Gourmet holidays in Tuscany?  Finally, it is possible, but with a new model. In fact, you will not have to look for many different schools or spending lots of money on restaurants which call improvised chefs just for tourist reasons.

Personally, I’m a Professional Chef (Certificate Accademia Italiana in Florence 100/100), a Sommelier (Certificate FISAR, Federazione Italiana Sommeliers Albergatori e Ristoratori), and a manager in Tuscany for Slow Food Association (Good, Clean and Fair food).

Why Gourmet holidays

It is not just a question of titles, it is proof that we are serious about cooking. Respecting the simplicity of the ingredients that this land offers you and the succession of the seasons.

So, whether you’d like an introduction to the real Tuscan and Italian kitchen or a deepening on particular dishes, with Cuoche in Vacanza (Italian for Chefs for your Vacation) you can find an honest answer.

Who more than one Professional Chef can offer you splendid gourmet holidays?

If you like fine eating, if you are a gourmet, this blog is for you.

Furthermore, if you happen to come on vacation here in Tuscany well, know that we await you with open arms. Fill this contact form and we’ll keep in touch!

We are a Traveling Cooking School specialized in Italian Cuisine.

Since we’re itinerants, we offer 2 types of private services at your villa:

Cooking Classes

Private Dinners

We do the shopping and come directly to your holiday home, wherever you are staying in Tuscany.

So these are gourmet holidays, are not they?

If you’re in Tuscany on vacation, just call us, because we can make together all the dishes that you find on this blog. Just like today’s recipe, Paccheri!

What’s Paccheri Pasta?

Paccheri is a type of traditional Neapolitan pasta of cylindrical shape, smooth or striped, very similar to rigatoni but larger.

The name “paccheri”, in the Italian tradition, recalls the “pacca”, a friendly slap given open-handed to greet or congratulate someone. The term derives from the Greek, “pas” which means everything, and “keir” which means hand, therefore literally “the whole hand”, “full hand”.

That’s why in Naples paccheri are also called “schiaffoni” (Italian for big slaps)

Furthermore, try to hear the noise they make when you throw them on the plate: it seems just the sound of many slaps!

(Free translated from Mulino Vald’Orcia)

What you can find on this Blog?

Anyway, if you’re living abroad, far away from Italy, no problem. In fact here on this blog, you can find all the recipes that we make with our students in cooking classes or customers in private dinners in the villa.

Furthermore, you will be amazed at the ease of preparing them. In fact, I personally check all the steps so that everyone can easily (and often quickly) replicate a recipe. 

Well, with pasta Paccheri (today recipe) you’re going to make something special. This kind of pasta lends itself very well to well-served plates.

In a few words, you’re going to make a very good impression with your family and friends!

General suggestion:

Remember that you do not need many ingredients to make a good dish, but you need top-quality ingredients.

So, do you have tomatoes that are not good? Do not put them on

Too sour tomatoes? Make them confit, caramelize them in a pan with a spoonful of brown sugar.

This is important: squid must be fresh, just like the ones we offer you during your gourmet holidays in Tuscany.

In the kitchen, you can use many frozen things, no problem, but squid no  They are tasteless and moreover, they become gummy … in a nutshell, you spoil a gourmet dish.

Finally here’s this gourmet recipe!

OTHER DELICIOUS FIRST PASTA COURSES

Florence cooking class: puttanesca pasta sauce at your vacation home!

Montespertoli: holiday home cooking classes with asparagus and courgette flowers Sauce for Gnocchi

#Family Cooking Classes:The Best Meatballs Sauce for Spaghetti to remember your Holidays in Tuscany!

If you don’t live in Italy, you can buy Paccheri pasta  HERE

L'articolo Gourmet holidays in Tuscany: dinner with pasta paccheri! proviene da Cooking Classes and Private Chef In Tuscany.

When they called us, Cuoche in Vacanza, to cook for a 60th birthday Party in Tuscany, we were thrilled to satisfy our guests!

Our Private Services

They often request our cooking services for parties like bachelorette, weddings or birthdays; well a 60th birthday party in Tuscany seems to be very popular and requested from tourists coming here in Tuscany.

Many people, most of all from North Europe or the USA, love celebrating their family with an intimate party. And having fun at their holiday villa (not in a restaurant), it’s one of the best ideas.

