Cooking Under the TUSCAN Sun

Tonight was our much anticipated cooking class just on the other side of Volterra. I wasn't sure what to expect when we walked through a tall gate and into a courtyard to the entrance, but to my surprise the facility was BEAUTIFUL. It was a vaulted ceiling banquet hall filled with vintage Italian decorations. We hung up our coats and met our instructor, who only spoke Italian. Luckily, we invited our coordinator from the SIAF to join us and she was able to do translations for us... Not that it mattered - there's no way I will ever be able to recreate those dishes with the same essence, experience, or natural Tuscan ingredients.

The kitchen was enormous - every chef's dream! In the center of the kitchen was a vaulted skylight letting in plenty of sun to fill the room. The chef first talked about the variety of dishes we would make and passed around recipe books for us to take home (I'll have to translate it first, of course). We would end up making a total of seven dishes... whew!

While we were being introduced to the ingredients, I couldn't help but get distracted and defer my attention to the executive chef's right-hand-man who was perfectly chopping and dicing vegetables and garlic for us to use. I truly believe that there are only a slim percentage of humans who can chop that precisely - everyone else would be missing fingertips. After we watched the executive chef prep and create a sample of each dish we would create, we split into groups to divide the 7 courses. My group worked with cutting out pasta crusts, sprinkling diced pistachio and oils over the pate, and sneaking extra desserts ;)

Here's a list of the seven courses we helped prepare before we sat down to eat:

1. A chicken liver pate with accents of fig and apricot wrapped in lard. Decoration included sprinkling with finely diced pistachio and a drizzle of Olio. - I was okay trying this one on my first bite, probably because I had it with the apriocot and in a very small portion (without any lard). My second bite however...not so good. I was pretty certain that I wouldn't be able to swallow. This wasn't exactly the best item to try first because it was the only one I didn't like.
2. A spinach and cheese kiesh served in fresh cut pasta crust. Melt in your mouth delicious! The heavy egg yolk in the pasta dough made the shell a perfect combination with the spinach and cheese. Delizioso! 
3. A Native Italian Green "Cauliflower" (this is the best way the chef could describe it but it neither looked or tasted like American Cauliflower to me) mixed in with sweet corn grain (looked and tasted like a round heavy rice) and cream sauteed in a pan. This really was one of my favorites! I can still taste the exorbitant flavor of that crispy veggie!
4. Porcini Risotto with fresh mushrooms in a light and thick risotto sauce. I can't even describe the amazing flavors. I'm not a mushroom lover but I can already tell I'm going to crave this back home!
5. Grilled veal steak wrapped in fresh rosemary with a sprinkle of authentic mineral salt from Volterra and olio on top. The steak was actually grilled just to brown the outsides, then vacuum sealed and baked in the oven to cook the rest of the way - this assures the juices have no where to escape! *Another thing I learned: never use salt seasoning before grilling meats. You have to wait until it's done to add or the salt will pull the juice and flavor right out of it!
6. A side dish that tasted like a combination of celery and artichoke steamed and then marinaded in a light pesto sauce and olio.
7. Save the best for last: Dessert. Fresh pecorino cheese with natural Italian honey (not the yellow stuff we're use to) with a thin slice of Italian panforte (Thanks Meredith for helping me to remember the name!)

We all stuffed our faces with the delicious meal and thanked the kitchen crew for all of their help and patience with us. We hung around for quite some time giving toasts to the fabulous group of people we met on the trip. When we finally had to leave we sang American songs with Fausto, our Italian chaffeur and friend, the entire way home. Somewhere along the windy roads home I looked around and realized that I could not have asked for a better group of people to experience this trip with.