The villa offered a cooking class with their award-winning chef, Bartolo. The chef met his wife Swan in a cooking class that he was teaching. Swan is Susanna’s daughter… it is a family-run villa! The three of them taught the class. Susanna translated into English, Bartolo cooked and Swan prepped and cleaned up. Susanna has done a lot of research in the history of Tuscan cooking. She designed a class that she and Bartolo taught on Tuscan cooking in medieval times. They were surprised to learn that cinnamon was used extensively in savory dishes. The students in that class consisted of chefs from around the world. Susanna said that it was hard – an entire week of listening to the chefs bicker over minute issues… she calls chefs “artists” and says, “You know how artists are…” and then makes a gesture indicating crazy.
We began the class by making traditional Tuscan bread salad. According to Susanna, they don’t waste bread in Tuscany. It is used in salads, pastas and soups. The salad was simply leftover bread, soaked in salt water and wrung out. It was mixed with chopped onions, tomatoes and cucumber. Salt, pepper, olive oil and red wine vinegar finish the dish. The olive oil used for the dressing on this dish should be from the first press. That isn’t usually a problem in Tuscany as olive oil is so abundant there. As a matter of fact, much of the cooking in Tuscany is done with the better grade first press olive oil. It really does taste better – but for those of us who don’t live in a major olive oil producing region, it can be a little expensive. Nonetheless, I made a note of it for home – and I now have two types of olive oil – very good quality first press for salads and pasta finishes, and regular EVOO – for general cooking.
The second course was risotto with wild mushrooms served in Parmesan bowls. Bartolo showed us a fail-proof way to make risotto – Cook whatever veggies, etc. you want to add to the risotto until it is about two minutes shy of being completely cooked. Take that off the heat. Then make the risotto by frying the rice (no oil) for a few minutes until it smells like popcorn. Once it gets to that stage, add warm broth – one ladleful at a time – making sure you stir the mix and the broth is absorbed before adding more. Add the broth to the rice over the course of about 12 minutes or so. The risotto is about 6 minutes away from being complete. At this point, pull the risotto off the stove and cool it quickly on a cookie sheet. Prop the sheet up at an angle so that the heat is not trapped between the counter and the cookie sheet. Once the risotto is cool, refrigerate it until you are almost ready to serve it. It can be made the morning of your dinner party and kept this way to save time. When you are ready to serve the risotto, heat the rice mixture on the stove, adding additional warm broth by the tablespoon. Mix and make sure it is completely absorbed before adding more. In the final two minutes of cooking, add the mushrooms, veggies, whatever you are adding to your risotto mix. Continue cooking for the final two minutes. Then, pull the risotto off the stove; add your olive oil and Parmesan cheese and you are done!
Bartolo also showed us how to make easy Parmesan bowls: heat up a nonstick skillet. Once hot, add shredded Parmesan cheese so that it covers the bottom of the pan. Allow the cheese to melt and bubble. Once it is set, remove the pan from the heat, carefully loosen the edges, and flip the cheese pancake over to the other side. Continue to cook this side for a few minutes. When it is done, (judge by the smell and color) take the skillet off the heat, loosen the edges and flip the cheese pancake over an inverted ramekin. Then let it cool and harden. Don’t refrigerate these bowls – you’ll end up with a chewy mess…
We made a simple side dish of sweet & sour peppers – big chunks of red and green peppers, slowly cooked in vinegar and sugar. This went with the main course – pepper stew. Okay, if you don’t try anything else, you must try this stew. All you do is take a big pot, add lots of red wine (good wine that you would drink), garlic, sage, about a cup of tomato paste and salt and pepper. Then dump in stew beef (chunks). Bring to a boil – then simmer for three hours. That is it. I think that Bartolo did a reduction of some of the wine to make a sauce to go with the beef, but it isn’t needed. It is simply wonderful. And very, very easy to cook.
Dessert was an apple cake. The cake was less like a cake and more like a torte – lots of chunks of apple and not a bit of cinnamon, nutmeg or mace in sight! Bartolo made a light apple sorbet to serve with slices of the cake. Mmmm…..
After class, we went back to our room, showered and dressed and waited on dinner. We didn’t eat until about 9PM – the beef stew takes three hours. But wow… what a dinner it was! Everything was amazing. I think the key to good cooking is using good food… fresh, tasty food. I know that all of the cooking shows say that over and over – and they are right. There is nothing more delicious than a ripe peach – picked right off the tree and eaten while still warm from the sunshine. Eating food that is in season is similar – the colors and flavors are especially vibrant. This was certainly true for the wild mushrooms that we had with the risotto --- and the apples used in the cake and sorbet.
Oh and just a couple of notes on the restaurant itself – it is definitely a labour of love. Susanna includes poetry in the menus. Swan is the knowledgeable wine steward and their wine cellar is extensive. Susanna makes the table decorations and napkin rings herself. Tonight she used various gourds and ivy on the table. It is very fresh – much picked from the villa’s garden. The ambiance here is one of peace and tranquility. The view in the dining room is simply the Tuscan hills… it can’t get any better than this!
