Tuscan Cooking Class

As our bus drove us up into the hills, Julian talked about what we could expect from the rest of the day. His talk was punctuated with comments about Italian drivers. At one spot we couldn't get around a corner because someone had double parked. But their flashers were on, so that was okay, he said, we just had to wait for the woman driver to finish her shopping or banking, before we could pass.

The views of Florence from the bus as we rose up the hill were stupendous, even though the day was overcast and dull. Julian explained that the bus would leave us in a piazza and we would have to walk down the private roadway, which was too narrow for the bus to turn around. It didn't matter, even though the walk was up and down steep inclines - the views were worth it. And the venue, when we had finally descended some steps, was just wonderful.

Julian had told us that this place - the Walkabout home he called it - used to be the private home of Carmella, the chef who was going to teach us the Italian way to cook. She sold that portion of it to walkabout. Carmella worked 6 days a week demonstrating cooking. We would also see a demonstration of pizza making from Carmella, and also from a pair of professional pizza chefs. 

We left our bags and coats in a closet, washed our hands, donned aprons, and then class began. Because the ragu sauce would take the longest, we had to get that underway. Once that was done and simmering on the stove, we moved to making bruschetta (broo-sketta - we practised the pronunciation) while Julian and Gloria filled our wine glasses with Chianti. We were all starving by this time and wolfed our bruschetta down.

Next up was a demonstration of making pasta, then we were given flour and egg and set about making our own. The pasta that resulted (that's my effore, below) was all combined to cook later, to go with the beef ragu.

Then it was time for pizza making. We watched Carmella make a pizza dough, which is prepared hours ahead of time to allow the yeast to work. Then a couple of professional pizza makers, using dough they'd prepared earlier, showed us how to form the pizza base. Working in pairs, we made our own bases and added the toppings. The pizza oven outside had been lit earlier and was heating up nicely. We were quite proud of ours (below). When our pizzas were ready, they were cooked and eaten, washed down with either wine or beer. Delicious. 

After that little break, it was time to put the roast pork together. Unpeeled cloves of garlic were pushed in between the loin and the bone. Sage, rosemary, salt and pepper was rubbed into the meat and olive oil (the King) was poured into the pan, not over the meat. The potatoes got the same mix stirred into their pan (the potatoes had been cut into cubes) but this time the potatoes were covered with the oil.

Then it was time for sweets. First the gelato. We watched the process, and helped in stages, then tasted the unfrozen result. One that Carmella had prepared the precious day and frozen was then shown to us - the finished product that we would eat later. (That's Lindy, below, me over her shoulder, and Julian sticking his face in. Lindy is wielding a luna mezza (half moon knife).

Next was the tiramisu. The only difference to the tiramisu that I've made at home was that this was made up into individual portions. We each made a pattern with powdered chocolate on top of our individual tiramisu so that we would recognise it later, then it was put into the fridge to keep cold and to firm up the cream. Mine is pictured below - a little heavy on the chocolate of course.

Then it was time to eat. 

We took our places and the feast began. First we had the pasta with ragu sauce, over the top of which we grated the fresh Parmesan we had bought at the markets. This was followed by the pork (sliced very thinly, using a deli slicer) and potatoes. There was a good supply of Chianti on the tables too. Finally, we had the tiramisu, followed by the gelato.

During dinner, we chatted to our neighbours, Paul and Mary, from USA. They were curious about our gun laws. They have guns all over their house and have strong views on the right to bear arms. In his words, 'if the bad guys know everyone has guns, they'll think twice about using their guns on you.' We couldn't agree and they couldn't understand how we could feel safe in our homes, knowing that the bad guys have guns in Australia too!

Our day was almost done. There were thanks all round, then certificates and books were handed out. The aprons we'd worn were ours to keep. 

We took a final look around, collected our bags, and made our way up the stairs and the private road to the bus.

Back in Florence, it was now dark and Lindy and I had some trouble finding our way to the station for our bus. The major problem was that we'd been dropped further back from the Ponte Vecchio so we had much further to walk. We finally found our way and walked straight onto a bus. Arrived home around 7:45 and were not long out of bed after a full and busy day.

We both agreed later that this tour was the highlight of our trip. Julian was a delight and he made sure we all felt included. He was informative and I loved hearing the history associated with the city of Florence and the food. I can thoroughly recommend walkabout to anyone visiting Florence. Many of those we chatted with during the day had been on other tours this company offers and we didn't hear one bad word. Lindy and I had also done another tour with this group (a one day Tuscan tour, seeing Siena, San Gimignano and Pisa, with lunch in the country) and that too was a great day. Here's a link to the walkabout website if you want to learn more about their tours - https://www.walkaboutflorence.com