To a large extent, peasant Tuscan cuisine is "naturally" vegetarian - a wide variety of cereals, pulses and dairy products means that it's easy to strike a good carbohydrate/protein balance without using textured vegetable protein and the like, while the local fresh fruit and vegetables are bursting with vitamins and minerals.
The dairy products we use on the course are almost all from a local biodynamic farm, which uses a bacterial process to set its cheese (i.e. no animal rennet). The eggs we use are from organic farms in the area, and are as free-range as it gets!
On a typical vegetarian course, you would cook some of the following dishes. These would of course depend on the season: warming vegetable soups with cavolo nero and beans in the autumn, chilled pappa al pomodoro in the summer...
Cooking class 1
- Fresh
egg tagliatelle with three sauces:
zucchini flowers and ricotta,
basil pesto and eggplant and tomato
- Refreshing Sicilian fennel and orange salad
- Tiramisù
Cooking class 2
- Crostini (canapés):
melanzane (aubergine/eggplant with wild mint)
peperoni e caprino (roasted peppers, herbs & goat's cheese) - Classic bruschetta (garlic, tomato, basil, olive oil)
- Fagioli all’uccelletto (white beans in a tomato and herb sauce)
- Farro (a cereal similar to spelt) salad with tomatoes, mozzarella and basil
- Panna cotta with fruit coulis
Cooking class 3
- Sformati (light vegetable flans, with fennel and artichokes)
- Pappa al pomodoro (summery tomato and bread soup)
- Light aubergine/eggplant croquettes
- Crostata di fragole (custard and strawberry tart)
Cooking class 4
- Crema
di peperoni (bell pepper soup)
- Risotti (asparagus, radicchi, artichokes)
- 2 seasonal salads
- Torta della Nonna (custard and pine-nut tart)
A vegetable lover's paradise
With its great variety of fresh fruit and vegetables, as well as cereals that are little used elsewhere, Italian food affords a host of exquisite flavours for vegetarians. The traditional "peasant" food of Tuscany is no exception: nutty pulses, tangy vegetable sauces and imaginative salads all have an important part to play at the table of the cooking course. Three of the cooking courses we offer are entirely vegetarian.We share the ever-growing concerns about pesticide residues and GM foods. In the vast majority of cases, the ingredients we use are organic or biodynamic. All are fresh and locally produced. We take you to see the organic farms where the ingredients that we cook with are grown, such as cereals, vegetables and olive oil. We visit the vineyards where the biodynamic wine we drink is produced.
Contact us
Please contact us If you'd like more information or to book a cooking course. If you'd like to speak to us, you can either call our number in Italy or use our local rate numbers in the UK or the US (we answer them from here in Italy!)
email
us at info@organictuscany.org
Call
us from the UK: 0208 144 9164
Call
us from the US: 347 410 9690
