Fresh Vegetables Archivi • Cooking Classes and Private Chef In Tuscany

Gnocchi Gnudi from Tuscany, recipe and cooking class

Erika Elia — Wed, 16 Feb 2022 17:00:00 +0000

Gnocchi Gnudi from Tuscany: they are easy but delicious and therefore the perfect dish to prepare when you have little time but you want to enjoy it!

Today I do have not much time to cook because I have: to print new menus for CuocheinVacanza Private Dinners, to answer a lot of emails from travelers who will be in Tuscany in Summer, and ask me for information on Cooking Classes in Tuscany, to make a dozen phone calls … furthermore it’s finally done the gate at my Brick’n mortar place, the cooking school near Lucca: Dolce Vita Cooking School and B&B.

Simple, Fast, and delicious

I am preparing the menu for an exam about the chef world, ideas, ideas, and even a little ‘fear. The days go by fast and the tests and experiments on what to bring on that fateful table … well, just do not seem to end.
Anyway, I’m not sure I get anxious, cooking is my passion, it’s what makes me feel good, and I keep this in mind, from when I wake up in the morning when I close my eyes and fantasize about what to prepare the next day.

Well, today I’m going to prepare a dish belonging to cucina povera Toscana: a simple one, and maybe not just so beautiful to look at, but for flavor and aroma, it has nothing to envy a first-course gourmet.

Cucina Povera meaning

It happened to me a few days ago, having lunch with a friend at a famous restaurant in Pisa; I tasted the dumplings, certainly very good, but when I saw the price… €24 the portion… I immediately thought about “gnudi”, this “Cucina Povera” dish. Poor cuisine yes, but just in cost, because the flavor and ingredients that come straight from nature, are what most rich in flavor exist in the world.

Cucina Povera (Poor Cuisine) is the richest thing for health that can exist. All fresh, seasonal, directly from the farmer. These “Gnocchi”, mentioned already by Artusi in his famous book (Recipe No. 97 Ravioli), were made a long time ago with chard but then tastes change and times the same and therefore now they are made more with spinach. They are called “Gnudi“ because they do not have the coating of pasta such as classic ravioli and here in Tuscany the word “Gnudi” just means naked, without clothes.
So guys let’s enjoy this easy cooking dish, fast, tasty and delicate at the same time. Let’s enjoy this dish that requires a very limited budget, but that fills your mouth with the sweetness of the ricotta and melts slow and soft with the taste of the parmesan cheese and the smell of sage.
It’s prepared in record time… the same as it takes to “clean up” the pot.

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Gnocchi Gnudi from Tuscany

Recipe by Erika Elia

Prep time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 3 minutes
Total time: 33 minutes

Ingredients

300 gr (10 oz; 1 1/4 US cup) spinach
210 gr (1 US cup) fresh ricotta cheese
60 gr (3 tbsp all-purpose flour + 2 tbsp to sprinkle over the “gnudi”)
1 egg
60g (3 tbsp) parmigiano reggiano cheese grated
60 gr (2,12 oz) melted butter
1 pinch nutmeg
8 leaves sage
1 pinch salt
1 pinch pepper

Cooking Directions

Put the ricotta in a colander to drain for a few hours (or overnight) in the refrigerator.
Boil the spinach in salted water. Drain, squeeze and chop them. Instead of boiling, you can cook them directly in a pan, to avoid the water excess.
Let them cool.
Mix the ricotta cheese with flour, parmesan cheese, and nutmeg.
Pour in the egg and mix well
Add the spinach and mix together. Add salt and taste.
Boil salted water in a pot.
Form with your hands some small balls or some quenelles using 2 tablespoons. These ones are the most difficult.
Melt the butter in a pan with the sage leaves.
Put some parchment paper over a tray and sprinkle some flour over the paper.
Gently set the Gnocchi Gnudi over the paper and sprinkle again with some flour.
Boil the Gnocchi Gnudi in boiling water for about 2 minutes. Just come to the surface they are ready.
Drizzle with melted butter and sage and sprinkle generously with Parmesan cheese.

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Tuscany Cooking Vacation with an amazing Tagliata (Italian for sliced steak) as main course

Erika Elia — Fri, 22 Jan 2016 15:02:49 +0000

Amazing Tagliata!

A beloved dish among my customers when they opt for a private chef experience or a private cooking class on their home vacation.

I’d like to tell you today about one of the most requested main courses that you can find in our Menus for Private Dinners: Tagliata (the Italian word for sliced steak).

