Hello Friends,
Welcome back. It's seems like a life time ago since we last met. As we turn the calendar pages though May and move ahead to a brighter time of June and the summer months to follow, I hope everyone is safe and healthy.
Italy is opening its boarders and hotels for summer travel on June 3 with air flights starting!
We are positive, optimistic and keep our hearts afloat with cooking. Needless to say, preparing and enjoying a home cooked meal is nourishing for the mind and body.
During the winter months, we've sliced, diced, roasted, grilled,
sautéd, and baked many delicious food while discovering and pairing them with Italian wine. We've added them to our new cooking tours too.
We've also created new cooking tours, including our
Unplugged Collection
where the emphasis is on good food and
relaxation,
and luxurious spa treatments using natural organic products. We've also added
Ciao Boston - Cooking with My Mamma Maria and me in Boston, for those travellers who want to stay stateside.
We are thrilled to be able to welcome guests back to Italy with caution and care while following official safe protocol.
Below please see my new chef series,
A Day In The Life of A Chef! Our first interview is with Chef Massimo from Montepulciano. I hope you enjoy!
At Cooking Vacations we always have something new and delicious for you! And we are very happy to be able to share our love for Italy with you!!!
Happy Cooking,
Lauren
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A Day
In The Life Of A Chef
~
Chef Massimo
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Above: Chef Massimo
The drive curves along a narrow road lined with cypress trees that stand tall. Inside the walls of Montepulciano is a poetic town lined with worn-out cobblestones, hidden courtyards and the scent of salty pecorino and earthy wine barrels. From my room at the villa, I see the ancient village below as butter yellow sunflowers with their faces to the sun sway in the breeze.
This is Montepulciano land of
pici, pasta,
Brunello
and the Etruscans (a civilization who built and ruled the greater part of Tuscany
starting in the late 4th century BC with the Roman–Etruscan Wars). This Tuscan town is perched high on a ridge 1,800 feet above sea level and overlooks the Val di Chiana to one side and beautiful Lago di Trasimeno to the other. Montepulciano is also a precious UNECO World Heritage site.
Dotted with palazzos unfolding like an Italian accordion, Montepulciano is forever beautiful.
Enotece, trattorie, cantine -
wine shops, small restaurants and wine cellars - spill throughout its narrow and winding streets, where no cars are allowed, while the church bells of San Biago ring in the distance.
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Above: Rolling Tuscan Hills on the way to Montepulciano.
Located just a little more than an hours drive south of Florence and a two-hours drive north of Rome, Montepulciano is the perfect stop on every traveler’s journey. The town is often called
the Florence of the south
thanks to its classical Renaissance architecture
including arched and triangular molding appearing over doors and windows. When you meander along its quaint stone footpaths, you too will fall in love.
Say the word Montepulciano and visions of
pici all’aglione
– thick spaghetti-like pasta in a spicy garlic tomato sauce,
ribollita
– a slow cooked hearty vegetable soup and grilled
bistecca alla Fiorentina,
famous Tuscan steak from the Chianina cow, come to mind. Precious wines including Brunello and Nobile will have you sipping and swirling in any one of its famous cantinas.
The only way to experience a region and learn about its food and wine is to befriend a local. My friend in Montepulciano is Chef Massimo, I call him a
buongustai -
translating to a person who loves to eat and knows everything there is to know about food and wine
.
I am on my way to meet him at the Piazza Grande and I invite you to come along. He’s a native chef of Montepulicano and has been churning out delicious antipasti, pasta, main courses and desserts for more than twenty years. Passionate and in-the-know, his preparation is traditional with a touch of modern elegance. He’s also been leading my cooking classes and wine tastings for almost as long as he’s been cooking.
Below: Artisan Pecorino Cheese.
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“
Buongiorno
,” I wish him good day.
"Buongiorno. Benvenuti,"
good morning and welcome he says with a handsome Tuscan accent. His smile is wide.
“How does
a day in the life of a chef
begin?” I ask.
“My day during this season begins like any other day – searching for excellent produce from local purveyors, then using these ingredients in my kitchen. I have my trusted Tuscan butcher, vegetable and fruit farmers, and a fish monger – we have fresh fish almost every day. I visit my trusted purveyors daily and personally shop selecting the freshest products.
