Cooking class in Florence!

One of my dreams was to take a cooking class in Italy. Well, I checked many options and signed up with the Food and Wine Academy of Florence for two difierent cooking classes. I chose the "Wanna be Italiano" which is the basic Italian class and Ed picked the "Pizza and gelato making" class.

My chef was Giovanni, the executive chef for the school. 

          

                                

    

That was good news! My class group had 4 students including me. Better news! A family of three from Lancaster, CA. Our menu was the basic Italian menu Tuscan style: bruschetta, butter and sage cream, fresh pasta from scratch (we made Tagliatelle), ravioli with ricotta cheese, cherry tomato sauce, ragu sauce and tiramisu. We met at 9:45am.

These were my classmates:

We went to "il mercato centrale" to purchase all the ingredients. Giovanni explained what to look for when making the selections. He talked to the butcher, he showed us where restaurants and individuals can buy their fresh pasta and sauces such as pesto made with basil, made with broccoli, made with parsley, ragu, or simply using oil and garlic with some herbs; then we stopped at the fromagerie and he explained the different cheeses and when to use them and when not. We spent about an hour wandering the market and meeting the merchants. Then we walked from the market to the kitchen at the culinary school. What a nice setting... five huge tables that sit 6-8 with carrera marble surfaces; on the walls we were surrounded by shelves full of oils, balsamic vinegar, wines, and many cooking spices. There were four boards explaining the regions of Italy and the types of wine and pasta of each region. The other two boards show en the parts of the cow and the pig. We were asked to wash our hands and put on an apron to get ready to cook. He poured Chianti wine in nice wine glasses and started explaining the sequence of events. 

          

   

    

Here is a picture of one of the market merchants selling fresh pasta:

The first dish we prepared was the tiramisu because it needed time to cool down. 

                              

Then we prepared the bruschetta. He explained all the options but we prepared a simple one. He kept emphasizing that there is no need to have too many ingredients; one basic spice like oregano or sage, instead of using several. 

                

Then we learned how to make fresh pasta from scratch without any equipment, just a fork and a rolling pin.  

                                    

Then we prepared the ragu sauce which is the basic meat sauce. Listen to the ingredients: carrots, celery, red onions, garlic, olive oil, red wine, ground meat and pork sausage. Where are the tomatoes? Not many as we are used to. We prepared a little bit of tomato paste, added a tablespoon to the others ingredients after we sauted all ingredients and the meat was cooked. The sauce simmered for 3 hours. This is the secret to a great sauce!!!. Giovanni also showed us how to prepare pesto sauce and what ingredients were interchangeable. Super easy!

      

This class was worth every penny. Not only we prepared everything, we ate everything, and Giovanni  gave me the leftovers for Ed as he stayed at our B&B during the class. We left the kitchen at around 3pm. 

                

Then two days later, Ed attended a pizza and gelato class. I enjoyed mine so much I didn't want to stay home, so I signed up, too. This class was in the evening starting at 5:45 at the same location. 

Contrary to my first class we were 22 in this group. It was lively. We had people from Australia, New Zealand, England, Sweden and several Americans. The chef was half Italian and half Peruvian. 

Here we are picking up the pizza to put in the oven.

                                    

Ed made a wonderful pizza! 

             

The group at our table was very alive, one family of 3 and 2 girls from New Zealand. After a few glasses of wine, the voices started to raise and the pizza shape was deteriorating that some ended up with a calzone instead of a pizza.  Of course this culinary school has industrial pizza ovens and we baked 6 pizzas at once and each batch took 6 minutes. We will see how long it will take to make them at home.

Making the gelato wasn't as we anticipated as it requires a special industrial machine to make it really creamy and it can take 4-5 hours, so the learning only applied to the ingredients as many of us do not have the gelato machine at home to make it. It was good, not enough time to make it very creamy and dense, but tasty. The evening was fun, the chef even had a graduation ceremony handing out certificates and taking pictures! 

Another truly memorable evening!! We bought an apron as a souvenir!