Wednesday and Cooking Class | fja travel journal

Nicola set us up for a cooking class with Simone and Allesio at their home near the winery. I was very much looking forward to this but in no way prepared for our event! This was held in their home which is absolutely gorgeous, designed by them at the top of a hill overlooking the beautiful valley full of vineyards, hills and olive groves. It was breathtaking!

The view from the 1st floor of Simone & Alessio’s home, 1st Floor being our (US) 2nd Floor.

Their valley from the ground level where one can see the two antique statues!

And from the garden level, the glassed in patio on the left was our dining room.

As I indicated, Simone and Alessio were our chefs, instructors, bus boys and most importantly, became our friends. I also mentioned the house. I know you will love the kitchen as I did. It’s pretty awesome outside as well.

The oven side of *la cucina* – a partial of Simone on the left!

Simone and Alessio on the sink side of the kitchen. Notice those cabinets!

The class was fantastic. We started out making Tiramisu which he makes a little differently than most. Tiramisu first because it must sit for several hours before being served and since we would be starting at 11.00 and eating around 1:00, we’d barely have adequate time for the Tiramisu to set. As a post script, the tiramisu we saved and ate for supper was much better than the servings at the end of lunch.

Fran mixes the mascarpone cheese until firm.

Jim inspects because he has to do the same with the bowl in his hand.

The mascarpone is of proper consistency when you can turn the bowl upside down and the cheese does not fall out!

Then we seasoned a lean pork loin – learned a few tricks here as well. Sorry – we missed getting photos of pork preparation. Suffice to say, it’s important to dig a little hole and ensure the salt and pepper as well as the shaved garlic get buried in the hole. We had five “holes” on each side of the pork loin.

Next – on to making Pappardelle pasta. Learned a few tricks here about making the dough! Everything was done by hand, roll, fold and roll again then roll a little differently so you get a nice flat, thin circle of dough. The ingredients and measurements were a little different than what I was used to but the pasta turned out to be delicious!

Now it is time to fold, cut and plate, ready for cooking.

After pressing and rolling out the dough, we folded it over and then cut what would become strips of the pappardelle

See the folded dough in front, ready to be sliced into strips. Then, thread the back of the knife thru the folds of the pasta and lift.

Simone was as happy as we were with our successful efforts as Italian chefs.

Alessio worked overtime in the kitchen, to include preparing the beef & pork ragu for the pappardelle.

When all of this was done, we sat down to a very delicious meal. This was such a treat and we learned so much from Simone – hope we remember it all. He is emailing us his cookbook so I plan to print that and enjoy quite a few dishes. This was by far the highlight of the trip so far and I know there is much more to come.

Antipasto was the traditional salami and cantalope

Then came the pecorino cheese with onion & Balsamic chutney and bruschetta with fig & anchovies topping

Now, observe the glass of white wine. That is zero kilometer wine. Scroll back up to any of the top photos and look for the vineyard. The grapes used in that wine were from those vines, hardly a kilometer away!

Il Primo was Pappardelle with beef and pork ragu – and we made the pasta

Il secondo – thin pork slices, prep’ed by the Altemoses.

*Il dolce*. The tiramisu we made. This one is mine; Jim is eating his own!

And to top off a perfect meal, espresso.

Thankfully lunch was quite filling and since the restaurant at the winery is closed on Wednesdays, we were okay and didn’t need another meal.

We were in the winery chatting with a young couple from Holland who owned a beach club and 3 bars so they were buying lots of wine to take home. All in all a very wonderful, fun day!