Our family participated in a “field to table” cooking class at Spannocchia. 9 AM found us gathering with four other guests and Sarah, the Guest Services Intern, and Sara, who took us on a detailed tour of the gardens.

Over the last 30 years, Spannocchia has cultivated organic gardens to supply their staff, interns, volunteers and guests with delicious seasonal produce. Sara explained Spannocchia’s plan for interplanting, composting, seasonal plantings, and organic practices.

Finally, we gathered in the Spannocchia kitchen and were introduced to Loredana. Loredana was born on the property as part of the last tenant farming families at the Spannocchia Estate. As the estate transferred into the Spannocchia Foundation, she stayed on to work as the cook at Spannocchia for 30 years. Although she no longer works full-time, she oversees the kitchen and teaches weekly cooking classes for guests. She started making pasta at age 10.

Tiramisu

Mascarpone cheese, eggs, sugar, ladyfingers, dark chocolate, cocoa powder, espresso, rum

We started by making Tiramisu so it would have time to be refrigerated before making the rest of our meal.  We watched Loredana expertly whip the eggs to the right consistency and were excited to taste the cream.

We layered in a few spoonfuls of cream, two ladyfingers quickly dipped into espresso and rum followed by a sprinkling of broken bits of dark chocolate.  After another layer of cream, three more ladyfingers, more chocolate, cream and a final coating of cocoa powder sprinkled on top.  She let each person decorate the top of their creation with ladyfingers in a distinctive design so we would be able to recognize our masterpiece at dessert.

Crostone al Cavolo Nero: Kale Crostini

Tuscan white bread, kale, water, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper

If we learned anything about Tuscan cooking it was this: use lots of fresh vegetables and season generously with salt and olive oil.  That was certainly the rule as we helped create Kale Crostini.  We first washed the Tuscan Kale (also known as Black Kale or Dinosaur Kale) and removed any bugs — clearly this is an organic farm so they don’t ruin food with pesticides.  Loredana added a large scoop of salt to the wash water to help remove any bugs that missed our careful inspection — a great hint for cooking at home.

After toasting the bread and rubbing each slice with a garlic clove, boiled kale was piled on, seasoned with salt, pepper and olive oil which soaked through to the bread.  A thin slice of bacon (they cultivate a heritage breed of pigs on the farm) was place on top.  We went to the living room to enjoy the Kale Crostini and a glass of Spannochia’s own wine (they make red, white and a rose) — yum!

Tagliatelle All’Ortoloana: Fresh Tagliatelle Pasta with Gardener’s Sauce

Gardeners sauce: any vegetables, tomato sauce, olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper

This delicious pasta sauce is truly a “everything but the kitchen sink” sauce. It would be perfect for cleaning out and making use of the veggies remaining in your CSA box or fridge at the end of the week. Loredona tossed together halves of carrots, onions, garlic cloves, red pepper,  and a chunk from a large eggplant then added all of them — whole — to the body of her food processor. A minute of whirring later, the veggies were chopped to tiny bits and ready to cook down in a sauté pan. After warming through and becoming quite fragrant, she added a bag of frozen peas preserved from Spannocchia’s spring harvest and two jars of tomato sauce preserved from the August tomato harvest. A few minutes on the stove top and the Gardener’s Sauce was ready to crown our handmade pasta.

Pasta: eggs, flour, olive oil, salt

Our family has never before handmade pasta, so we were so excited to make our first pasta noodles during our stay in Tuscany!

Loredona set up little stations for our pasta making lesson.  Individual piles of flour, salt, oil to which we added an egg.  Harmony and Hope did great cracking their eggs into the center of the mixture and then using a fork to slowly stir the egg and oil round and round until the flour is fully incorporated.  As you draw the flour into the mixture, scooping any flour off the table and back to the center, you can begin to form a ball with your hands, kneading and slightly stretching the pasta.

We then combined the pasta into one large ball, and Loredona kneaded it all together and then cut it into sections that were sent through the pasta roller.  Rolling our own pasta down to a thin layer was so fun for everyone.  After the pasta was rolled and cut to noodle length, Loredona put the pasta through the other side of the roller to cut it into thin noodles.

It was truly a multi-generational frenzy of “all hands on deck” as the pasta came through the pasta maker’s cutting blades. Loredona cranked them out as fast as we could catch the beautiful noodles!  We laid them out onto a large tea-towel,  and Loredona then gathered all the noodles into the tea-towel and used that to dump all the pasta into a large pot of boiling water.

 

Rotolo di Petto di Pollo: Stuffed and Baked Chicken Roll

Chicken breasts, eggs, parmesan cheese, veggies of choice, rosemary, sage, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper

This was a very interesting dish to assemble.  Red peppers are in season, but you could sauté or roast any vegetable you have on hand in olive oil.  Loredona cooked up egg omelets as well.  After expertly butterflying, pounding, and seasoning the chicken, she laid the omelets and veggies onto the raw chicken.  Using bakers string, she rolled up  chicken breasts, tied them each three times and placed them in a pan with a generous amount of olive oil.  Before placing them in the oven she threw in fresh herbs and garlic from the Spannocchia farm.

Finocchi Gratinati: Baked Fennel with Béchamel Sauce

Fennel, parmesan cheese, salt and pepper

Bechamel Sauce: Butter, flour, milk, nutmeg, salt and pepper

The final vegetable dish involved quartering large Fennel bulbs, and then baking them with a layer of parmesan cheese and Béchamel Sauce. The quartered fennel bulbs were steamed on the stovetop before being placed in a baking dish and layered with the delicious Béchamel sauce. The resulting dish was a deliciously cozy and mellow presentation of fennel, perfectly presented with the creamy, nutmeg scented sauce.

Hope loved seeing the pretty flowers in the garden and thought the Tiramisu was the most delicious. She also loved that Loredona offered she and Joy plain pasta simply topped with butter and fresh parmesan cheese.

Joy’s favorite things in the garden were the chickens because there were so many different breeds. In the cooking class, she loved watching Loredona whip the egg whites into frothy peaks before combining them with the mascarpone creamed mixture. Her favorite dish of the meal was the homemade pasta! Oh… wait, before the meal, the garlic crostini topped with fresh mozzarella was delicious too!

Harmony: “I liked eating the foods! That was probably the highlight for me.”

Paula: ” I thought the integrated cultivation of different veggies and fruits is very intelligent and efficient. It inspires me to someday grow my own garden. In addition, from now on, I’ll be making my own homemade pasta whenever I can!”

Ryan: “It inspires us to cook with more oil, salt, and spices than we ever have in the past. Season abundantly! And, however much wine goes into the cooking, an equal or larger amount should go into the chef.”

Nicole: I have been looking forward to this cooking class for so long! It was a wonderful morning of “field to table” cooking and dining.

For more information about booking your own stay at Spannochia and taking part in one of their cooking classes go to: www.spannocchia.com