“Our season starts at Easter time and continues through to November – this is our high season. During the winter, the town becomes quieter and there are less activities, but Montepulciano remains a beautiful place to visit. Nature is splendid at the change of seasons; there’s the
vendemmia
, wine harvest, with the changing colors of the countryside. In fact, every season has its beauty.”
He explains, “Every season also has its harvest. Springtime gardens bring us beautiful asparagus and artichokes right through June. Fava beans and peas are plentiful. As it warms up and we head into summer, many tomato varieties will soon be available – yellow, red and cherry – along with eggplant, zucchini and pumpkin.
“In summer, we use vegetables in antipasto, gnocchi and ravioli, and alongside the famous grilled
bistecca alla Fiorentina,
Tuscan steak. Without a doubt, we use a variety of Tuscan beans such as: cannellini, chickpeas,
fagioli nero
, black beans, and
fagiolina
del Trasimeno, the white noble bean from Umbria. Tuscan soups, such as
ribollita
, (translating to re-boiled) is a thick and hearty winter soup whose main ingredient is black cabbage. Traditionally this soup is left to cook in the chimney while carrots, onions and celery are added.
"Seasonally speaking, Tuscan meats do not change, but the recipes we use them in do. Meats are mostly grilled in the summer months using rosemary and sea salt to bring out the flavor.
Cinghiale,
wild boar, is my suggestion for a great winter meal because it contains more calories and warms you on those cold days.
Below: A Bottle of Il Ciliegiolo from Maremma vineyards.
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When I ask Chef Massimo his favorite recipes, he replies,
“Una piatto che non manca mai, meaning, a recipe that’s never absent in his kitchen,
pici Toscana.”
Pici Toscana is a pasta made with flour and water carefully crafted by hand and served in a garlic tomato sauce. Sauces change depending on the season. In June,
pici ll’aglione, aglione, meaning garlic from Valdichiana, is the protagonist.
Aglione is even registered as a PAT, a Traditional Agricultural Product.
Pici is also served in
bianca, white, with garlic, chili pepper and extra virgin olive oil or with wild boar or duck.
"My kitchen is never without
piccione, pigeon. Properly raised clean pigeon served in a
salsa di vin santo e caco, translating to sweet wine and chocolate powder sauce." He calls it, "A very particular recipe and his favourite."
He continues, “
Vin santo, translates to blessed wine, because it was traditionally served at baptisms, weddings and special occasions. It’s a sweet wine that’s served with
cantucci, dry Tuscan
biscotti. The
cantucci are dipped into the liqueur and enjoyed at the end of every meal.”
Below: A Medieval Via, Street, in Montepulciano.
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I learn about Tuscan wines as Chef Massimo moves from
espresso
to
aperitivo
, a little drink.
“Montepulciano is one of the most important wine regions of Italy. We are known for our reds with the sangiovese grape being the most prominent. I built my own cantina by hand and it stocks four hundred bottles from the well-known wine makers to smaller local ones. I’ve selected diverse wine makers so there is a good variety. I also continue to research and add to my cantina including smaller wine makers so guests can taste excellent local wine from Montepulciano.”
In this part of Tuscany, there are two towns: Montalcino and Montepulciano, and they both have the same sangiovese rosso grape. In Montalcino they make Brunello, and in Montepulciano they make the Nobile. The Nobile is the more gentle and feminine version of a Brunello. It’s softer on the palate and doesn’t require five or so years of aging. The wine appellation of Montepulciano includes the Vino Nobile di Montepulciano DOCG with grape varieties: 85 percent prugnolo gentile and 15 percent mammolo (both clones of sangiovese grape). There are also Vino Nobile di Montepulciano Riserva DOCG and and Rosso Toscana IGT Tignolo.
A tall Tuscan waiter carries a platter of fennel
salumi
and
Pecorino, while the bottle of il Ciliegiolo Val delle Rosso breaths until ready to be sipped. The scent of red wine permeates the air.
"I've selected
il Ciliegiolo
from the small town of Poggio la Mozza which lies in the heart of Morellino di Scansano," our Chef explains. "This beautiful estate, in the western part of Tuscany, is situated at the center of a perfect zone where the climate and constant exposure to the sun guarantee exceptionally ripe grapes (mainly Sangiovese). The excellent ripeness of the grapes and the perfectly managed vineyard guarantee elegant, mature, and structured wines. Ciliegiolo is a dark color with intense richness and not heavy. Basically you'll open this and finish the bottle!"
