First day of our cooking classes

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Tuesday, May 18:



Today, we woke up to a gorgeous sunny day. We ate our wonderful European breakfast (lol) of toast and Nutella! We also took a walk down to the coffee bar for my espresso…I am not sure I will ever drink coffee the same way back home!! By 9:45, we were really excited to walk down to the medieval tower across the street from our estate. We knocked on the huge door, and viola, there stood our chef for the day, Maurizio. Maurizio was about 45 years old, and he looked very ‘Italian’…you know, dark skin, dark curly hair, a fabulous Italian nose, and a warm, inviting personality. He had opera playing in the background and he offered us another espresso and Kenya some nice cold milk, fresh from the cow, probably the night before! We got to know each other pretty well before the other guests arrived (who were coming from Florence). When they finally did arrive, we had a group of 6…an Asian couple from Los Angeles, a pair of sisters, one of whom lived in South Africa, and the other in London, and Kenya and I. We all meshed really well, we could tell because right away we started playful bantering of who was an expert in what, as far as the cooking was concerned. At the end of the day everyone thought Kenya was the star of the show when it came to making pasta from scratch! J The kitchen, where we were taking our classes, was huge! It had two full size work tables, two gas stoves, a huge fire place, and a large dining table where we were going to enjoy the spoils of our work!! On the menu for the day, was:



Anti pasti (appetizer)

Crostini con melanzane grigliate e pecorino (Eggplant and pecorino cheese crostini)

Primi (first course):

Pasta Fresca e pesto(fresh, handmade pasta with a homemade pesto sauce)

Secundo (second course):

Pollo all’ Etruscan (Etruscan chicken)

Contorni (side dish):

Patate salvia e rosmarino (Roasted potatoes with sage and rosemary)

Dolci (dessert):

Tiramisu



We started out with making the tiramisu, so that it could go into the refrigerator for a few hours. Every hour we stopped and had an espresso…yum!!! I usually don’t take sugar with my coffee at home, but whenever I had an espresso in Italy, I always did as the Italians did, and put loads of sugar in! Oooohhh…it tasted soooo good! After making the tiramisu, which by the way, was made with coffee liqueur and a special wine, plus fresh mascarpone…I’m going to die from all the awesome food!!! After that, we started in on the pasta making! First, every group/couple got a pile of flour to shape into a bowl, of sorts. Then every group cracked two eggs into the “bowl” and we were taught to mix the eggs together, and then slowly incorporate the flour into the egg mixture. Kenya and I got to mix in some tomato paste to make our pasta red. After incorporating all the eggs and flour together, you then had to knead the dough a bit. After that it was time to put the pasta ‘balls’ into the refrigerator. Ooooh! Time for another espresso!! No wonder those Italian mommas are so boisterous!!! LOL All this was going on while listening to the most awesome opera music and with our chef, Maurizio chiming in every so often!! Kenya was so excited about the things she was learning! It was such an awesome experience to have with her! We then thought it was high time for a snack! So Maurizio brought out the makings for our appetizer (or antipasti)…the eggplant and cheese crostini. We peeled the eggplant, then cut it in slices, and put it in a hot frying pan with just crushed rock salt…no oil! That was surprising to me, since I thought it was always sautéed in oil! After flipping the eggplant disks several times, they were then taken off the hot pan, put on a plate, and then were drizzled with olive oil!! We go the bread ready by toasting it in the oven, then rubbed each of the toast pieces with a clove of garlic, put the eggplant on top then the pecorino cheese and popped all of them into the oven to melt the cheese…when they came out, we were ALL over them! I was very surprised how flavorful the garlic rub actually worked!! Kenya even had some!! Eggplant!!! I told her that she had to try some of everything we made, to see if I could encourage this healthy eating at home…I think it may be working! We were all so proud of ourselves! We had all gotten cookbooks and aprons, at the beginning of the day, so it was really nice to be able to make notes in the book while we were making the item, because the chef was pretty liberal with some items! And if I were to make it at home, I’d want it tasting the same way then!!! By now, the fresh made pasta dough balls came out, and everyone got their chance to roll it out and make fettuccini and tagliatelle noodles. Boy…Kenya was in her element!! She lost all interest in everything else, and made different kinds of pastas the rest of the day! She did not even need directions on how to use the hand cranked pasta maker to make the other kinds! She just kind of figured it out, and cranked out a ton of spaghetti ,etc. Maurizio told her that she could become his partner and teach that part of the class in the future! J



The Etruscan chicken was made with white wine, sage and rosemary, pinenuts, and sultanas, which are tiny olives. It was made with on the bone chicken, which many of you know, I have a hard time eating, but when I tried a nibble, it really was so good that I ate my piece of chicken down to the bone! LOL The side dish (or contorni) that we had with them, the roasted potatoes, were actually deep fried that day, instead of being roasted, but you didn’t hear one complaint, they were sooo good!!!



When we finally sat down to eat, everyone was famished and super excited to try their creations! We had our first course, second course with side dish, loads of wine from our villa’s vineyard, and our sumptuous dessert with, yes, another espresso!!!



After we were done, we knew the best part of the day was having absolutely no dishes to do!!!



Kenya and I walked back up to our villa with a takeout box…we wanted to make sure my mom and dad could try some when they arrived Thursday night! We got our suits on and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon and evening by our pool.

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