Cooking with travellers
After taking care of the kitchen at the Agriturismo Il Rigo, whose tradition is now successfully carried on by her daughter Luisa, Lorenza decided to dedicate herself more to the cooking classes, as she has done for many years.
Lessons or experiences?
Everyone call it “Cooking class” but maybe we should call it “Cooking experience” or “let’s prepare together your lunch… Sometimes is a mutual exchange because recipes are an important part of our culture. In Italy is essential! It’s just the way you cook that makes the difference: except for a few products, we all use wheat, grains, vegetables and fruits, but one herb or one spice can make it totally different.
I try to understand the reason why a certain food is prepared in one way or another…. And these stories fill the atmosphere, while our hands are busy kneading, cutting, whipping, rolling, mixing….
With Stephen, Steve, Tanja and Lolita we had a nice morning in the kitchen. I like what they said: we are travellers, not tourists. The difference is great. As tourists we have expectations, we go to a place we have read about and if our experience is different we are disappointed.
Travelers want to understand and not find a postcard-place exactly as they have imagined in advance. Today too many photos limit our ability to live authentic experiences. And it happens that some places become postcards and lose their identity in an attempt to meet the needs of tourists.
I’m glad it rarely happens to me.
At the table you don't get old
For these four friends, who had asked for a vegetarian menu, I made a break from the rule that forbids Italians to serve more than one first course during a meal: this time we prepared and tasted three. But the lunch did not seem complete without a second course and then we also prepared a leek cake and we finished with the inevitable almond cantucci that by themselves put the name Tuscany on this lunch.
And after working so much together it is nice to enjoy lunch without haste because, as the saying goes, it is not time taken away from life, it is just... a nice living!
Thank you Stephen for the wonderful photos e Tanja, Lolita e Steve for spending that morning in the kitchen together!
The menu
Tagliolini with lemon and mint
Tortelli with squash and amaretti
Basil pappardelle with cherry tomatoes
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Leek flan
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Cantucci with almonds
Cantucci with almonds: the recipe
Ingredients:
gr. 600 white flour ( or 280 gr white “00” flour and 280 gr spelt flour)
gr. 8 baking powder
500 gr sugar
3 whole eggs + 2 egg yolks
a little glass of Vinsanto
300 gr almonds with their skin, a bit toasted ( in the oven for 10 mins)
In a bowl mix flour, sugar,salt, baking powder, and then eggs and yolks and the Vinsanto. Mix quickly, using only the top of your finger, because it is a sticky mixture.
Add the toasted almonds. If necessay use a bit of flour on your hands.
Make long “snakes” ( 4 cm wide and 2 cm high) and place them on a baking pan lined with parchment paper.
Use part of the whites to brush on the surface of the biscotti.
Cook at 180°C for 25 mins, before they are completely cooked cut them in pieces, making the traditional biscuits, and cook them again for another 6-7 mins.
You can keep these biscuits for many weeks, in a box or in a large jar.
Serve them with a little glass of Vinsanto, where you can put the biscuits for a while to make them softer.
I Prossimi Eventi
La Casa dell’Abate Naldi ospita le Lezioni di Cucina de Gli Archi Culinary School, eventi musicali, mostre di Arte ed Artigianato.
Clicca sui giorni del Calendario per scoprire quali sono i prossimi eventi, ti invitiamo a partecipare e a venire a conoscerci a S. Quirico d’Orcia, in Toscana.