Since I first met Chef Massimo he’s been welcoming to me to Montepulciano
alla Toscana
, in great Tuscan style. And now you see why I call him a
buongustai.
Chef Massio's Cooking Program
A Midsummer Night's Dream Montepulciano™
Tuscan Food & Wine Trails Tour ~ 3 Day
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New On The Menu
Ciao Boston - Cooking with Mamma Maria & Lauren in Boston
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Join us in Boston’s historic center for hands-on cooking classes! You’ll taste your way from Copley Square to the Freedom Trail and Charles Street too on a delicious Food Lover’s Tour with tastings and wine. If you love food, art, music and the
literati
scene, you’ll love our new tour or one day cooking class dinner parties in Boston. Join me in the kitchen as we slice, dice, bake and dine stateside while soaking up the beauty and culture of Boston.
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Cooking Vacations Selected
"Best of Top 25 Trips
To Take In 2020"
by National Geographic!!!
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National Geographic writes, “The planet’s 25 most exciting destinations for the year are here. To create our annual Best Trips list we collaborated with the editorial teams of National Geographic Traveler’s 17 international editions and with our own globe-trotting experts to report on the essential and sustainable sites to see in 2020.”
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New York Times Travel Show
Lauren was invited as Guest Speaker
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I was invited to the New Times Travel Show, January 24, 25 and 26, to speak to the working press and guests from around that world sharing my knowledge and passion on the latest trends and hot destinations for culinary tours, food and wine events in Italy! I met very interesting leaders in the travel world who exchanged ideas and email addresses. I was honoured to be part of it.
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Cooking Vacations was selected - out of all the culinary tour operators on the planet -
by the Price is Right to be the sponsor for the grand prize giveaway on the popular TV game show.
Cooking Vacations has been featured for several months and will be participating again in 2020. Lucky prize winners will travel to Italy for delicious Cooking Vacations.
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What's Cooking
Introducing the new
Unplugged Collection!
Check in and get unplugged in our new collection of tours where the emphasis is on good food and total relaxation.
Hands-on cooking classes using ultra-healthy recipes and luxurious spa services with professional experts utilizing natural products take away stress and transport you to paradise.
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In researching the new special tours, I’ve traveled Italy, visited with our chefs and created two new tours that I am delighted to unveil. You’ll be pampered and well-fed by excellent chefs - from Michelin Starred to nonnas in the kitchen.
As always, the tours are hosted at beautiful boutique properties set in gorgeous locations. They are so unique you may never want to leave! And, if you would like to add on an outside market visit, a vineyard and wine tasting or a special shopping trip – there is even an artisan perfume maker who will create your very own scent, please let us know we have lots of options in our portfolio.
Visit our Unplugged Collection below for a taste of total relaxation!
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Umbria Unplugged Collection
~ Cooking & Spa Retreat 5 Days
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Ischia Unplugged Collection
~ Cooking & Spa Retreat 8 Days
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Recipes From Our Kitchen
From Our Unplugged Umbria Cooking Program
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Italians never need a reason to celebrate, enjoy great food and sip and swirl with a good glass of wine. Tie on your aprons and start cooking and baking these delicious recipes!
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Umbrian
torta al testo
is a beautiful bread that is cooked in a cast iron pan on the stove top. Once cooked, it is cut like a cake, then a slit on its side, and stuffed with garlicky broccoli rape, salumi, ham, grilled sausages and served alongside antipasto.
Recipe
300 gr (2 cups) all-purpose flour
1 egg
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan or pecorino cheese
1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast
(3/4 cup) water at room temperature
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 generous tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
Mix the yeast in warm water. Let is stand until it starts to bubble. Next, put flour, cheese, olive oil and sea salt in a mixing bowl and mix. Next, add the egg and then the yeast mixture. Mix at maximum speed until the dough is soft and makes a ball. Add additional water if the dough does not form a ball or if you have omitted cheese and eggs. Remove the dough from the mixer and roll it out by hand, then place it on lightly floured surface and knead. Add more flour to prevent sticking, until smooth and elastic. Place the dough in a warm area and cover with a kitchen towel. Let it rise for at least three hours at room temperature.
