On Friday we had signed up for a 10am – 7pm drinking and NO driving tour which was supposed to be a Brunello wine tasting tour with a private driver and wine specialist. Sadly, our driver was in a motorcycle accident the day before so the tour was cancelled. But probably our livers were happy to know we wouldn’t be on an all day wine tour.
Instead we opted for a cooking class that a few other ladies staying on the farm were going to take. We were tempted with this option because of the chance to see cool Daria again and have her possibly teach the class. We asked Marta (one of the excellent helpers who works on the farm and makes or changes all of your reservations for you) to see if we could get into the class. She said – no problem!
We arrived early so we could enjoy 2 cappuccinos before class. Daria led us out to the patio overlooking the valley and brought us a fresh pastry and fresh jam and said, ‘Is this okay?’ Um, Yes!! It’s okay.
Soon enough it was time for our cooking course. We were led to another restaurant in the village where the main dining room was transformed into a big cooking class. They gave us aprons to put on, showed us where to wash our hands, and soon enough the cooking class had started.
Not even five minutes in, one of the hosts said ‘I will make you a cappuccino anytime you need one.’ Dana and I felt like we needed another one already. Nothing like five minutes into work and getting a coffee break.
The rest of the class we observed the chef (not Daria but a chef that work at the restaurant) work through the dishes we were going to make that day and we all helped at certain points. It was a very stress free cooking class. Basically, if you just wanted to observe and sip wine you could. Or if you really wanted to get in there and work on each dish, you could do that as well.
It was interesting to see how the dough was made for the ravioli and how that differed from the Pici pasta dough we made the night before. It was also interesting to see the way you roll out the ravioli (paper-thin) and they the filling in and fold, then cut each piece out. All the time you are working through this process you are thinking, I don’t see myself doing this at home, but it’s good to know how it is made. At least that is what I was thinking.
One new trick I observed in the cooking class that will stick with me is he had a spray bottle to use to coat his pan with olive oil. It is really a nice way to get an even coating of the oil on the pan with little waste.
After we prepped all of the dishes for cooking, the chef took them in the back and finished them off. We then sat down at a beautifully set table and would eat all of the courses we had started to make. It was the Aussie dad’s birthday, and the Aussie dad’s wife was in the class. So the whole family came and joined us for the lunch. The kids mostly just sat down to eat spaghetti they made just for the kids and the adults sat down to each course with a few paired wines.
The class started at 10am, and we left the restaurant at 3pm stuffed. We couldn’t imagine eating dinner that night. We wanted to do something active that didn’t include food. It was time to consult Isabella’s big book of suggested activities!