So, as we’re talking about families, children can play without fear of being scolded and adults can drink without fear of being stopped by the police.

They decided on a fish-based 6 courses Tuscan menu: 3 starters, 1 typical first course, 1 main course, and 1 dessert.

spider crab pot pie for a 60th birthday in Tuscany

A 60th Birthday Party in Tuscany: 15 people from Norway (family and friends) ready to feast.

The private dinner was directly at their holiday home in the countryside near Terricciola. A beautiful villa (as many that you can find over there) surrounded by vineyards and olive trees.

We’re mad for fresh pasta, that’s exactly what we thought as the first course. But when I saw some beautiful spider crabs on the fisherman desk in Viareggio, I immediately realized that we had to prepare one of my fav soups: jumbo crab (granseola in Italian) pot pie covered with a pizza dough crust. It’s one of my battle horses and it was one of the dishes that I prepared for the exam as Professional Chef to the Chef Academy in Florence.

My friends love this soup so much and I prepared it for dinner on the last day of the year! If you’re a Facebook account, you can see some pictures HERE.

Moreover, it’s not possible to find fresh jumbo crabs every day and a 60th Birthday party in Tuscany it’s a special occasion!

This typical soup comes from the South of Tuscany, the land of Maremma (where I come from).

Not only with pizza dough.

My Granny cooked this typical dish not just like a pot pie, but just a soup, leaving some crispy bread apart, to deep in.

Well, added to this, many times she made this soup with canned crab and I’ve to say. It’s delicious and elegant, but you can eat this soup every day, not only for a 60th birthday party in Tuscany.

Anyway, a few years ago I knew a chef from San Francisco who tasted my dish and was delighted, and it was he who suggested me to put the soup in a baking cup and cover it with puff pastry.

I tried puff pastry but it was too “fat” in my opinion, so I tried the pizza dough (its fat comes just from some extra virgin olive oil) and it turned out amazing, right what I was looking for.

Canned crab it’s perfect!

This spider crab pot pie is not in our Cooking Classes Menu because of its different steps to respect; it’s any way in our Private Dinners in Tuscany Menu. But you know, fresh crab is expensive and usually, we prepare it just for special occasions: a wedding dinner, a bachelorette party… a birthday party in Tuscany, such as our 60th birthday party.

No problem if you have not fresh crab, you can use the canned one.

In fact, I can assure you that is a delicious dish as well. Just be sure that your bisque is very good, cause the taste of the dish depends in large part on this.

Here’s the recipe for this fantastic and tasteful dish, incredibly loved by children too (my daughters often ask for it).

And you? I guess if there’s a similar pot pie in America, North Europe, or anywhere else in the world.

Please comment below, I’m so curious to know different “ways” to cook and to publish some new recipes from all over the world.

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L'articolo Terricciola: 60th birthday party in tuscany. Jumbo crab (granseola) pot pie, pizza dough crust proviene da Cooking Classes and Private Chef In Tuscany.

To be a Private chef in Tuscany means meeting a lot of people from all around the world.

Our customers usually contact us from abroad, just filling our CONTACT FORM.

They inform us about their wishes for a dinner or a party with family and friends, we send them our “Private Chef in Tuscany” Menus and that’s it.

We do the shopping (following the seasons and local produce only) and we drive till their vacations Villa in Tuscany or apartment.

If, on the other hand, you prefer to take a tour while you’re in Tuscany, you can come and visit us at my Cooking School near Lucca which is also a beautiful bed and breakfast: Dolce Vita Cooking School and B&B

The whole menu is made on the spot

Once arrived we take a look at the holiday home and immediately start cooking. Everything is made on the spot, from the starters to dessert. This is a high-quality guarantee because we make every dish from scratch.

If you ask for pasta with pesto sauce for example we’ll prepare fresh handmade pasta and pesto with the leaves of fresh basil (often from my garden), toasted pine nuts (from pinewood of San Rossore), fresh Pecorino Romano, and Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.

Various Ingredients

Any way to be a Private Chef in Tuscany means living in a land rich in various aromas and flavors. Each landscape can be reached just a few kilometers away. For example, from my home (near Pisa):

Hills: I live in the Pisan hills

Mountains: Abetone 70 kilometers away

Thermals: Le Terme di san Giuliano 2 kilometers away

Seaside: the best beaches near Pisa 5-10 kilometers away.

