Flavours of Tuscany with Angelo Prosperi-Porta...Cooking Vacations...Culinary Getaways...Cooking Classes!

Flavours of Tuscany with Angelo Prosperi-Porta

Contact Information:
250-642-5727

Location:
Lucca, Italy

Culinary Category:
Cooking Classes
Cooking Demonstrations
Guided Culinary Tours
Culinary Vacation

Culinary Focus:
Italian

FLAVOURS OF TUSCANY with ANGELO PROSPERI-PORTA

September 26 - October 3, 2009 are the dates for our next trip to Tuscany. We will return to Selva, part of a 1,000-acre estate, where we will spend seven nights with daily excursions to markets, restaurants, wineries, etc. Every day will offer something new to spark our creative juices. We will create recipes from local ingredients, cook traditional local dishes and sample some excellent local restaurants and wines.

Highlights include a visit with the shepherd Edo Pardini and his wife Germana, who will show us how she makes fresh pecorino cheese and ricotta from ewe's milk. We will explore Lucca as well as several small villages in Chianti where we will of course sample some great wines. We will also sample local foods and buy fish from fishermen in the costal town of Viareggio.

Everything for the week, from pickup at Pisa or Florence airport, or Lucca train station, as well as your return, is included in the tour price. Local transportation, accommodations, meals, wine, pre-dinner tastings of local specialties, pizza night using the wood-fired oven, excursions and cooking instruction are all included in this package.

Sample Culinary Experience:
Angelo Prosperi-Porta of Cooper's Cove Guesthouse takes you on a gastronomic tour of Tuscany -

Angelo takes his interactive cooking classes to northern Tuscany where you will enjoy hands-on lessons using the very freshest local ingredients selected each day for his special dishes.
Early one morning you travel to a nearby seaside town to select for the day's menu fish caught just a few hours before.
A day trip to Chianti includes tours of award-winning wineries, a state-of-the-art enoteca, shopping in small villages and dining in a charming hillside restaurant.
Immerse yourself in the jewel city of Lucca, its unique shops, walk along the famous Renaissance walls, enjoy a guided tour of its medieval center and hear a Puccini concert in a Romanesque church.
You will make your own limon-cello and grappa.
You will meet the local shepherdess and watch her make exquisite ricotta and pecorino cheese from that morning's milking.
In caves under the city of Lucca, you will experience a tasting of specially selected Super Tuscan wines.

Note: Epitourean, LLC provides a referral service for operators of culinary classes, vacations, cruises, schools and demonstrations. We cannot be held responsible for variations in descriptions, courses offered, changes to dates and/or prices provided by the operators.

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Recipe

HERB-CRUSTED GOAT CHEESE WITH RAINBOW TOMATO SALAD
(Recipe from FLAVOURS OF COOPER'S COVE GUESTHOUSE Cookbook)

A simple, elegant first course using the best tomatoes you can find. Summer farmers' markets are the best places to find the variety of tomatoes used in this salad.

Directions (for the cheese):
11/2 Cups fresh white bread crumbs
1/4 Cup fresh Italian parsley
1/4 Cup minced fresh basil
2 Tablespoons minced fresh mint
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
6 Oz. soft goat cheese
1/3 Cup all-purpose flour
2 eggs beaten
Olive oil for frying

Directions (for the cheese):
Place the bread crumbs in the bowl of a food processor and add the herbs. Process using the pulse button until the herbs are minced and well combined. This method will give the mixture a light green colour. Set aside in a bowl.

Divide the goat cheese into 8 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and flatten. Coat with flour and set aside.
Dip the cheese pieces one at a time into the egg to coat and then roll in the crumb mixture. Repeat the process with the egg and crumbs to ensure a coating that will keep the cheese from breaking through. Refrigerate the coated cheese pieces until ready to serve.

Ingredients (for the rainbow tomato salad):
21/2-3 Cups tomatoes of various colours
and sizes
1/2 Cup torn fresh basil leaves
1/2 Cup fresh Basil Pesto
Extra olive oil

Directions (for the rainbow tomato salad):
Quarter or slice the tomatoes depending on size and place in a bowl.
Add the torn basil leaves, toss gently with the Basil Pesto, and season with salt and ground black pepper if necessary. Set aside. Do not chill the mixture - it is much more flavourful at room temperature.

To serve
Pour enough olive oil into a deep pot to about 2 inches deep. Heat to between 350-360°F.
Gently lower the cheese pieces into the oil and fry until crisp and lightly browned, about 3-4 minutes. Drain on a clean cloth. While the cheese pieces are frying, place a mound of the salad in the centre of each plate. Top each mound with the fried cheese. Add a little extra olive oil to the remaining pesto in the salad bowl and drizzle a little pesto around each plate. Garnish with extra basil leaves and serve while cheese is still warm.

TIP
To make a more uniform mound, press the tomato salad into a 2 x 2-inch ring, removing carefully before topping with cheese.

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