Yesterday, was one of my favorite days since moving to Italy. I went to a cooking class at an organic winery, had a blast, and learned some great recipes too. Ca' Bruzzo, the winery, is about 45 minutes away from Vicenza. We arrived just as the owner and his son were harvesting the last of the grapes and we got to join in on the fun.
I don't remember if these were Cabernet or Chardonnay, but whatever they were, they were delicious. The owner, Aldo, was telling us that this year wasn't a great year in terms of quantity, but it was great for quality. There wasn't much rain, so the roots of the grape vines had to go deeper to find water (they don't use irrigation), but this makes for a better grape and better wine. The poorer the soil, the better the wine.
I've noticed that tree leaves don't really go through the color changes here as much as they do in the states. However, grape vines turn beautiful colors and make some lovely fall scenery. I don't think I'll ever get tired of seeing rows and rows of grape vines. They are a sight to be seen during all seasons of the year, but especially during the harvest and fall.
I've been to some great wineries with great owners lately. I enjoy sitting and talking with people and hearing their stories. For a while after John Ralph gets home we wont be able to really travel far, so I'm going to take him to all of these awesome places. I think it's the best way to spend a relaxing, but super fun, Saturday.
After we walked around the grounds of Ca' Bruzzo, we got to cooking! Two German chefs, who speak Italian and English (I found it to be a funny combination), prepared a great Italian menu to teach us. And bonus points for me...I understood a little of their German.
I was in charge of this pot of goodness. By "in charge" I mean, I chopped some carrots and then had to stir and cook the soffritto. Soffritto is like the Holy Trinity of Italian cuisine: onions, celery, and carrots. It's the base of most of their soups and many other dishes. It took all my might not to start spooning this in my mouth. Mmm, mmm, mmm.
Obviously, I needed to sample some wine while I was doing my cooking. After the soffritto was cooked we added some beans, tomato sauce, and water and let it cook for about two hours. Right before it was served, they added spelt wheat to the pot and it was the most delicious soup I've had in quite some time.
Over the course of a few hours we all helped with making our meat dish, pasta sauce, polenta, cake dough, and a custard filling. We finished our cooking with rolling out and cutting fresh pasta. Pasta is super easy to make (I don't know why I don't to it more often) and fresh pasta tastes significantly better than store bought. If you've never done it, now is the time. It's life changing, y'all.
Our pasta sauce was simple, but was one of the best I've had. First some walnuts were put in a food processor. Then some basil and garlic were put in the food processor. Then we put all of that in a pan and added lots of heavy cream (can't go wrong there). Once it cooked down a little, we added a some pepper and chicken bullion powder. I learned that you aren't supposed to salt and pepper things until the very end. Maybe this is why my food is typically over or under salted. Right before they served the pasta they added a little parmesean. Perfecto.
This is the final product of our zuppa. I cleaned all of my plates.
The meat was a beef loin. All we did was salt and pepper it, put it in a roasting pan with porcini mushrooms, onions, and water, covered it, and let it cook for about 4 hours. It was served with the broth over polenta. I think it would be equally delicious with mashed potatoes, but seeing as how we're in Italy, polenta it was.
Ah, my favorite. Dessert. For dessert we made a cake unlike any other cake I've ever made. The dough wasn't like a tart, or a cookie, or a cake. It was just...like a lightly sweetened, kind of crumbly, shortbread? I'm not sure what I would compare it to. But, it was so good. After the dough had chilled, we rolled it out and pressed it into the bottom and sides of a spring pan. Then we filled it with a cream they use for a lot of pastries here. It was just a little lemony and a lot like a custard. We finished it with another layer of the dough on top and some pine nuts. The cake has to cool completely before you eat it, so we weren't able to eat the one we made, but don't worry...it's delicious no matter who makes it.
Wine was paired with each dish, but no meal is really complete in Italy until you've had your espresso. (I'm going to need to find some spoons like that.) To finish the meal we were even serenaded by the men with some guitar music and a few Beatles songs. Nothing like hearing a German, Italian, and Italian-American singing songs from the British Invasion.
After eating we walked to the really beautiful wine cellar they have built into the land beside their house. While they were building it they discovered that it used to be under water, and you can see lots of interesting things in the walls. I'm going to need my next house to be on a hill so I can build one of these into the side of it. Think Lord of the Rings Shire meets lovely wine cellar.
I left with a bottle of Merlot and one called La Costiera, which is a blend of Sangiovese, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc. I think next time, I will also leave with one of those amazing barrels. I have a corner in my house that's just begging for a wine barrel to fill its void.
The ladies I spent the day with are great! (These are just a few from the group). I think I'm very lucky to have an outstanding group of women to hang out with in Italy. My friends here have been my saving grace through this deployment. I don't know what I would do if I didn't have awesome people to try fun new things with.
So, in case you couldn't tell, I had an absolute blast. I can't wait for my next big adventure...LONDON for Thanksgiving! I think I'll go buy some new galoshes to celebrate. Ciao for now!
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