The last time that I prepared it was for a large family group, near Terricciola, a nice village here in Tuscany. Our customers chose the Menu, we did the shopping, and went directly to their holiday homes to cook for them. The self-catering villa was perfect, with a large and well-equipped kitchen (anyway we can bring many tools and we need just a sink, a fridge, a stove and of course a table).

When we arrived, from the dirt road, we saw our guests while having a dip in the beautiful swimming pool; there was an atmosphere full of joy and laughs and indeed we were about to meet special people with whom we became friends and we’re still keeping in touch.

These guests came from Oslo and they loved the amazing Tagliata and our way of preparing it.

tagliata, tuscany cooking vacation

After many years (exactly 15) of working for tourists coming from all over the world, I can say that everyone likes it, whether English or American, Norwegian or Australian.

This Amazing Tagliata features succulent slices of grilled beef, seasoned to perfection, delivering an explosion of taste in every bite.

private dinners, cooking at home, chef in Tuscany

Some suggestions to taste an amazing Tagliata to its best:

First of all the meat cut:

I strongly suggest using sirloin (or entrecote), in my opinion, it’s suitable for Tagliata for 3 reasons:

It’s without bone (you’re not going to prepare a Fiorentina Steak)
It has a thickness of about 2 inches (4 or 5 cm) and with medium fire cooking, this allows the meat to maintain its liquids and to be pink and very soft inside
the sirloin (unlike the fillet) is covered with a layer of fat that melts into the meat and make it juicy, tender, and tasteful

Another suggestion for cooking: it’s very important to maintain a medium heat (no sudden changes in heat)

Beef Tagliata is surely good if wood-fired grilled, but it’s difficult not to have some sudden changes in heat with fire. If you’ll follow my suggestions and steps, you’ll obtain a delicious dish just with a plate for grilling, your stove, and your wish to delight the palate of your family and friends.

During Summer, with my team of CuocheinVacanza, here in Tuscany (Central Italy), we prepare many kinds of Tagliata for our guests. We go directly to their holiday homes and we cook the Menu that they chose for their Private Lunch or Dinner.

tagliata, chef at home, private dinners, Tuscany

You can accompany Beef Tagliata in many typically Tuscan ways:

with Porcini mushrooms
with Artichokes
with Rosemary
with Aubergines
with Rucola, Parmesan, and a Balsamic Vinegar Reduction…that’s what we’re going to do now

Tagliata (Tuscan sliced steak)

Recipe by Erika Elia (CuocheinVacanza.com)

Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes
Total time: 25 minutes
Serves: 4

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds and 1 1/4 inches thick Beef meat: sirloin
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
4 pinches of coarse sea salt
to taste freshly ground pepper
4 oz Italian parmesan cut in slivers
4 tbsp balsamic vinegar reduction
2 cups arugula

Instructions

Pre-heat a plate for grilling, and a cast-iron skillet on medium fire. When, after throwing a few drops of water on the pan, these turn away like mercury, the pan is hot enough.
Sprinkle with salt on the plate for grilling and put the meat on it.
Don’t touch the steak and wait until the edge of the steak, starting from the bottom, has become grey (about 5 minutes).
Meanwhile, dip a cutting board in very hot water (I pour boiling water into the closed sink).
Flip the steak using meat tongs (don’t pierce the beef) and wait until the color grey is all over the edge (about 4 minutes; anyway about 1 minute less than the first time).
Flip the beef again and wait about 1/2 minute for the side to brown all the meat.
To do quickly:
Dry the cutting board (still warm) with kitchen paper.
Turn off the heat and quickly wrap the meat in aluminum foil.
Lay the wrapped meat over the cutting board and wait about 5 minutes; it continues to cook.
Remove the aluminum foil and slice into 1/2 inch thick.
Set the slices over a serving tray.
Season with salt, pepper, and oil.
Put the arugula all over the meat and season again with salt, pepper, and oil.
Sprinkle with parmesan cut in slivers.
Pour from the top the balsamic vinegar reduction (soon the recipe!)
Enjoy it!

private dinners, Norwegian tourists, private chefs, Tuscany, holiday

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“Acqua-Cotta”: the ultimate Cookery lesson about Tuscan Soups and my childhood memories

Erika Elia — Fri, 27 Mar 2015 16:00:00 +0000

How many memories bind me to this delicious soup.

I left my native land, Maremma, at age 18 to attend the University in Pisa; since then (apart from a break of four years in Milan), I moved permanently in the province of the “leaning tower”.

I return rarely in Grosseto, perhaps to greet my mother who still lives there, or to find a friend who, thanks to Facebook too, I could not lose.

