Tuscany: Cooking school

  

It was tough waking up at 7:00am but we did it and managed to get out of the door by 8:00am for an estimated time of arrival in Florence of 9am.  We have reserved these early mornings for moving days – we’ll have to rethink early morning tours, etc.  We allowed time to find parking in Florence and walk to the cooking school / food market for the 9: 45 meeting time. It all sounded quite reasonable and realistic but it didn’t exactly turn out that way. First off, finding parking wasn’t an easy feat at all. The metered parking only took coins and we didn’t have the 24 dollars that we would need for the amount of time we would be there so we had to find an underground parking garage that would be priced better and we could pay by credit card. Once we were out on the street we still had 30 minutes to find the school but it simply wasn’t enough time. We started walking in the direction we thought the school was in and waited too long to look at the map so we literally walked in a circle. By this time we were practically running to make the 9:45 meeting time, sweating and frustrated.

The itinerary for the cooking lesson was to meet at the school and then walk as a group to the market to pick out our ingredients and sample some local specialities. Calvin called the contact while we were walking and they let the group (who were on time) go ahead with Chef Giovanni and his assistant, Andreas waited for us.   

We arrived at about 10:05 full of apologies but Andreas was a really laid back cool dude who told us not to worry.   We headed to San Lorenzo market to meet up with the rest of the 14 other students. On our walk to the market Andreas totally engaged the kids and asked them what their cooking specialty was. Aidan’s is egg salad, Devin’s is guacamole and Noah doesn’t really have a specialty but enjoys assisting in the kitchen. 

Once we reached the market we joined the group for a tasting of different aged balsamic vinegars and various flavoured olive oils. Devin loved the cherry flavour syrupy balsamic which also happened to be one of the most expensive bottles but of course you only drizzle a small amount on ice cream or strawberries. Aidan and Noah both really liked the truffle olive oil which was still a treat but didn’t break the bank.

We bought the truffle oil, truffle salt and slightly aged balsamic vinegar as well as sun dried cherry tomatoes which are Calvin’s favourite. Our next stop was the bread and pastry shop where we sampled some various focaccia breads.   

Chef Giovanni took us to one of his favourite butchers where he described the various dishes he makes using all the parts of the cow – brain, liver, tongue etc.

Our boys were up at the glass of the butcher’s display window checking out all the body parts. The butcher at the next stall was a real character and told the boys to come around the counter and get their pictures taken holding a dead chicken.  I’m not sure why I had to clarify that the chicken was dead but as you can see, it comes fairly intact just sans feathers.  Aidan grabbed it and they all posed for the picture. Chef bought the beef and pork for the Bolognese sauce we were making.  

Since our children were the only kids in the group, Chef took a liking to them right from the beginning. After picking up a few more ingredients we headed to his kitchen which was very close to the market. It looked like a restaurant but instead of individual small tables it was one large marble island that seated 19 of us very comfortably. We washed our hands and donned our aprons and got down to business. The group was all English speaking made up of mostly young couples with a desire to learn and like us, a love of Italian cooking.  

Chef introduced our menu: bruschetta, mixed salad, fresh handmade pasta with Bolognese sauce followed by tiramisu. To be honest these were not difficult recipes or anything I haven’t made before (other than handmade pasta) but I was really looking forward to this experience as a family, learning together.  

We started with making tiramisu in martini glasses.  A great presentation. The boys whipped the eggs, sugar and mascarpone cheese together and sifted cocoa into the glasses.  

We layered the chocolate and egg, cheese mixture a couple of times and decorated the tops of the dessert with Pavesini biscuits.  We popped them into the fridge for later.  

As I mentioned  mentioned Chef took a liking to the 3 MacInnis boys and especially to Devin. He gave them the job of toasting the slices of bread (on the large kitchen grill) for the bruschetta. He also decided that Devin would be his assistant for the day since Devin told him he would like to be a chef when he grows up. Well a chef or a bus driver. Chef told him he could do both. We didn’t get into it but he would likely have to do both for some time with what most chefs are paid.   He planted a chef’s hat on Dev’s head and he lit up like a Christmas tree with a grin from ear to ear.  I’m not sure what they expected from him but he took his job seriously and ensured he was front and center for all activities (stirring, whipping, grilling and chopping).  I’m thinking he could seriously become a chef with his focus.  

We went on to make the bruschetta, salad and Bolognese sauce that each person in the class had a hand in making.

Finally it was time for the pasta.  We slowly incorporated the eggs, olive oil and type 00 fine flour until it was the right consistency for Chef.

We kneaded the dough for 15 minutes and then rolled it out into a paper thin layer. Next we folded it up and sliced it into the noodle size we wanted.

Calvin’s was a spaghetti size and the boys more of a fettuccine and mine a thicker pappardelle.

  

While we were preparing the table to eat, Chef asked if anyone sang opera – likely the standard stick for the experience we thought, as he had some opera music cued on his ghetto blaster (yeah, I said it, the man had a ghetto blaster…not an iPod – good childhood memories of me and my GB). What are the chances that any of these Americans could pound out some Italian opera? Well, Suzanne from San Diego put up her hand and offered to sing for us after dinner.  

Five hours after we met Andreas at the school we sat down to a nice glass of red wine and a fantastic meal with a really nice group of people. The best part for Calvin and I was watching the kids participate in such an enthusiastic and mature way.

 Turns out, Suzanne is a voice teacher and she blew us all away, especially Chef Giovanni.  She was great (I mean really freakin amazing) and gave us all goose bumps.  A few guests were crying by the end and I was almost in tears myself.   She sang "O mio babbino caro" ("Oh My Beloved Father") – it’s a story of a young woman in love with a young man but her father does not want them to be together.   The song is her begging her father to be with her love or she will jump from Ponte Vecchio Bridge if her father does not let her marry her true love.  Now, Ponte Vecchio Bridge is about 4 meters from top to the water’s surface so I’m not sure why the father was ever concerned with this threat but it makes for one incredible opera piece.  The boys jaws were on their chins when Suzanne sang the last verse.

At the end of the class Giovanni called each of our names to hand us our ‘certificates’ that he signed. When he had given out about half of the certificates he realized that his assistant Devin hadn’t signed the certificates so he collected them all back and Devin very slowly and meticulously signed each of the 19. Chef signed Devin’s chef’s hat, gave him his business card and told him that he would make a great chef one day and to call him and he will come to work for Devin.

We left the lesson very full and extremely satisfied with the whole experience. Our intention was to walk around Florence and see some of the sights but we were all very tired so we saved it for another day. While I was preparing the next night’s dinner everyone wanted to help. Yippee!  I’m hoping they are hooked on cooking! Noah cut up the onions and garlic and sautéed them with the sliced pork and Devin and Aidan made a caprese salad. It was a great dinner enjoyed by the many chefs around the table.