The Medicis got nothing on me . . .

I was picked up this morning with several other of my classmates and driven to the town of Lucca, specifically the village of Vorno, an hours drive west of Florence, for 6 days of cooking classes with The Tuscan Chef.

Casa Felice Matteucci, the villa where we are living and cooking, dates back to the first half of the 17th century. The estate became home to the man who invented the stroke engine (Matteucci), which was a prototype to the motorcar, and includes a family chapel, olive oil press, mill and servants quarters, most of which have been renovated by a local Italian family who are one of Italy’s biggest cheese producers. This villa was a farmhouse but a decade ago housing John Deere tractors – that’s what they said – John Deere! It seems it was in quite a state of disrepair -- ceiling caving in, walls collapsing -- and it has been turned into this breathtaking place. Somebody pinch me.



Here are the views from my windows, a pool out the back, and on the side, those very light green trees on the terraced hill are olive trees.



Click here to see more pics of the villa and the rest of the estate.

I wanted to say a special hello to my grandmother who is reading. I took these pictures of the chapel thinking of you.



There are 10 of us – Emmit and Joanne from the Boston area, Tom and Debbie from New Jersey, Diane and David from Connecticut, and a daughter, mother, aunt combo, Dana, Teeda, and Angie from Connecticut, North Carolina, and Florida respectively. All of us East Coasters. We got to know each other over a lunch buffet and some wine.



Here are our hosts Chef Valter Roman (pronounced Walter), his wife Julia, and William their 3-year old is on his lap. They also have a 4 year old, Olivia. Julia is from northern England and it seems they met while working in the hotel industry, she in sales, and he as a pastry chef.



After a couple of hours of settling in, we were in the kitchen and we had our first class. We made our dinner.

Zucchini flowers stuffed with a filling of ricotta, parmesan cheese, and parsley, accompanied by a crisped parmesan basket of rucola
Porcini mushroom risotto
Almond biscotti with Vin Santo

Here are the zucchini flowers battered and fried and our biscotti which we dipped in Vin Santo – a sweet “holy” wine made from grapes that have been dried for months prior to fermentation.



Chef Valter is ardent about local ingredients and quality, and he makes his points with that arrogance that is exactly as you would want from a man passionate about food. He has already stated twice that the problem with the United States is that it is too big, and one can’t control quality when one has to produce 10 million units of something and then ship it 3000 miles.

Tips of the Day
#1: When making vegetable or chicken stock (for the mushroom risotto in this case), slice onions width-wise, leaving their skins on, and grill them a few minutes cut side down, until black grill marks appear, and then toss them, skins still on, in the water with your carrots, celery, etc. The grilling removes the bite from the onion, sweetening it, and the skin colors the stock a lovely caramel.

#2: Risotto should be cooked for 18 minutes no more. At 16 minutes remove it from the heat.

No really, pinch me.