Seafood recipes from a Chef in Tuscany

Actually, about the sea and seafood in Tuscany, there’s a lot to say. There’s no pollution and many beaches awarded the blue flag.

That’s why I often cook seafood for my guests. In fact, I’m sure about the provenience of fish and quality as well. A private chef in Tuscany knows what are the best ingredients of this region and the sea is always a great resource.

King Prawns for example are very popular here in Tuscany and the best where I live come from the seaside town of Viareggio.

Private Chef in Tuscany: Pistachios King Prawns

Fresh and quality ingredients mean fantastic recipes.

These pistachios king prawns are a very elegant main course. Added to this it’s a very easy and quick dish.

You’re going to impress your guests because of its texture and beauty. It’s one of the most appreciated main courses, above all from our USA and NORWAY  customers.

Chopped pistachios and bread crumbles give this dish a gorgeous crispness. Furthermore, the softness of prawns is the perfect contrast that a private chef in Tuscany often is looking for.

If you accompany it with a fluffy mayonnaise sauce, you can be sure to taste them in the best way.

So my friends, while on vacation in Tuscany, CALL US! We’ll come directly to your villas holiday and cook a fantastic private dinner for you and your family. And why not…the following pistachios king prawns recipe.

Otherwise, follow this blog and be sure you’ll find all the easy and typical Italian recipes. The same that we prepare for our customers on holiday in Tuscany.

Other recipes from the Tuscan sea:

Spider crab pot pie

Orate (seabream) all’Acquapazza

Squid ink tagliatelle with red mullet

What do you think about hiring a Private Chef while on holiday in Tuscany?

What’s the added value of this private service for you?

Is there a particular Italian dish you would like to have the recipe for?

Just ask me and I’ll send it quickly.

L'articolo Chef in Tuscany at your villa: pistachios king prawns! proviene da Cooking Classes and Private Chef In Tuscany.

Squid Ink Tagliatelle is one of the most delicious gourmet and unusual ingredients.

So tie your apron strings and invite your family or friends, you can be sure you’re doing a very good impression.

All the people in our company “Cuoche in Vacanza (Cooks for your Vacations)” are addicted to fresh handmade pasta. It’s the protagonist in Private Cooking Classes directly at your holiday home in Tuscany, and in Private Dinners as well.

How could it be different? Our job is with tourists and travelers from all over the world and people like to spend time with fun, first of all on holiday.

Anyway if you have no time for making both pasta and sauce, No problem:

• you can buy squid ink tagliatelle HERE …and the sauce is very quick!

My granny often made “colored” pasta, according to the different ingredients directly added to the pasta dough. When I was a child and she made Squid Ink Tagliatelle I was fascinated by eating something so “common” in Italian Cuisine, but so different at the same time.

Everyone can make fresh pasta, with only 2 ingredients: eggs and flour!

About Squid Ink (if you’re going to make fresh pasta):

1. you can use the fresh one (directly from the main ink sac of fresh squid)
2. you can purchase it (sachet or jar)

They’re both good for colouring pasta. During our cooking classes in Tuscany we use the purchased one, of course.

Want to know how to make Squid Ink Tagliatelle? Click HERE for the Recipe

As I posted a few time ago, you can make different colors of homemade pasta, depending on the ingredients that you add to the pasta dough. For example, you can have fantastic Ravioli Orange Coloured simply adding tomato paste (click HERE for the recipe)

In Italy, we eat pasta every day (most of all dried pasta). Well, for us Italians, colored pasta (obviously with natural and fresh ingredients) it’s a way not to get bored while eating the most famous Italian food: PASTA!

That’s why a few time ago I decided to add to our cooking classes menu a new kind of cooking course: “colored pasta cooking class“.

Our cooking classes are all hands-on and almost all are suitable for children, so what’s better than replicate the “magic” from my granny?

Nowadays I can say that “colored pasta cooking class” is one of the most successful course; making fresh handmade “colored” pasta (as Squid Ink Tagliatelle for example) is really funny and our customers often make it again once at their home and send me the pictures of their dishes.

So what sauce for Squid Ink Tagliatelle?

• Every kind of fish or sea fruit sauce.

I love fresh and seasonal ingredients, so I opted for this sauce: red mullet with fresh rucola and fresh (yes, they’re not cooked) tomatoes. I tasted this sauce for the first time in a really good restaurant in Lucca, I was delighted and immediately made the sauce at home for my family and friends.