Yet the Maremma and Grosseto are in my heart, both solar and strong like my grandmother Amossina; she often narrated me about the long rural vigils during the evenings of sultry weather, about the crusts of toasted bread in the fireplace during the long afternoons in Winter, the raids in the fields to steal “purnelle”, the fruit of a tree that I’ve never understood what it was. My grandmother gave meaning to my life, for 80%, has made me able to listen curiously the “olds” when they tell their stories, she sent me a huge passion for the countryside and religious respect for Nature; she pushed the tip of my small fingers in a “crater” of white flour for breaking eggs and begin to knead.

She made me realize that every dish is a synthesis of a long history, a scientific faithful guardian of an archive of memory that is renewed at the table, repeated in each family, even after centuries...

Each traditional dish is history in a bowl, a story which is passed without books, but through an act of care. Here is another aspect: cooking for someone is to take this person in your heart, from the shopping until you’re ready to wash plates.

As my grandmother was unromantic, however little romantic are those gestures when washing the vegetables, kneading the dough, cutting an onion or cleaning a chicken, I’ll never forget the feeling of “being at home” I felt every time I saw my grandmother make those gestures. The certainty of being loved by that petite woman, grew up with few pretensions and caresses, confirmed and proved by her strong desire that “all had to be good, for us”.

And also I felt almost blessed by that care, and a bit ‘more good and deserving of all the good things that I’d be enjoying...

The Acquacotta (literally “cooked-water”) which is sometimes written all attacked, sometimes not … and there is no rule for this, it is a simple dish that, like all simple dishes, requires the “lingering” to be exquisite.

My granny used to tell me: “Cooking is like giving a caress to someone, even a caress rushed, is always a caress; but if you run your hand slowly if you stop for a moment, it is definitely better. “
And in my opinion, with the hard life she had faced, she learned the meaning of “caress” from “cooking”, rather than by people.

The Acquacotta is the emblem dish of Maremma, land of “malaria” (completely eradicated only in the mid-50s) and “bitter land” as defined by a popular song. Over the years, this soup has gained ground into trendy restaurants, enriched by many different ingredients … ah, if my grandmother knew that I found even with truffles!!
And yet (who comes from Maremma knows) Acquacotta needs just 3 ingredients to be exquisite: onion, celery, bread.
It belongs to the Tuscan country, just like the Onion Soup and the “Bordatino”

Known as the dish of “BUTTERI”, or rather the “cowboys” from Maremma crossing fields, forests and swamps to move their herds and “govern” their inaccessible land.

And it is telling me about “Butteri” and their adventures that my granny Amossina took me in her arms and she told me about her childhood spent in contact with nature and, between a nursery rhyme and another on her knees, she often told me the story of “Ultimo” and the origin of Acquacotta.

“Ultimo (the Italian meaning is: the LAST ONE) was such in name and in fact, and one evening in Summer, tired for the job and hungry because of the absence of food (at that time was on the agenda) he sat next to a fire in the farmyard, thinking about what could eat from all that surrounded him.

In his pocket, there was an onion, and you know …this never missed the table of the poor.

He put a little ‘of water on a frying pan and he broke inside the onion, then began to turn around the barnyard and right there, on the edge of a field, he ripped some wild chicory and after a brief rinse poured even this in the pan; then went near the hen house and took a few loaves of dry bread for chickens from the sack… and threw also this one in the pan. While he was watching all that “poverty” that floated and seethed, his brothers called him from afar:

“Ultimo! Ultimo, what are you doing?”

“Nothing of important” he replied

“I’m cooking the water, I’m doing Acquacotta!! “.

When I got married I went around the Maremma to seek those who would cook better Acquacotta, grandmother Amossina, unfortunately, was no more with us for a few years, but I still wanted this tasty soup, rich in its history to the lunch of my marriage.
I found an exceptional Acquacotta in Castiglione della Pescaia, in the restaurant of a hotel overlooking the sea. The chef was called Enrica and note the coincidence, she had won an award for the best “Acquacotta”, over the years.

My future husband and I, from the first of a long series of tastings, we looked at each other at realizing that we had already decided: it was just the cook we wanted for the wedding, she knew for sure what’s the “lingering”.

For our party Enrica gave everyone a poem about Acquacotta, written on a sheet of yellow paper rolled up, beribboned with red raffia. I still have this gift and I give it to the “students” who attend the course on “Tuscan soups” … and recipes that I give after cooking classes in general, are always rolled up and closed with a raffia bow dark red...

