When we were planning this trip, we thought it would be fun to take a couple of cooking classes. Our first one was making croissants in Paris. Now it was time for another class. I found CookEatItaly on the web and it looked good so I booked the class. It turned out to be more than good. It was one of the highlights of our stay in Florence.
There were 3 couples - two young couples and us old fogies. Our instructor-hostess, Manuela, gave each of us a colored apron which was going to match the color of our dishes. It didn't take long until we started and realized that WE were going to do a lot of the preparation, cutting, peeling, chopping, mixing and everything else.
As with any meal, you don't necessarily start preparation with the first course. In our case, we were introduced to one of the dessert ingredients. A special type of local grape was just ready for picking and we were going to have a type of flatbread made with them. So first we had to take the grapes off their stems. We did that and set them aside for use later.
While we were doing the grape thing, Manuela was putting some porcini mushrooms into a bowl to soak. That way the broth would take on the mushroom flavor.
A true Italian meal consists of at least 4 courses - appetizer, primi, secondi, dessert. Our menu for the evening -
Appetizer - Fried Zucchini Flowers
Primi - Pasta with sausage and 3 kinds of mushrooms.
Secondi - Involtini of turkey, smoked prosciutto, smoked cheese and zucchini
accompanied by roasted potatoes and pumpkin.
Dessert - Flatbread with grapes