All my customers and students in Private Dinners and Cooking Classes in Tuscany know my love for Piccadilly Tomatoes. This kind of tomato has its origins in Sicily and they’re very sweet and juicy and the most suitable for our very appreciated Tuscan Bruschetta.

Well, I think they’re the best for this sauce, any way you can use cherry tomatoes (maybe more easy to find) as well. what you’re going to read it’s in my opinion the best sauce for Squid Ink Tagliatelle, but as I told you, do not hesitate to try any kind of fish (or sea fruit) sauce.

Any questions or suggestions? Do you like this article? Please share it with your friends. Leave a comment and I’ll answer you immediately!

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L'articolo Squid Ink Tagliatelle with red mullet, fresh rucola and piccadilly tomatoes proviene da Cooking Classes and Private Chef In Tuscany.

Food made on the spot is a must for us Cuoche in Vacanza.

If you’re in Tuscany on holiday we’ll come to your villa and prepare an entire meal by scratch, from starter to dessert, fresh handmade pasta included.

Further more we pay the utmost attention to the quality of ingredients, only seasonal and local produce.

I think this is a big added value and one of the first reasons that satisfy our customers, even if often they can’t imagine all the work that lies behind a dinner preparation like this.

Food made on the spot means a particular way to work.

We do the shopping early in the morning, we drive and we arrive at our customers’ villas around 3 hours before starting dinner.

In case of Private Cooking Classes we shop in the morning as well and we come to your holidays villa around 15 minutes before course, than we’ll run the class and you’ll prepare your dinner/lunch by scratch. All our courses are hands-on and food made on the spot.

If you’d like to know more about our Cooking Classes in Tuscany click HERE

If you’d like to know more about our Private Dinners in Tuscany click HERE

IMPORTANT TIPS IF YOU HIRE A PRIVATE CHEF or a COOKING CLASSES COACH

1. Remember, if some private chefs come to your home just 1 or max 2 hours in advance, this means that probably they bought some ready food. Food made on the spot requires time, you know.
2. By working in this field for the past 8 years I know that many people, (especially ones that make you a bargain price), buy most of the ingredients (ready Italian sauces for example, but even the whole pot) from the superstores; than they “assemble” according to your choice. In this way you have certainly paid little, but the real real value/cost of this dish is less than 1/5 of the price you pay. That’s why their gain is therefore rather high, despite the low cost. But what are you eating?
   

   A real chef does not need to prepare food in advance; food made on the spot is the best guarantee.

   

3. If you want to spend your time happily with your family and friends, your Private Cooking Classes must be hands-on. Don’t risk to boaring you with dead times between preparations or just watching someone else cooking.
4. To be assured of seriousness, find someone who is part of an association dedicated to food quality. Cuoche in Vacanza is part of Slow Food, an International association working to ensure everyone has access to good, clean and fair food.
5. The Costs of a Private Service (Privated Dinner or Cooking Class) mostly depend on work of cooks/coaches and assistants. If you’re password is “food made on the spot”, the chef or the cooking coach can’t come to your home without an assistant. They need this even for a few amount of customers. With no assistant food made on the spot is impossible.

Here in this post you can see pictures from our private dinners in Tuscany and cooking classes as well.

Click on the link for recipes from our menus:

perfect pizza

parmigiana aubergines

spaghetti clams

chocolate salami

zuppa inglese

fresh homemade pasta

tortellini

L'articolo Food made on the spot in Tuscany: from starters to dessert with “Cuoche in Vacanza” proviene da Cooking Classes and Private Chef In Tuscany.

Saturday dinner in Tuscany, not so nice weather and my wish to meet my friends here at my home. No restaurant please, I do’ like walking in the rain after dinner. Maybe I don’t like just walking once finished a good meal with a strong coffee and a small glass of limoncello.

So last weekend I strongly preferred to stay here, cozy and relaxed…together with my friends.

During Winter I can spend time staying with family and friends, testing and writing recipes on this blog, renewing all the menus for the next job Season. In Spring and Summer, I’m fully busy with my company: Cuoche in Vacanza (Cooks on Holiday).

In few words, I always cook experimental menus and new dishes for my family and friends during Winter and Private dinners and Cooking Classes in Tuscany for the rest of the year.

Saturday dinner, if not at the restaurant, here in Tuscany has to be special.