Ginny’s eating Acquacotta

Acquacotta Old Tuscan Veggie Soup

Recipe by Erika Elia (CuocheinVacanza.it)

Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 25 minutes + 15 minutes (to grill)
Total time: 1 hour

Ingredients

11 oz spinach
11 oz swiss chard
3 celery stalks with their leaves
1 large or 2 red onion
6 leaves calamint (optional)
4 tomatoes (Piccadilly or San Marzano) or
8 cherry tomatoes
2 cloves garlic
4 slices country-style bread toasted
4 eggs
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (Evo)
to taste salt
to taste pepper
1 l simmering water

Cooking Directions

Rub the slices of toasted bread (just one side) with half garlic clove
Drizzle a heavy-bottomed large pan with Evo oil
place in it calamint and the remaining garlic and wait until the oil is hot
place the red onion roughly chopped in the pan and cook over medium-low heat until it becomes translucent (not brown)
add the roughly chopped veggies: celery (remind to put in the leaves too), Swiss chard and the spinach (you can also use mushrooms and chicory), and stir briefly to wilt.
Add tomatoes and one cup of simmering water
cook over low heat for about 20 minutes (lid over the pan) until veggies are very soft, adding the remaining simmering water in 2 times.
Season with salt and taste
place the toasted bread in 4 soup bowls
ladle broth and veggies over the bread in each bowl
when they’re full, use a teaspoon to slightly dig a hole in the center of veggies
and break the eggs in this hole, one in each bowl
top with a generous sprinkling of parmesan cheese
put in the oven 400 F° to grill, for about 15 minutes. Until the whites are set, but the yellow is still runny

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#Tuscany: Italian Home Cooking with Fresh and Seasonal Veg. Homemade Pumpkin and Leek #Risotto!

Erika Elia — Fri, 23 Jan 2015 15:51:00 +0000

Recently I discovered that I can do the shopping directly from my home, from my computer.
I do not buy almost anything fresh on-line, for what there are open-air markets, which are one of my favorite destinations, along with forest walks to collect herbs, or tours to the gardens of my farmer friends around Tuscany.
However, as regards everything else, well, I must say it’s a comfort crazy. Practically, in this way, I safely avoid the whole part of the grocery which involves:

Take the car
Find parking
wander around in a supermarket (minimum one hour)
Maybe wait in line (ex. delicatessen counter)
Return home
Empty the car
Bring the groceries home

It only remains, magically: remove the grocery from the bags and reorder it … that’s all!
And this too is much more simple, because my grocery, directly at home, is divided in differently coloured bags…what else?
I have much more time to spend on what I most like, partly because we women are always very busy on many fronts, and let’s face it: not many people like grocery shopping at the supermarket.

And so this morning, while my “on line grocery” was leaving the supermarket of Pisa to arrive at my house around 11.00, I had all the time to go to the my friend’s Franco garden where I bought some fresh, seasonal vegetables to be eaten during the week.

Now in Tuscany is the season of Leek, Pumpkin, Black Tuscan Cabbage, Broccoli …
To see all these good things I’ve thought about a second and then … voilà, I decided…

today at lunch: Pumpkin and Leeks #Risotto from Franco’s Garden, a real “cuddle” to keep warm the heart and soul in this rainy day.

#Pumpkin and Leak Risotto

Recipe by Erika Elia
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 45 minIngredients

2 glasses rice (Carnaroli, Arborio, Roma)
10 oz pumpkin
2 leaks
1 oz butter
1/2 onion
1 1/2 garlic clove
1 3/4 Pint vegetable broth
to taste salt
3,5 oz parmigiano
to taste extra virgin olive oil
4 sage leeves
1 rosemary sprig

Cooking Directions

Chop the onion
chop the leak
chop the pumpkin in small cubes
melt the butter and 2 spoons of oil in a large pan
add the sage leeves, the rosemary sprig and the clove of garlic cut in half
add the onion and wait until soft
pour the rice in the pan and stir it with a wooden spoon until it becomes translucid
when the rice “sings” add the pumpkin and the leak finely chopped
stir and mix
pour a bit of hot broth just to cover the veg (medium fire)
continue stirring
pour the broth whenever is drying
when the rice’s ready (you don’t feel the small-hard heart under your teeth)
turn off the heat
add the parmigiano and a knob of butter and continue stirring
let it rest 5 minutes
bring to the table and eat immediately

Other “tunnel” in which I’m falling is trying to tidy up my house … in this regard, I heard a radio Dj who spoke of a book that has upset her life:

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing is a best-seller in Japan, Germany, and the U.K. Kondo favors a radical approach to decluttering that advocates downsizing your stuff in one fell swoop; insists that storage containers promote hoarding, not organization; and takes an emotional approach to helping people discard excess possessions. Here at The Eye, Kondo shares an excerpt from the book that argues that those unable to separate from their possessions suffer from an attachment to the past or anxiety about the future.

