Bean and Spelt Soup
Slow-cooked green beans in a tomato sauce
This is a signature dish of the late great Mario, the multitalented father of Tina who used to be one of our amazing instructors at our cooking classes in Italy. You may say that you like your green beans to be firm and crunchy, but after tasting this dish you may also appreciate their sweet, melt-in-the-mouth quality when slow cooked.
Baked fennel with oranges and olives
Fresh Egg Pasta
Many people who come to our cooking school in Italy feel intimidated by the idea of making pasta from scratch. Once they see how easy and enjoyable it is, they become hooked! Put some music on in your kitchen, and take your time.
Moist Apple Cake
Manuela’s mother has offered lots of inspiration and recipes for our cooking classes in Tuscany. This is one of her recipes, now handed down to her children and grandchildren. Thanks Licia!
Fruit Tart with Frangipane Layer
This is a tart to rival a patisserie bought one. In our cooking courses in Italy we show you just how the pastry should be rolled out: quickly, gently but firmly. It takes some practice, but is well worth mastering. Delicious with soft fruit such as raspberries.
Fennel and saffron soup
Cantuccini
These are the classic “biscotti” as they are often known in the US (in Italian, this just means any “cookies”). Using the finest flour available results in the most mouthwatering morsels.
Cauliflower with Tomato, Rosemary & Fennel Seeds
Even self-professed cauliflower haters will love this dish, if you can convince them to try it.
Pear and Fig Tart
You can make this tart with pretty much any fruit, but the combination of figs and pears is divine! During our cooking classes in Tuscany, we use ripe figs from the trees at the top of the hill.
Springtime Minestrone
A slow-cooked minestrone made with fresh seasonal ingredients and served with good bread is a healthy and delicious dinner or lunch.
Eggplant/aubergine caponata
Orange and chocolate cake
This is a typical Sephardic Passover cake, which has various versions, made throughout the Mediterranean.
Minestrone ~ Tuscan Vegetable Soup
The distinctive taste of this soup comes from the cavolo nero ("black cabbage"). This has recently been popularized by chefs such as Jamie Oliver and is now available in many farmers' markets.
Guinea Fowl with Walnuts and Grape Juice
This is a great dish for the autumn, with the nuts adding texture and the just-harvested grapes adding a smooth sweetness.
Tuscan Grape Harvest Cake
In Tuscany, this complex-flavoured but simple to make cake is only made for a few weeks a year, when the small, sweet, seedy red grapes are around (many are “gleaned” in the vineyards after the harvest). Use the sweetest red grapes you can.
Risotto
The best types of rice for making risotto are: Arborio, Carnaroli and Vialone nano. These have round grains and are starchy, becoming creamy when cooked.
Mushroom crostini
Best served warm, these crostini will have your guests demanding more. You'll see that the vin santo gives the mushrooms a very special flavour, and the butter gives them a melt in the mouth texture.
Rustic Focaccia
An easy but unusual focaccia recipe which makes a rustic-textured, half wholewheat bread. Ideal to eat with cheeses and salad.
Asparagus and sausage sauce for pasta
This is a simple, delicious sauce for when asparagus is in season.
Herby pork stew
The white wine, stock and slow cooking make the pieces of pork really melt in your mouth.
Polpettone ~ Tuscan Meatloaf
This dish is colourful, moist, flavoursome and very comforting.
Custard Pie with Pine Nuts & Almonds
In this traditional Tuscan dessert the combination of rich pastry, delicate custard and toasted nuts makes for a special treat indeed.
Tiramisù
Tiramisu (literally “Pick me up”) seems to have been around for generations, but is in fact a creation from the 1970s! The version that we teach at our cooking school in Tuscany uses custard.