When the dough is ready, place a cast iron pan on medium heat and let the pan warm. While the pan is warming, roll out the dough with your hands flattening it out until it is 1 cm (1/2 inch) thick. Put the dough the pan and cook slowly for 30 to 40 minutes until golden on both sides. When completely cooked, remove and slice. The center can be stuffed with ham, grilled sausages or broccoli rape.
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Pair with
This 2017 vintage, produced under a gentle Italian sun and warm climate maintains the freshness and the typical Mediterranean style of Cervaro della Sala. There are notes of chamomile and flint to the nose, and to the palate a savory characteristic with delicate scents of a vanilla and butter bouquet. It is a delicious young wine that pairs well with bread, focaccia and antipasti.
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This hearty poor man’s pasta is an absolute Umbrian classic. Using fresh ingredients and any wide tube pasta, this creamy comfort food pasta will have your guests asking for seconds.
Ingredients
10 large plum tomatoes
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup finely diced onion
4 to 5 sausages taken out of their the casing and broken apart
1 cup of heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon oregano
Sea salt and pepper, to taste
1 chili pepper, chopped into small pieces
1/3 cup of fresh parsley, finely chopped
1 pound of short tube pasta
Grated Pecorino cheese for garnishing
Method
Heat a pot of salted water and bring it to a boil. While the water is working its way to a boil, cut an X on the stem end of each of the tomatoes. Drop the tomatoes into the boiling water and blanch for one minute. Drain the tomatoes and drop into a bowl of ice water. Use a sharp knife to peel the skin off of the tomatoes and carefully cut out the core. Use your fingers to gently squeeze the tomatoes over the sink to remove most of the seeds.
Cut the tomatoes into a medium dice and set aside. In a saucepan, heat the olive oil and cook the onions until soft. Add the sausage meat, (pork or chicken) and add the diced tomato, oregano, salt, pepper, and red pepper. Simmer on a low heart for an additional few minutes. Meanwhile, bring pan of sea-salted water to a boil and cook the
pasta al dente
. While the pasta is cooking, pour the cream into the tomato sauce and stir well, then cook over low heat until thickened. Drain the pasta and add it to the sauce pan, then and the parsley. Serve immediately, adding grated cheese on top.
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Pair with
Marco Caprai produces yet another beautiful vintage of his top-shelf red. The 2013 Montefalco Sagrantino 25 Anni is a darkly saturated and thickly extracted wine with a full and generous style. The wine is redolent of dark fruit, tobacco and smoky barbecue. However, the real protagonist is spice: baking and Christmas spice, to be exact. The wine is firmly structured with some tannic astringency that will soften with extra cellar aging.
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This classic Umbrian
biscotti
, whose secret ingredient is grappa, blends creamy butter with lemon scent for a crispy golden bite. Italians like to dip
tozzetti
in a shot glass filled with grappa!
Ingredients
500 g flour or 4 cups
150 g sugar, ¾ cups
100 g butter, 7 tablespoons
3 eggs
1 lemon, non-waxed organic
1/2 sachet of yeast
1/2 glass of grappa
Almonds to taste
Aniseed, to taste
Sultanas, to taste
Grappa for dipping
Method
Mix the flour with the sugar, eggs, butter, peeled almonds, aniseed, sultanas, grated lemon peel, grappa and yeast until the mixture has a smooth, elastic texture. Then form it into rolls, and bake in a preheated oven at 180°C for about half an hour. Leave to cool and when still slightly warm, cut each roll into small obliques of equal size, and return to the oven for 10 minutes.
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Pair With
Montefalco Sagrantino Passito DOCG
Made from 100% Sagrantino, this hearty dried-grape wine is a close cousin to the sweet ceremonial wines once made by local monks. Thick and viscous with an inky dark color, it pairs well with anything sweet.
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Elegant Linens from Umbria
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Montefalco in Umbria produces some of the country’s most beautiful linen products, from sheets, tablecloths and table runners to damasked napkins and tea towels. The craft of weaving has been prolific in Umbria for over eight centuries, and the items feature traditional flowers, leaves, scrolls and mythical and natural animals. Tessitura Pardi make some of the best.
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As part of our Unplugged Collection, we are thrilled to feature this organic beauty and body care line, made not only with natural mud, salts and seaweed from Ischia, but pure wine products from Montepulciano. Face creams, hand lotions, shampoos, oils and soaps, Serpico will have you relaxed, unplugged and beautiful!