The Dj says that this book changes your life, and the author does not simply tidy up the rooms, but she tends to think following the “categories” and, once reorganized everything, there are no more problems, because it is a lifestyle, rather than a simple reordering impromptu.

Well, what do you think about? Me, about one hour ago, I bought the book on line!!

I’m so curious about hie experience, I will let you know soon.

Salva

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Crespina: cookery, nature trail, wild edible herbs for a very nice family from England to Tuscany…and our Bruschetta recipe!

Erika Elia — Thu, 07 Aug 2014 08:02:00 +0000

Wild Edible herbs have been a great discovery for me.

My cuisine would not be the same without the colors and aromas encountered in the Tuscan countryside. My walks are always dedicated to the collection of edible herbs and edible flowers.

2 opportunities!

I am pleased to inform you that if you come to Tuscany you have two possibilities:

Come to my Dolce Vita Bed and Breakfast and Cooking School near Lucca. It will be fun to go for walks together and collect herbs to cook them at the school.
Take a course in the Pisan hills of a nature trail and cooking edible herbs and flowers. You can read all details here: Herb Gathering Course

Bruschetta and Wild edible flowers

Collecting Wild Edible flowers and herbs in Nature

It’ll be not so easy to forget yesterday’s nature trail and cookery about wild edible herbs.

The walks, the woods, the paths, the wonderful Nature around us. Our “students” on holiday in Tuscany were a family this time: mum, dad, and two beautiful little girls aged 6 and 8.

Under a herbalist’s guidance and supervision, we collected any kind of edible herbs along the way and some fruits too: in August, in Tuscany indeed, you can collect sweet and juicy blackberries!

Every time, during this cookery course, we’re learning something more about this world that many people don’t know.

What we did the last time

Once arrived at an old country house, or better ancient (it’s aged 1760) inside the wood, we prepared our lunch with herbs and flowers collected and we enjoyed the fruit of our labor.

Cooking and Eating what you can easily find in nature is an indescribable satisfaction: you don’t have to go to the supermarket, but just have a walk in the countryside, you don’t have to pay anything, just leave the roots and respect nature and its rebirthing process. And what’s more important: your life will be healthy because of lots of mineral salts and vitamins with which you feed yourself!

Well, what about our lunch?

Bruschetta with extra virgin oil, garlic, and wild spicy flowers (amazing)

Organic Pasta, tomatoes (the garden is just behind the house), and wild fennel

Baked Panzerotti with wilds edible herbs collected (sorrel, sowthistle, naked weed, dandelion…) and tomato sauce

Ice cream (custard and cream) sprinkled with mashed blackberries we found along the way and sugar.

Everything obviously, “washed” by an organic delightful white Tuscan wine!

Pasta and wild fennel

Panzerotti with cheese and wild herbs filling

Wild Flowers Bruschetta:

INGREDIENTS (6 people):

1 pound (500 gr) unsalted bread, possibly one day old. Here in Tuscany, it’s with a crunchy crust and a compact crumb
1-2 sprigs of Lesser Calamint. This is perfect, but any other herb you have will do just fine)
1 small bunch of edible flowers
To taste Salt
3 Garlic cloves
To taste Extra Virgin Oil (very good quality to obtain an amazing bruschetta)

Cut an unsalted bread (slice: 1/3 inch thick and 2-3 inches long; 1cm thick and 6-7 cm long) and count 2 slices for a person.
Put 5 or 6 slices in a pan and put them on the fire. Be careful because they burn in a moment.
Turn the slice to the other side and wait until they become dry and golden. Continue in this way with the others.
Rope the slices with garlic (just one side)
Cut some sweet tomatoes (Piccadilly, san Marzano…) into very thin slices.
Put some extra virgin olive oil in a pan with some “nepitella” (lesser calamint) leaves and, as it’s starting frying, turn off the fire
Season the bread slices with salt, this amazing flavored oil, and the tomatoes
Garnish with some cress flowers
Bruschetta is ready

Click on the following links to read more about our Wild Edible Herbs Trail and Cooking:

Herb Gathering Cooking Course

Cookery Nature Trail Wild Edible Herbs

Calci (Pisa) discovering and cooking wild Herbs in Tuscany

Here is the ARTICLE by Cathy Wilson about the Wild Herbs Course:

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Greve in Chianti: a Luxury Villa, a Fantastic Family and a Dreamy Place to keep a Cooking Class in Tuscany!

Erika Elia — Tue, 17 Jun 2014 17:11:00 +0000

Greve in Chianti is a fantastic place in Tuscany where you can enjoy Nature and Food as well. It’s one of the most touristic and popular locations of Tuscany.

