Bean and Escarole Soup (or Crostini)

You can serve small quantities of this Tuscan bean dish on crostini, as an appetizer, or larger quantities as a hearty soup.

Fruit and Custard Tart

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.
minestrone

Springtime Minestrone

A slow-cooked minestrone made with fresh seasonal ingredients and served with good bread is a healthy and delicious dinner or lunch.

Baked Tomatoes Filled with Rice

You can only use parboiled rice in this recipe since the grains stay separate. Non parboiled rice will turn into a sticky blob!

Eggplant, tomato and basil sauce with ricotta

This simple sauce relies on good eggplants (aubergines), tasty, ripe tomatoes, fresh basil and a good ricotta cheese. A real treat in the autumn at our cooking school in Tuscany!

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.
budino

Budino ~ Italian Crème Caramel

Traditionally a "budino" is made in a large mould, not little individual moulds. It makes for a more spectacular sight when it it served, but be careful when you turn it upside down to serve!

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.
Panna cotta

Panna Cotta

The secret to a good panna cotta is achieving something that sets, but is still wonderfully creamy. Experiment with agar- agar quantities since they do vary!