One of the most spectacular things in Tuscany, truly, is the cuisine. Go to just about any town, any trattoria, osteria or ristorante & you’ll dine on pasta, pizza, antipasti (appetizers), contorni (side dishes) & dolce (dessert) that you thought only existed in dreams. The ingredients are so fresh, the flavors are spot-on & the preparation is flawless. Tuscan dishes aren’t overbearing or heavily-sauced, but they’re heavenly. The meats, the cheeses, the produce—you walk down the vegi aisle in a grocery store & smell the tomatoes before you see them. You know that utterly intoxicating, summertime tomato scent? When we grew our own in our Truckee greenhouse I would run my fingers over their smooth skin just to inhale that sweet tang…
All this deliciousness got me thinking about what a shame it would be if I ever left this beautiful country & didn’t take with me at least a handful of incredible, authentic recipes; if I didn’t have a little treasure chest of Tuscan goodness that I could whip up in my own kitchen. So I hatched a plan & it started with some hint-dropping to our “Special Italian Friends (SIF)”. You see, we’ve had many Sunday pranzos (lunches) with them & the food has always been as good – no, better!! – than the exquisiteness savored in local restaurants & given my warm relationship with these people, I felt comfortable asking for instruction &/or recipes. This request, of course, was met with a wholehearted CERTO! (of course) & the very next weekend I was shadowing two ladies making ribollita & salsiccia e stracchino crostini (a new family favorite app that Caiden says in on his “birthday meal list”—i.e. best-of-the-best that I cook). Then, during this year’s Christmas pranzo with our SIF I was ear-to-ear smiles when I unwrapped a gift to find a ricettario (recipe book) with a few dishes already hand-written into its pages. There have been emails, too, with family recipes shared & then printed & inserted into my cherished ricettario. But then I realized that reading recipes (well, translating & then reading) is one thing, but actually putting pot to burner & making them, quite another. Oftentimes I get intimidated or confused by an unfamiliar ingredient or preparation & I then stall an effort. So I figured the smart next step was to find a cooking school that would offer ongoing lessons & get me into the kitchen & into a comfort zone with Tuscany’s delectable fare. Enter Cooking With Carlotta…
You see, I’m part of a Facebook group called Friends in Florence & Tuscany (hey, Facebook isn’t all bad) & I asked these trusted folks for a recommendation & Carlotta came back as the resounding must-try. I texted this delightful, perfect-English-speaking woman & explained my thoughts & wishes & within hours we finalized a 4-class menu based on dishes I love, those that I’m aching to learn & those, well, that she said I simply must know to have a basic Italian cooking repertoire. Fantastic!! I was kid-on-Christmas-Eve excited & decided to make this unforgettable experience even more memorable by inviting Caiden & some girlfriends to join the fun.
As it’s turned out, Caiden’s been able to partake in 1 evening class & 2 girlfriends joined for a morning class. Each session was about 5 hours—3 hours of hands-on cooking & instruction, 1 hour of aperitivo (during the over 21’s lesson) & then 1 hour of dining on the scrumptious fruit of our efforts. These meals, of course, have always been accompanied by a beautifully-set table, wine, proper spacing of each course, & so on.
Thusfar, I’ve learned to make:
· Homemade tagliatelle & farfalle pasta
· Homemade pork ragu
· Uccelletto beans (cannellini beans in sage & olive oil + in a light tomato sauce)
· Cantucci – both con mandorla (with almonds) & con nocciola e cioccolato (with hazlenuts & chocolate)
· Homemade spinach & ricotta ravioli
· Gnudi in a butter/sage sauce (one of my favorite eats on the entire planet!)
· Panna cotta with frutta di bosco (mixed berries sauce)
What’s struck me most is how utterly simple every single item has been. Few ingredients, easy steps & really, the only trick is timing as many things take many hours (i.e. soaking beans overnight, cooking them in olive oil for 2 hours; simmering a ragu for 3 hours; letting panna cotta set for half a day).
Today I took a big step toward taking my Italian cooking training wheels off & invested in a real pasta rolling pin, a ravioli cutter & even a pasta board. Did you know that to properly make homemade pasta you should never put it on a surface (wood, marble or otherwise) that has any sort of sealant or coating? These chemicals can leech into the dough, affecting the flavor & presenting a health risk to the finished product. That’s why a sheet of raw & smooth wood, like a soft pine or other similar variety, is ideal.
Lesson 3 happens on Wednesday with risotto allo zafferano, orate al forno con patate, torta al yogurt (7 vasetti). Lesson 4 involves pici all’aglione, stuffed artichokes & tiramisu. We’ve already started toying with a Lesson 5 where I’ll learn to perfect my nemesis—gnocchi! I’ve made it many times with success on the taste, but I’ve never been able to achieve that pillow-soft, light & fluffy goodness.
All I can say is yes, I definitely have those moments of “is this really my life?!” & yes, you can be sure I’ll be hosting some pretty smashing dinner parties when/if we ever return home! I’ll understand the “with regrets” of any watching-the-carbs invitees... :)
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