Here is a new place to discover!

Yesterday we left our home at 3 pm and…let’s go toward Greve in Chianti…approximately 2 hour-trip from here :).

It was not a so hot day and, as you can see by pictures…we “enjoyed” the rain all the time.

What about the roads? Woods, white roads and no road signs to read…

But, if we italians are so unlikely to give road informations, this is not the Americans case; in fact Lisa (the lady who called us for a Cooking Class in Tuscany), sent me a perfect map with driving directions too, nothing short of outstanding. I don’t know how I’d have done without her!

The thing that make me more happy is that Lisa called us becouse of our success with some of her friends which enojed our cooking classes in Tuscany last year!

This place inside the wild nature of tuscan hills is truly fantastic, breathtaking.

A Luxury Villa with a huge Kitchen and a huge dining table! That’s where we always dream to work in…possibly a little closer

We met 3 fantastic families, but in reality just one very big, because they were all relatives; parents, sons, daughters and nephews.

Me and Rossy left our folders and our business cards to the housekeeper and who knows, maybe one day we’ll come back over there?

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L'articolo Greve in Chianti: a Luxury Villa, a Fantastic Family and a Dreamy Place to keep a Cooking Class in Tuscany! proviene da Cooking Classes and Private Chef In Tuscany.

Terricciola: The Real Pesto Sauce, the Pasta types and my joy to prepare “Easy” Pasta al Pesto for a cheerful family!

Erika Elia — Fri, 09 May 2014 05:37:00 +0000

If you’re looking for the Real Pesto sauce, you’re in the right place!

It’s official: summer has arrived! That’s what they said on TV… but here in the Tuscan countryside, you don’t need the news to know. You can feel it everywhere. The warm sun, the fresh air, the sound of nature waking up… that’s what summer really smells like to me.

With all this sunshine, my basil is thriving—lush, vibrant, and full of flavor. I picked it this morning, washed it carefully, and brought it with me to a private dinner for a wonderful, cheerful and friendly family. .

Tonight, that fresh basil will become the star of one of Italy’s most beloved sauces: authentic pesto, tossed with perfectly cooked pasta.

I’ve shared two pesto recipes with you:
The traditional version, made the classic way (it takes a little more time, but it’s a beautiful experience).
A quick, modern version that’s easy to make and still incredibly creamy, fragrant, and delicious.

And if you’re not sure which pasta to pair with pesto, don’t worry—I also included my favorite pasta shapes at the bottom of the recipe card.

Enjoy… and bring a little taste of an Italian summer into your kitchen!

Terricciola

Preparing Pesto sauce in a Blender

Fresh Basil Pesto for Pasta

Recipe by Erika Elia

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: None

Ingredients

50 g (about 2 oz) fresh basil leaves, preferably young and tender
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
6 tbsp grated Parmigiano Reggiano
2 tbsp grated Pecorino Romano
2 garlic cloves
1 tbsp pine nuts (if you like: almonds. nuts, walnuts)
A few grains of coarse salt

Traditional Genoese Method (the real pesto sauce)

Authentic Genovese pesto is made using a marble mortar and a wooden pestle. It requires patience, care, and a little love.

The first written recipe for pesto dates back to the mid-1800s, and although many modern shortcuts exist, the traditional technique has remained virtually unchanged.

Wash the basil leaves in cold water and gently dry them on a clean kitchen towel.

Place one garlic clove in the mortar for about every 30 basil leaves and crush it together with a few grains of coarse salt until smooth.

Add the basil gradually—not all at once—and begin working it with slow, gentle circular movements. Avoid pounding the leaves. Instead, rotate the pestle against the sides of the mortar to gently tear the leaves. This preserves the essential oils contained in the veins of the basil, giving the pesto its incredible aroma and vibrant green color.

Once the basil releases a bright green paste, add the pine nuts and continue grinding until smooth.

Next, stir in the grated Parmigiano Reggiano and Pecorino Romano.

Finally, slowly drizzle in the extra virgin olive oil while continuing to mix until the pesto becomes creamy and well combined.

Tip: Work at room temperature and prepare the pesto as quickly as possible to prevent the basil from oxidizing and losing its beautiful green color.

Quick & Easy Pesto (Creamy and Delicious)

This version is perfect when you’re short on time and still want an authentic, flavorful pesto.

Wash and thoroughly dry the basil leaves.
Peel the garlic cloves.
Place half of the basil leaves in a blender.
Add the garlic.
Add the pine nuts (reserve a few whole pine nuts for garnish if desired).
Add the Parmigiano Reggiano and Pecorino Romano.
Pour in half of the olive oil.
Add the remaining basil leaves.
Blend for about 10 seconds while slowly pouring in the remaining olive oil.
Taste and season with salt if needed.