I immediately thought to “Filetto al Pepe Verde”, Italian for Fillet with green pepper sauce. Our customers on holiday here in Tuscany love it so much and our Students in cookery lessons have the same opinion.

But this time I tried to make it different; no beef fillet in the fridge, but a tender pork fillet from Cesare, a special butcher who never disappoints me.

Well, it came out a dish for special occasions;

perfect for a Saturday dinner without going to the restaurant or any other dinner you’d like to be remembered.

It’s incredibly easy, with few ingredients and few steps.

The procedure is the same as Beef fillet with green pepper sauce; you can use this recipe for both these dishes.

I just recommend you the quality of ingredients:

good fresh cream, good brandy, good green pepper in brine, and first of all a very good cut of pork fillet.

Did you already know this Italian recipe?

Is it important Saturday Dinner in your country?

What’s your best way to cook fillet, in your country? Please leave a comment and tell me where you come from…I’m looking for recipes from abroad to post here on the blog.

L'articolo Saturday dinner, your turn: Pork Fillet with green peppercorn sauce. Recipe and video proviene da Cooking Classes and Private Chef In Tuscany.

When you ask for a Personal Cook or for a Cooking School, generally you aspect something new; anyway you know it’s not often easy…the ingredients are always the same and the most common thing, at the end is that the food is good.

duck breast carpaccio and redcurrant mayonnaise

Well, this dish instead combines everything you’re expecting when you think of something “new” in your kitchen or way to cook.

“New” is in fact not only related to the flavor, ingredients, or appearance of a dish; it’s all these things combined with an added value that you can’t explain but just feel with all your senses. That’s why I love to be a personal cook: my guests can tell me “thank you” many and many times, but there are no words, just their smiles, their eyes can explicate what they’re feeling while tasting…and after.

Here is an amazing recipe perfect to amaze your guests in a special occasion, worthy of a real personal cook; no matter if the personal cook is a family mother or a professional chef. When someone cooks for another you’re always “personal” to that person.

I made this Duck Breast with Redcurrant Mayonnaise and Crispy Parma Ham for Christmas lunch at my home (I made this mascarpone and amaretti dessert too) and it was very successful both for the inviting and elegant appearance, both for the extremely delicious flavor. I think that’s precisely what a personal cook is looking for: something quick, but beautiful and very good at once.

My family loved it very much and they asked for an additional serving: it’s a gorgeous dish, very light, tender and rich all at once.

I could maybe add this to our Menu of Cooking Classes in Tuscany, even if our students often ask for a Tuscan Menu, Fresh Handmade Pasta based (we’re mad about fresh pasta!).

The way of cooking is similar to that one of Tagliata (grilled and sliced tender beef steak)  the name calls for another amazing recipe that you can find clicking here: Carpaccio with honey and mustard sauce

It is definitely not a difficult recipe and you can prepare the redcurrant mayonnaise (that’s anyway easy) the day before.

Next time I’ll try with raspberry mayonnaise, that’s the only difficult step that you can meet: many, small, and hard seeds in redcurrant! Anyway, the sour flavor of redcurrant is perfect for duck…so I’m not so sure about the result, but I’ll let you know.

I’m thinking to add this dish to the Menu of Private Dinners in Tuscany (the ultimate chef services at a villa in Tuscany) just because of the achieved success, even if duck meat is not a usual flavor here in Tuscany.

Anyway you know, Carpaccio is typically Italian and with our group of Personal Cook Women (Cuoche in Vacanza) it could be one delicious starter or main course to show on the tables of our guests.

Some tips before the recipe:

1. Cooking the duck is not difficult but please, respect the step to put the duck (skin side) in a cold pan with some oil and turn it up to high
2. Season the meat side when the skin is crispy brown and flip it over right at this moment
3. Redcurrant is full of seeds. You can use both blender or immersion blender, anyway remind passing the puree through a sieve or using a food mill
4. Redcurrant Mayonnaise is sour, if you prefer you can soften it with a teaspoon of sugar
5. This is a Carpaccio, that’s why the meat has to be cooked until just pink (still very rare if you like)

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L'articolo Personal Cook and Cooking School in Tuscany: Duck Breast Carpaccio with Redcurrant Mayonnaise and Crispy Parma ham. Easy, quick and very beautiful dish for your Private Dinners. proviene da Cooking Classes and Private Chef In Tuscany.

