Day 7: Cooking Class in the Tuscan Countryside

 Day 7

Meet Luca, our chef for the Florentine Cooking Class with Walkabout Tours. He was an experience, for sure! We spent the day giggling and laughing out loud at his little quips and comments. It was like we were taking part in a comedy show where you also get to cook. Luca made the day fabulous.

Our first stop was the Mercado Centrale to purchase the ingredients we needed to make our recipes. The market is so alive and vibrant with the freshest fruits, vegetables, and meats. We absolutely loved the whole experience! 

After the market, we headed to an estate in the Tuscan countryside to cook our meal. The drive was breathtaking!

 

The views at the estate were just as fabulous! We had to walk down a lovely staircase to get to the patio and kitchen. 

Alora! Now for the cooking! We started by making some bruschetta. In the last cooking class we did, we were only with 1 other couple. But this time there were 20 of us! We took turns doing all the steps because there were so many of us, but we were able to watch the whole cooking process and glean tips from Chef Luca and Chef Ericka, who met us at the Estate.

In our last cooking class, there was only 1 other couple in the group. This time there were 20 of us! We took turns doing all the steps because there were so many of us, but we were able to watch the whole cooking process and glean tips from Chef Luca and Chef Ericka, who met us at the Estate.

Look at that kitchen! Luca is browning the bread on a griddle. There is an induction stove, a pasta cooker built in, and a gas stove. The oven is by Erica's legs, and it goes all the way through to Luca's side! So cool! 

For the sauce, we chopped onions, carrots, and celery and cooked them in a lot of olive oil. A lot. Chef Ericka says we need so much because the beef is super lean. They grind the beef twice, so it's perfect for the sauce. Do you see that big hunk of meat next to the pot? We put all of that in!

Bryan is mixing the olive oil into the tomatoes, basil, and garlic for the bruschetta. Then it was time for bruschetta and chianti on the patio. I wish there were better views. 😜

After antipasto it was time to prepare the pork and potatoes for roasting. Bryan is adding garlic cloves between the pork ribs and the roast. Because it's just to add flavor, Luca didn't peel them. I love the sound of that! Luca was in rare form while teaching us how to season the meat! We moved on from PG right away!

Next up, pasta making! We made tagliatelle from scratch. The only 2 ingredients are egg and double-zero flour. 

We made the dough, rolled it super thin, then folded it up to make it easier to cut the tagliatelle. We did pretty good, I think!

Erica had to photo bomb us! Isn't it horrible what dingy working conditions we had, lol?! The view while we were cooking was breathtaking.

Oh man, dinner is looking good! It's time to start dessert, tiramisu. 

Luca made a giant heart out of pasta and hid it in the pasta dishes. Whoever found it was the Pasta King or Queen. I found it and got the Pasta Queen award! An apron signed by Luca and Erica. 

A few last photos before we headed home, fat and happy. Another amazing day with breathtaking views, delicious food, and our hearts full. It genuinely doesn't get much better than this!

Ciao Bellas! 🩷