Day 3 in Italy
Today we had our first cooking class. It was held at a private villa here in Tuscany. The villa is over 500 years old! It was so beautiful. Our chef taught (hands on class) us to make a stuffed boneless chicken with Italian bologna, ground chestnuts, milk soaked bread and parmesan cheese. Gnuddi Gnocci with spinach, parmesan and ricotta. Caramelized onion fritatta and roasted potatoes with fresh rosemary. Dessert was an apple cake, Karen and I decided it was more like a crustless tart. All was so incredible! The food is fresh, fresh, fresh!
As you can see in the pictures I’ve uploaded to Facebook, freshness of food is very important here. The feet and most times the heads are left on chickens so as to show how fresh they are. On proscuitto today I saw boars hair. It hadn’t been cut off or even shaved! The yolks of our eggs in our Apple Cake today were so yellow!
The Italian people as a whole don’t waste food. They seem live by the saying I’ve recently heard from my friend Jasper Jr., Snout to Tail. They don’t waste anything. Stomach lining – tripe, the lungs, the innards, etc. All is eaten. The heads are also cooked. It has been such an education for me.
After our class today we traveled to Greva and did a little shopping in the town and then it was on to San Giagiamo. In the last there was a beautiful old church. Unfortunately the town was starting to close down when we got there, but not before I had the opportunity to eat Gelato at the famous gelateria – Gelatria di Piazza. Sergio makes the most incredible gelatio. I tried 4 different kinds before settling on the mixed berry. He is famous for his raspberry and rosemary though. It was a very different blend of flavors than I’ve ever had, but it was wonderful! He was so kind to us!
Tomorrow I will tell you of our travels to Siena. We will be taking another cooking class, touring the town and getting some shopping done.
Till then, Ciao!