Many people often ask us what’s kind of job is ours. Since I’m a personal chef someone thinks that I’ve a restaurant in Pisa or Lucca, but it’s not so. I’m a sociologist and I started cooking since I was child, I took the Professional Chef Diploma 4 years ago at the Chef Academy in Florence and I founded the company “Cuoche in Vacanza” (Italian for “Chefs on Holiday”) 8 years ago, together with a friend of mine who left early because of family committments.

1. Well “What’s our job?”

   We are a group of women going throughout Tuscany (central Italy) to run Cooking Classes or to cook Private Dinners (or Lunches) to wherever our customers are on holiday. Ours is an Itinerant Cooking School in Tuscany, we’ve not a fixed location where people have to come, we go directly to their holiday homes.

Cooking Classes in Tuscany:

• • we send to our customers our Menus (all hands-on and a lots suitable for children),
  • we do the shopping,
  • we drive till the holiday homes,
  • we run the cookery courses choosed by our students (about 3 hours) and than
  • they can eat the fruits of their labout comfortably sit at the table.
  • We clean up the kitchen and we come back home.

 Private Dinners in Tuscany:

• we send to our customers our Menus (3 starters, 1 first course, 1 main course and veggie, 1 dessert)
• we do the shopping,
• we drive till the holiday homes,
• we prepare and cook the Menu choosed by our customers (many many dishes are kidsfriendly). Everything is prepared and cooked by scratch, from starters to desserts; can you imagine the flavor of an Italian Pasta dish freshly made? Of an Italian dessert?
• we serve at the table
• we clean up the kitchen and we come back home

2. What you need for a Cooking Course?

Only 3 tools:

• a table where working
• a fridge
• a stove

3. How do I book your Private Cooking Services in Tuscany?

Just send us an email (info@cuocheinvacanza.it) or fill the form clicking here (make sure you have well written your mail address):

• kind of service requested
• possible days for the Private Service
• quantity of people in the party (eventual quantity of children up to 10 years)
• address/coordinates of your holiday home

4. Do you need a deposit?

•  We don’t ask for a deposit, just a confirming mail to book the date for you

5.What kind of ingredients do you use?

• Only seasonal
• Fresh
• Local
• First Quality
• The Oil is only Extra Virgin Olive Oil (first oil pressing) in any kind of cooking, except for frying (Peanuts or Corn Oil)
• We don’t buy our ingredients in bult, we can’t obviously, because we’ve a few and different customers each time. We do the shopping the same day of our commitment (usually in the morning); our suppliers are the local market or the supermarket in our village.

6. Do you welcome dietary restrictions or allergic people?

• We welcome Vegetarians, Vegans, Celiacs, Lactose free… and any other kind of dietary restrictions. We tailor our Cooking Lessons according to the needs and we prepare tailored dishes upon request in our Cooking at Home Lunches or Dinners

7. Children can be involved?

• Our Cooking Classes are almost at all hands-on and suitable for children by 3 years, especially the fresh-pasta ones

8. which is your specialty?

• Fresh Handmade Pasta:  during our Private Dinners Service we prepare it right before your eyes, right over a table in your holiday home, during the Cooking Classes here in Tuscany you’ll make it and learn all the tips and tricks that my Nonna’s first and the Academy Cooking School than, thaught me and the others “Cuoche in Vacanza”.
• Typical Tuscan and Italian Cuisine: each “Cuoca” (Cook) has her specialties depending from her origins or passions. In our group there are cooks experienced in different cuisines: Italian, Tuscan, Sicilian, Japanese,Vegans.

9. About your costs?

• Our costs depend mostly from quantity of people in the party and distance (the more people, the less cost)

10. How many people are involved in working during your private cooking services?

• We’re often 2 people (the Chef and the Assistant), except for Couple Cooking Classes or Dinners (only 2 customers, there’s usually only the chef)

Do you have any other questions?

Are you coming on holiday in Tuscany and you’re interested in our Private Services?

Please fill the contact form clicking here or send us a mail (info@cuocheinvacanza.it), we’ll answer you quickly!

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L'articolo Cooking Classes in Tuscany and Private Chef at your Holiday Home: top 10 questions and answers, all you need to know! proviene da Cooking Classes and Private Chef In Tuscany.

The month of March’s started in a great way! We prepared 3 Private Dinners in Florence, Pisa and Montopoli.

