Venus rice, really fresh, maybe the most fragrant rice.

The first time…

Can’t forget the first time that I fell in love with venus rice. My friend Simona introduced me to this fascinating and flavored ingredient. I’m writing here a very fast recipe full of Italian fresh veggies flavors!

Sciué Sciué

It’s one of those recipes that here in Italy we call “sciuè sciuè”, Italian for “very quick”. Once arrived at home after my beloved job throughout Tuscany, I watched my kitchen and my fridge (like the Donald Duck one!) and I realized I had just fresh and seasonal veggies and some venus rice.

I like to experiment with new dishes and make fusion cuisine.

Well, what’s better than sundried tomatoes from Puglia  to give the real Italian taste of Summer to a far East dish?

So guys here’s the recipe, success is guaranteed and flavor as well.

Taste it and you’ll understand why I fell in love with venus rice!

Do you prefer venus rice with shrimps or fish, or did you try to make it with fresh veggies, like me?

What’s your best recipe for venus rice?

L'articolo When I felt in love with Venus Rice proviene da Cooking Classes and Private Chef In Tuscany.

The best lemon bars are not Italian, I know.

I’m not sure if the original recipe comes from the UK or the USA, but I’m afraid is definitely not Italian.

Anyway here in Tuscany, from my garden, I have a fabulous lemon tree that gives juicy lemons and I couldn’t try this sweet treat.

Furthermore, a friend of mine from Napoli told me that she bakes the best lemon bars with lemons from Sorrento and you can imagine how fantastic they come up.

Since I’m a Cooking Classes instructor and a Private Chef in Tuscany, I love quality ingredients, local produce, and, first of all, seasonal fruit and veggies. I’m a Slow Food manager as well and I wish a world where the food is “fair, clean and good”.

That’s why with my company “Cuoche in Vacanza” (Italian for Chefs for your holiday), we pay the utmost attention to preparing the whole meal by scratch. Directly at our customer’s holiday home.

Well, we have lemons all year long here in Italy and I wished to bake the best lemon bars as I saw these fantastic fruits in my garden.

The recipe that I’m going to write you down here is perfect and well balanced in sugar and sour flavor. Is not so easy to obtain this, but you can take it for granted. We made the best lemon bars many times and now I can be sure about the right amount of ingredients and baking times.

Last time, for a Private Dinner in Lucca we baked the best lemon bars for a family coming from Guam.

They asked for these bars just because they love Italian lemons, Italian lemon custard, and, obviously, Limoncello and Arancello!

I love my job and I try to pass down to others all the secrets learned from my granny first and Chef Academy later.

Well, here you can find all the right steps and amount of ingredients. I’m sure you can’t be wrong. They’ll be the best lemon bars you could make!

I love bars! Which taste are the bars you prefer?

Do you prefer preparing the crust by scratch or using cookie crumbles? Why?

I’m at your disposal for any question, just write a comment and I’ll answer you asap!

L'articolo Say hello to Spring and bake the best lemon bars 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.

Salva

Salva

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.