I am so excited to be running this 5-day workshop with Fabrizia Lanza at the renowned Anna Tasca Lanza Cooking School in Sicily from Monday 19 September to Saturday 24 September 2016. We will be based at the glorious Case Vecchie, some 2 hours south east of Palermo. It will be the start of autumn so the colours of the fields, with vines laden with grapes will be glorious.
Each day of the workshop we will focus on different ingredients, understanding their source or production and then how they are used in cooking. Finally we will be eating them! Our days will have activities including visiting the local cheese-maker to watch traditional ricotta-making with sheeps-milk and seeing what happens behind-the-scenes in pecorino-making (an aged sheeps-milk cheese); foraging for wild greens and other seasonal fruit, vegetables and herbs in the gardens at Case Vecchie; grape harvesting (Case Vecchie is in the middle of a winery); tour of the Case Vecchie winery and wine-tasting; a visit to the local mill and a trip to the historic fish markets in Catania.
There will be daily cooking classes, using the ingredients we have collected during our travels. Techniques you will learn and participate in include sourdough bread-making, making vincotto, making a range of Sicilian savoury and sweet dishes using ricotta and Sicilian seafood recipes. The food we will share will be fresh, seasonal and delicious, and we will drink exceptional Sicilian wine.
The accommodation is in charming rooms that are part of the 19th century Case Vecchie country home and cooking school and have those gorgeous blue framed-windows you see in the photos. Beds have embroidered linen, old framed prints line the walls of the bedrooms, which are full of Sicilian rustic charm. Several rooms have sweeping views of the vineyard and gardens from the shuttered windows.
All meals, wine, cooking classes, accommodation, transfers to/from Palermo and all travels during the days you are at Case Vecchie are included in the price. There will be some free time during most days if you would like a rest from our activities. Wi-fi is available. Please visit the Anna Tasca Lanza Cooking School website for further details including how to book. I have put in several photos that I took when I was there in early spring in 2015 so you can get the feel of this beautiful place. I really hope that you can join me on this incredible Sicilian experience in September 2016.
italy on my mind 