We did the shopping and went to Florence for a Private Dinner to celebrate 60 years of an american father with his beautiful family from Washington.

Ten people in the party and a birthday cake that I prepared before their eyes: sponge cake filled with Nutella and Mascarpone Cream, coated with whipped fresh quality cream.

Their Main course choosed was “Acquapazza” Seabreams, in Italy: “Orate all’Acquapazza”. It’s a simple but tasteful fish dish, made with all the italian flavors: seabream fish, fresh and juicy tomatoes, garlic, basil and obviously extra virgin olive oil…nothing else. It’s popular here in Italy, because a famous actor of the 50′, Totò, loved eating it while sitting in front of the Gulf of Naples; he sayd to have with himself all the wonders of the world: sea, sun, Summer and gorgeous food.

The “Cuoche in Vacanza” second commitment, was in Pise and it was a test for a wedding dinner that’ll be on September, in the beautiful surroundings of Talamone, a fishing village in the South of Tuscany. This young couple’d like a wedding dinner recalling all the flavors of  Summer and Talamone…in a few words, all the party we’ll be fish based: seafruits and shellfish.

The Prince of the Dinner will be an italian first course: Lobster Linguine, in Italy: Linguine all’Astice, followed by a Tuna Tartare with seasonal vegetables cut in flower shapes.

Our third Private Dinner was just yeasterday, in Montopoli : a family from Boston booked our service for 2 times, while here on holiday  in Tuscany. They choosed as main course: Chicken and Peppers Tuscan Style. I bought the chicken from an organic farm near my home and I was not wondered, when they told me that it was really amazing.

Since we’re addicted to fresh homemade pasta, all the family asked us to prepare fresh egg pasta before their eyes; they guessed if it was possible to prepare fresh pasta for a person in the group who has Celiac: of course!! Allergic people, Vegeterians, Vegans and any kind of dietary prescription are Welcome!!

We made 2 different kinds of pasta and one of them was Gluten Free: Tagliatelle and Maltagliati with Fresh Chopped Tomatoes sauce, the famous Italian Sauce: Pummarola.

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L'articolo Private Dinners in Pisa, Florence and Montopoli: anniversary, wedding tests and gluten free in Tuscany proviene da Cooking Classes and Private Chef In Tuscany.

 

We prepared for them a menu that ranged from homemade pasta topped with fresh pesto (here’s the recipe) to the famous “Tagliata” (tender and tasteful tuscan meat cut with a knife); we prepared a homemade seasonal fruit ice cream… everyone made us lots of compliments for everything, and we’re really proud of it, but there is a dish that has been particularly successful: the Carpaccio “painted” with Honey Sauce.

It is a simple and fast execution dish, where ingredients are the protagonists. 
The carpaccio was invented by Giuseppe Cipriani, founder of the famous Harry’s Bar in Venice that in this wonderful city, in 1950, prepared for the first time this dish during a painting exhibition on the artist Vittore Carpaccio, to meet the needs of the Countess Amalia Nani Mocenigo which unfortunately was forced to follow a diet that prevented the intake of cooked meat.  

Carpaccio is simple and quick and does not need any cooking. Even though the foregoing, I saw that people abroad lightly cook the meat, or freeze it. I can imagine what caused this need, maybe the worry about bacteria. 
Here in Italy the meat undergoes a long series of controls for the entire journey, from breeding to processing, and in the slaughterhouse is even expected the presence of an official veterinarian who may exclude meat from animals considered at risk. That’s why for the meat does not exist a particular prescription to cook it (unlike the fish).

Back to us and to this delicacy, we don’t cook Carpaccio: it is very thin slices of raw meat, usually beef, which are arranged on a platter.
You can freeze the meat if you like.
This one I’m going to show you it ‘an original way of doing Carpaccio, unknown to many here in Italy, but the  meat-honey combination dates back to the dawn of time.

A few days ago, “the beautiful bride” I told you before, contacted me on FB to ask me the recipe … well … here it is, my dear, for you, for all readers of this blog, for your wonderful family and all other customer-diners and students that make our magical summer evenings!

Salva

Salva

Salva

Salva

L'articolo #Lucca: Carpaccio “painted” with honey sauce…Cuoche in Vacanza and unforgettable Private Wedding Dinner proviene da Cooking Classes and Private Chef In Tuscany.