eat his salad alongside his risotto. Italian dinners are served in courses and that combination just is not done. A typical dinner at home would be a first course of risotto, a course of steak with zucchini or another vegetable and possibly potatoes, occasionally followed by dessert. Typical desserts are panna cotta or tiramisu, but pie is unknown.

Pies have really grabbed Damien’s attention, especially his grandmother Fran Jones’ banana cream pie, with other favorites of rhubarb and mixed berries. His mom’s favorite is pumpkin, which he does not understand. High on the list of favorites is Fran’s cinnamon rolls. By the way, Damien mows and does gardening chores in exchange for homemade cookies.

Recipes from Damien have been converted to American measures by the author.

Recipes:

Risotto

1 cup risotto rice

1/2 cup white wine

olive oil

3 cups chicken or vegetable broth

Parmesan or other cheese

Finely chopped onion, the finer the better

half and half or cream

In a nonstick pan (unless you LOVE stirring constantly), saute onions in olive oil briefly; add rice and saute for a minute then add 1/2 cup white wine. Follow with broth. Keep broth 3/4 inch deep on top of the rice as it cooks. Reduce heat to medium low. Salt to taste.

Cook and stir occasionally for 15-20 minutes, adding broth if needed. Rice is tender when done and liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat, add butter, Parmesan or other cheese, half and half, or cream to taste.

Crepes with Nutella

8 eggs

400 grams (3 1/4 cups) flour

1 cup milk

1 pinch salt

Mix eggs, flour and salt together. Add milk, beating until smooth. Cook in flat crepe pan on medium low heat. (Pour a small amount of batter in the pan, swirl pan so batter covers the bottom, flip crepe when lightly browned.)

Spread crepes with Nutella, or Nutella, sliced strawberries and sliced bananas, nutella and sliced bananas, or sugar and a few drops of lemon juice.

Baci di Dama

100 grams (3/4 cup + 1 Tablespoon) hazelnut flour (could use pecans)

100 grams (3/4 cup + 1 Tablespoon) sugar

100 grams (3/4 cup + 1 Tablespoon) all-purpose flour

100 grams (scant 1/4 pound) butter

Bar of Hershey’s chocolate--white, milk, or dark

Let butter set at room temperature for 1 hour. Cream butter and sugar, using dough hook with Kitchenaid mixer. Add nut and all-purpose flours.

Roll balls the size of walnuts. Bake on ungreased cookie sheets at 250 degrees F until cookies become dry.

Cool cookies on wire rack. Melt chocolate, and spread chocolate on glat sie of the cookie, and then press two cookies together. Refrigerate for 10 minutes of longer.

Tiramisu

4 eggs

250 grams (2 cups) sugar

250 grams (2 cups) mascarpone cheese

1 package lady finger cookies

espresso or strong brewed coffee

cocoa powder

Place yolks in bowl and beat with sugar until lemon-colored and thickened. Add mascarpone cheese and beat until well blended.

In another bowl, beat egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Fold gently into mascarpone mixture.

Dip each lady finger in coffee, not soaking through, and place ladyfingers on the bottom of a 9x13-inch pan. After the bottom of the pan is covered, add a layer of mascarpone mixture, then a layer of lady fingers, and finish with a layer of mascarpone mixture. Dust the top with a little cocoa powder. Refrigerate. Eat within 3-4 days, since this contains raw eggs. 6 servings.