Montespertoli is a beautiful town near Florence in the heart of Chianti.

It’s surrounded by vineyards and olive groves, that’s why is also called “the city of wine” (La città del Vino).

Furthermore, Montespertoli is a nice place were having dinner, but first of all lunch: yes! Sit at a table surrounded by country landscape, drinking a glass of good red Tuscan wine.

My company is Cuoche in Vacanza (Cooks for your Holiday) and we go all around Tuscany for 2 kinds of service:

Private Cooking Classes and Dinners.

Customers find us on Google or through some tour operators and contact us to go directly to their Holiday Homes in Tuscany.

Although Chianti is a very popular area and we often have many requests about our “food-services” over there, Montespertoli is a place where we’re going for only a couple of years.

When I started this job with my friend Lella, I couldn’t imagine the power of word of mouth even with customers coming from abroad.

A little at a time we became very popular among tourists coming to Montespertoli and we already have been there 6 times only this year.

All around Tuscany: in Terricciola, Montespertoli, Radda in Chianti…I have a farmer friend who sells his vegetables in season on the road.

Furthermore our customers in private Dinners and students in Cooking Classes often ask for fresh veggies based dishes.

That’s why this farmer friend became one of our company’s best suppliers. And that’s why we’re going to make fresh veggies pasta sauce when coming to these holiday locations.

Talking about fresh homemade pasta, we can’t mention Gnocchi, everyone likes them, and their flavor is really enhanced by extra virgin oil and fresh and seasonal veggies like asparagus!

Here in the Tuscan countryside the best season buying asparagus and zucchini flowers in late Spring!

Furthermore, you can have some gorgeous Gnocchi with this kind of sauce, which’s delicate but incredibly tasteful at the same time, maybe because of the parmesan cheese and the asparagus intense flavor.

You know that in Tuscany we have a lot of kinds of Gnocchi (click on the following links for the recipes):

how making POTATOES GNOCCHI,

how making GNUDI GNOCCHI,

how making RICOTTA CHEESE GNOCCHI…

Well enjoy making them because they’re fantastic with lots of sauces, but veggie ones are the best in my opinion.

Although Gnocchi are fantastic with Ragu meat Sauce,

here you can find the best sauces (apart from the one that I’m writing below is the recipe of this post, that’s my fav!):

1. Pesto Sauce
2. Red Mullet Sauce
3. Gorgonzola Cheese sauce

The following sauce is perfect in Spring but is perfect with “Risotto” and all kinds of “short” pasta as well.

Do you have a particular sauce to recommend me trying for Gnocchi? What’s your fav sauce? Would you like to come in Tuscany and taking a cooking class? Want to know something more?

Contact US and we’ll answer you very quickly.

Eat fresh, eat seasonally. Buon Appetito!

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L'articolo Montespertoli: holiday home cooking classes with asparagus and courgette flowers Sauce for Gnocchi proviene da Cooking Classes and Private Chef In Tuscany.

What about Potatoes Gnocchi?

Our students from cooking classes in Tuscany adore them and always ask for some courses where learning how to prepare them.

Well, I can not blame them, potatoes gnocchi are delicious and,

if well prepared, they will remain in your head for a few days, followed by pleasing sensations.

Here you can see the gnocchi we prepared during a Private Dinner for a fantastic Canadian family group!

Potatoes gnocchi are not a difficult dish, but the balance between working by hands and ingredients is very important, otherwise you will have gnocchi too hard, or too soft, or even worse that become mushy in the cooking water.

Anyway, potatoes gnocchi (although they’re classic version) are only one of the ways of making GNOCCHI.

Maybe you can be interested in Ricotta Cheese Gnocchi or Gnudi Gnocchi …have a look at the recipes clicking on the name.

Ingredients (6 People):

1 Kg Potatoes
300 gr 00 Flour
1 Egg

Method:
 
Wash potatoes without peeling them, and put them in a pot with salted water. Let it boil about 15 minutes, drain them and, immediately (this is very important) peel, mash them and put them on a well-floured work surface.
Flour and knead, add a pinch of salt; when the mixture is firm but soft at the same time, add an egg and continue to knead until the dough is free of lumps and compact.
Now divide the dough into very long sausages (thickness of 2-3 cm) and begin to cut your gnocchi (quite quickly) with a floured knife placing them on a floured surface.

Finally, practice characteristics groove by sliding of the gnocchi on a grater and squeezing a bit, but not too much, very quickly.

Let rest your gnocchi for about 30 minutes, cook them in a pot with enough salted water and drain when they will rise to the surface. Prepare the sauce that you like (Pesto, Ragu, Pummarola, Bava sauce…) and dress your gnocchi.

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L'articolo Crespina, gnocchi (potatoes Gnocchi) cooking class proviene da Cooking Classes and Private Chef In Tuscany.