Your pesto should be smooth, creamy, fragrant, and ready to toss with freshly cooked pasta.

Best Pasta Shapes for Pesto

Pesto pairs beautifully with:

trofie,
trofiette,
linguine,
Casarecce
Maltagliati
reginette.

Chef’s Tip: Reserve a little of the pasta cooking water and stir it into the pesto before mixing with the pasta. It creates an incredibly silky sauce that coats every bite perfectly.

Private Dinner in Terricciola

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L'articolo Terricciola: The Real Pesto Sauce, the Pasta types and my joy to prepare “Easy” Pasta al Pesto for a cheerful family! proviene da Cooking Classes and Private Chef In Tuscany.

Tuscany: cooking classes about #Veggie Italian Sauce for Pasta and Risotto…and my happiness to get the Chef Diploma!

Erika Elia — Wed, 16 Apr 2014 15:06:00 +0000

The Veggie Sauce is definitely the freshest sauce for Pasta and Risotto that you can prepare!

I learned this through my experience in cooking classes and from my customers in private dinners.

Well, many things happened in these days: I held cooking courses with my students, I was a private Chef for a dinner and I passed the exam to become a Professional Chef … what an experience!
I’ll tell you later about my “Chef Diploma” and about the Menu I prepared to get it.

Nowadays, I’d like to pass you the recipe for Veggie Sauce, just because I ran 2 cooking classes in Tuscany, at a distance of a couple of days both with something vegetarian.
During the first cooking class, we’ll prepare fresh handmade pasta, while in the second one was the turn of a creamy risotto with seasonal vegetables. This last pleasantly enjoyed by two wonderful girls who usually do not like vegetables!

Well, this is what always happens; prepare something together stimulates appetite and increases the desire to taste the fruits of our labor.

And because the vegetables are all the rage, here is the recipe for a wonderful ragout of seasonal vegetables, the same as we prepare for our courses with great satisfaction of all.

How will you enjoy them?

Both with pasta (fresh or dried, egg or not), and with the risotto, you will have the impression to savor every aroma and flavor of this colorful springtime in Tuscany.

Veggie Sauce

Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes
Total time: 30 minutes
Ingredients

2 tomatoes
1 zucchini
3 zucchini flowers
1 celery stalk
1 carrot
1 leak
1 garlic clove
1 pinch salt
5 spoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 glass white wine
4 leaves fresh basil
2 spoons butter (if Risotto)

Cooking Directions

Cut the vegetables into small cubes or julienne (at will). They get so separated from the extra virgin olive oil. pumpkin flowers (to be added at the end as they’re very delicate).
In a pan pour oil EVO up to cover the bottom. Add the leak, turn on the fire, and expect to soften.
At this point add the vegetables, stirring with a wooden spoon.
This procedure must be very short for two reasons:
a) the flavor of the vegetables remains intact with a short cooking
b) the minerals are lost if the cooking is too long.
After about 3 minutes, add white wine, wait it evaporates and add the chopped zucchini flowers.
After 5 minutes max, you add the salt and a little of basil ripped with your fingers and the “ragu from the garden” is ready.
This kind of ragu is a tasteful sauce for pasta

VEGGIE RISOTTO

Directions:

Pour the white rice Carnaroli or Arborio (1/2 glass for a person) in a pan and toast it for about 3 minutes. It has to become transparent and if you move it you can hear the rice “singing”.

Soften the leak in a pan with 2 spoons of butter and 1 spoon of extra virgin oil

Then add the toasted rice

Add the white wine and let it evaporates.

Add the chopped vegetables and cook them together with the rice

Pour some vegetable broth* a few a time until cooked.

*: 1 carrot, celery, 1 onion

Add the courgette flowers at the end, together with the salt.

Both, Pasta and Risotto, will be really creamy and tasteful if you’ll add (turned off the fire) grated Parmigiano Reggiano (4 spoons) and 2 tbsp of unsalted butter. This means “mantecare il risotto”.

Let it rest 5 minutes before serving.

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L'articolo Tuscany: cooking classes about #Veggie Italian Sauce for Pasta and Risotto…and my happiness to get the Chef Diploma! proviene da Cooking Classes and Private Chef In Tuscany.

Lucca, a side dish worthy of a culinary school: Borettane Onions Tuscan Style…a little piece of heaven’ll melt in your mouth

Erika Elia — Fri, 21 Feb 2014 17:13:00 +0000

A culinary school teaches many tricks and tips about the best way to cook something. Sometime the preparation is very simple, but if you don’t respect the right steps there’s nothing to do. This is what we try to pass to our students.