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While you are reading your favorite Dante Alighieri poem delve into handcrafted artisan chocolates made by Cioccolateria Ballerini.
Cioccolateria Ballerini will pleasantly please any taste buds with its over 50 types of dreamy chocolate in their Florence shop. First opened in 1936, this specialty chocolate shop also produces panforte, ricciarelli and cantuccini.
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Italy On A Plate
Flavors Of The Season
by Germaine Stafford
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Germaine continues her roundup of what's happening in the culinary world in Italy and gives you her restaurant of the month, book recommendation, and a list of seasonal foods for late winter and early spring.
Pork, Octopus, Cod, Cuttlefish, Sea Bream, Baccalà, Swiss chard, Cabbage, Parsnips, Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, Carrots, Cauliflower, Broccoli rabe, Beetroot, Leeks Celeriac, Fennel, Oranges, Lemons
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Buon Appetito
~ Our Favorite Restaurant
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Dining In Orvieto
Just a few steps from Orvieto’s Piazza Duomo, you will find a refined trattoria owned and operated by an ex-banker who wanted to become a chef and his ex-housewife wife who wanted to remain a housewife! Since they took over the restaurant in 1992, however, things have changed. Anna Rita has discovered she’s a very able chef with a light touch and a great eye for detail, qualities that compliment Mauro’s love of traditional Umbrian cuisine based on top quality ingredients. Now their daughters Serena and Chiara have joined them on their culinary adventure, making it a real family affair.
In the kitchen, Anna Rita creates delicious twists on local classics. She is keen not to overwhelm produce with too many fancy ideas or ingredients, but at the same time bring a fresh touch to dishes. Her starters might include baccalà on a velouté of broccoli or lentil soup with pig’s trotter and scampi, to be followed by
fagottini di pasta farciti di fagiano e tartufo nero pregiato
– little pasta parcels stuffed with pheasant and black truffle, or
risotto alla crema di zucca, fonduta di caprino e mazzancolle
- a risotto with cream of pumpkin, goat’s cheese fondue and shrimp. Game is big in Umbria, so you’ll find dishes like boned quail stuffed with foie gras, or roast hare with cocoa beans and radicchio – you will also find oven-roasted black cod or old favorites like roasted shoulder of lamb with artichokes and Jerusalem artichoke sauce.
End on a sweet note with
panpepato
, a sweet round cake made with walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds, cinnamon, nutmeg, chocolate, honey and raisins and a shot of Sagrantino Passito from Montefalco,
a sweet wine made in Umbria with a red color and notes of blackberries, dried fruits and cinnamon.
Piazza Sant’Angelo 1A, 05018 Orvieto
Tel: +39 0763 343911
Reserve now, info@isetteconsoli.it
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The Italian Table: Creating Festive Meals for Family and Friends
by
Elizabeth Minchilli
When we think of the joys of an Italian meal, the chances are, as much as the delicious food, what we really desire is the idea of family and friends gathered round a table to celebrate nothing more than the fact that they are together. We’ve all seen them – tables of Italians laughing and eating noisily, abandoning themselves to the joys of the table and good company and we find it irresistible.
Minchill’s book the Italian Table has been written to encourage these culinary gatherings and is meant to serve as inspiration to get together and eat, drink and be merry, whatever the occasion. She imagines idyllic scenes dotted around Italy –
cicchetti
in Venice perhaps, a table by the sea in Positano, or eating in the market in Florence - and helps you recreate them back at home with tips and suggestions on menus, recipes and table settings. And the recipes are spot on.
For your
cicchetti
menu, rustle up lemon and onion crostino, pickled onions with anchovy, mortadella and pickled pepper. For an imaginary day in Positano there’s mozzarella on grilled lemon leaves, Jackie O’s spaghetti and squid and walnut salad, and for your feast in the market in Florence try out coward's spaghetti,
pappa al pomodoro
, and a simple apple cake. And really, any book that combines tips, recipes and insights into the traditional food of Italy and is illustrated by such gorgeous photos has to be a winner!
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Happy Cookers
Tie on your apron, cook up a storm
and make new friends in sunny Italy!
Everyone becomes a part of our Italian family!
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