Day 3: Roman Countryside Cooking Class in Mazzano

Today we were up and excited for the first of three cooking classes while we are in Italy. We've been watching Stanley Tucci cooking and touring each region in Italy, and have been itching to learn to cook and taste the different dishes! 

Roberto was our chef and guide. He drove us about an hour into the country to Mazzano. The drive was gorgeous! Here is the cute little town - it's actually a new town and a medieval walled village. The area around it has been inhabited continually since the Stone Age. The first historical mention of the town was in 945 AD when it was part of the estate of Pope Adrian. It's surrounded by the Treja National Park - we had phenomenal views from the apartment where we went to cook the meal. 

When we first entered Mazzano, we stopped at the little market to get our ingredients. It was Saturday, so the market was hopping with about 15 people. The town is so small that that is the rush, lol! We stopped at 3 different stores to purchase the items for our meal: the general store, the fruit and vegetable store, and the butcher.

           

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From top right: Pizza with a thin slice of potato on top that Italians eat around 10 when they get a little hungry. The top middle photo is my favorite - in the back are giant vats of homemade wine. Everyone goes to fill their bottles for 2 euros a liter! We tried the Montepulciano, and it was some of the best wine we've had. The veggies were so fresh! And the butcher was the best - he sang while he gathered the orders. They had some different meats in the counter - in the last picture, you can see rabbit.

On to the apartment! We walked through quaint, narrow paths to the cutest little apartment. 

After a quick tour of the house, it was time to cook! We made artichoke ravioli, cavatelli with a red pepper and tomato sauce, gnocchi with a caico e pepe sauce, and saltemboca with sandy potatoes. Every single thing was fabulous! 

Bryan and I were team artichoke! He had us cut, peel, and chop that artichoke in crazy ways!

The last photo is what the artichokes look like after they were cooked in water, white wine, and a garlic clove.

I'm making the sandy potatoes. I was relieved to learn that the sand was bread crumbs! Saltemboca is made with veal and prosciutto. Fun fact, Saltemboco means "jump in your mouth," which was the saying of the day! It was so delicious that we all wanted it to jump in our mouths!

Now it's time to make the pasta! Roberto had us make all 3 types of pasta dough that Italians make. We used egg dough (that Bryan is making below) with 00 flour for the ravioli, water and semolina flour for the cavatelli, and potato and water for the gnocchi.

  

The cavatelli (on the far right above) were so fun to make! We used a little ridged board to roll the little dough pieces down to make the cutest little pastas!

We were lucky to be cooking with some really fun people, Karl and Mary. They were a hoot! They had done this same class 5 times, they loved it that much. 

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Roberto showed us how to roll ravioli dough a little differently than we do at home. I can't wait to try it at home!

                       

A toast to all our hard work! Look at that yummy deliciousness. Look at the final product below:

         

                                     

Karl was in charge of making dessert, which was fresh strawberries mixed with sugar and balsamic. I didn't think it sounded that great, but it tasted amazing!

We had a fun treat toward the end of our stay! The village neighbors, Luis & Olga, made eggplant roasted and marinated for us - wowza. Roberto put it on slices of bread for an appetizer, and it was delizioso! In return, we gave them some of our gnocchi. They loved it and brought us some delicious homemade Mertyl/pomegranate wine that they sat and enjoyed with us. So, so good!! They didn't speak English, but Roberto translated! They were lovely people and we all had lots of laughs! They kept calling Bryan the giant, and you can see why!

                            

Mazzano was a treat - thank you, Holly, for booking it for us! Fun memories with fun people. We walked away with some culinary skills, some history, and several more new friends.