In Lucca and Pisa it’s raining, it’s raining, it rains every day…

I look at the pictures on Facebook of my students abroad, travelers and tourists who participated in our cooking classes, and I see there’s snow in New York, as in Cleveland, UK and also in Japan …. cities, towns and gardens covered in snow and children, the same children with me during our cooking classes in Tuscany, making pasta and tortellini… now they’re building snowmen and giving them weird nicknames…

I think just that: Tuscany is wonderful in spring and summer but during the winter, lately, it rains too much. The Arno river that runs through Pisa reached, for the second time the alert level and the countryside is often flooded like a huge paddy field.

When the days are like this I dive into the culinary art in a compulsive way. Today, among other things, I have prepared this dish, which can not miss among the gourmet ones. The taste is full, sweet and sour, and rich in aromas. The consistency is typical of a petal of onion that melts releasing the aroma until to the nose.

These onions can be cooked in many ways here in Tuscany … inside aluminium foil, even under the ash of a fireplace. What I introduce you, though, is a way of cooking them worthy of a cooking school, like all the dishes that succeed in being beautiful, versatile and surprisingly good.

Borettane Onions and Mascobado brown Sugar

Borettane Onions Tuscan style

Ingredients

1 kgborettane onions (golden onions, 5cm diameter maximum)
1/2 glassmarsala wine
1 glasswhite dry wine
1 glasswater
3 spoonsbrown sugar Mascobado
just to cover the pan bottom,extra virgin olive oil
2 or 3 pinchessalt
2 tspall purpose flour

Cooking Directions

Clean borettane onions.
Pour the olive oil to cover the bottom of the pan.
Add following the order: the onions, marsala wine, white wine, water, salt, and, at the end, mascobado sugar.
Mix everything together and wait it takes to boil.
At this point, lower the heat, cover and cook for about 25 minutes.
Sprinkle the flour by a sieve, mix and cook about 5 minutes on high heat, uncovered.
Adjust salt if necessary.
Wait until all the liquid is absorbed and you got like a light, shiny cream.

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L'articolo Lucca, a side dish worthy of a culinary school: Borettane Onions Tuscan Style…a little piece of heaven’ll melt in your mouth proviene da Cooking Classes and Private Chef In Tuscany.

Pappa col Pomodoro…(Tomatoes and Bread Soup) to say Welcome to the Autumn in Tuscany

Erika Elia — Wed, 11 Sep 2013 07:37:00 +0000

Pappa col Pomodoro (Tomatoes and Bread Tuscan Soup)

Today there’s a special fresh air…Autumn is starting and here in Italy is the first day at school!

My two daughters were electrified, and me too, obviously.

Ok, let’s take what’s good and think to the lots of posts I’ll write during the Winter.

Here is the first of a long series.

The Pappa col Pomodoro (Tomatoes and Bread Tuscan Soup) is one of my favourite dishes and everytime I eat it or I decide to cook it, I always think to my granny Amossina, the most beautiful and sweet grandmother we would have.

The recipe is simple, but, as you know, don’t think that simple dishes to understand are also simple to be tasteful!

So, let’s go with the recipe and remember that it’ll surely be a real success!

Fresh Tuscan Tomatoes

Pappa col Pomodoro (Tomatoes and Bread Tuscan Soup)

Recipe by Erika Elia

Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes
Total time: 45 minutes
Ingredients

1 kgfresh and red tomatoes
500gtuscan bread (no salted)
1lstock (veg)
4 glovesgarlic
6 leavesbasil
50gextra virgin olive oil
5 handful Parmigiano Reggiano
1/2 handfulsalt
1 pinchpepper

Cooking Directions

Cut the bread in slices and then cut it in little cubes.
Pour the Oil in a pot and put the bread cubes mixing and waiting they’re very hot; try to toast them a little (5 minutes) and add the pepper (or red hot one).
Meanwhile cut the tomatoes coarsely and put them in the pot, stiring continously.
Add the garlic and the stock few a time and wait all coming a “pappa”, that is a mush.
At this point turn off the fire, salt, add the basil and wait 10 minutes before serving it.
Pour in the plates and put in a spoon of Extra Virgin Oil and a generous handful of Parmigiano Reggiano.
Pappa col Pomodoro is always good…you can eat it the day after too, just reheat it!

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L'articolo Pappa col Pomodoro…(Tomatoes and Bread Soup) to say Welcome to the Autumn in Tuscany proviene da Cooking Classes and Private Chef In Tuscany.