My passion is traditional cuisine, which I love to share to enhance the culture and richness of our land. During my cooking course, I will teach you how to prepare a leek frittata, tagliatelle, and a delicious strawberry tiramisu. We will only use fresh and seasonal ingredients to ensure the highest quality. I will take you on a journey through the flavors of our territory, discovering the culinary traditions that have made the history of our region. Cooking is a place of simplicity, pleasure to share knowledge and experiences. Experience with me the joy of discovering that goodness is in simplicity, I'm waiting for you!

Lake Garda's Flavors: Traditional Cooking Class

In the past centuries the pumpkin has represented a food reserve in the poorest areas, an extraordinary food since everything can be used: flowers, seeds, buds, leaves and fruit. Cut into not too thin slices and cooked in the oven, with the addition of almonds, pumpkin seeds and salt flakes, it is an exquisite appetizer; worked with Grana Padano, aged Monte Veronese, pepper and nutmeg it becomes an amazing filling for fresh pasta ravioli; combined with the ingredients for a simple focaccia, it turns into a delicious soft cake, enriched with flakes of dark chocolate and a salted chocolate mousse. Its nature is magical, not only in the kitchen: wasn't it Cinderella's carriage?

Three-Course Pumpkin Dinner 

I'm waiting for you for a Veronese traditional culinary experience. From the typical appetizer, beef nervetti salad with peppers and onions, to the first course, tortelli in broth stuffed with chicken hearts and livers. Then the second course, Bollito with Pearà, the dish of great festivities made with: hen, beef, cotechino, veal head, and salted tongue all served with Pearà (a sauce made with grated bread, broth, and beef marrow) whose delicate flavor is made spicy with a generous addition of pepper, green sauce, and cren (a sauce based on horseradish).To finish, the classic tiramisu.

The Great Veronese Boiled Meat and its Majesty Pearà

The wonder of homemade pasta, let's get hands-on together at my house! We will make three special recipes, using all categories of ingredients, from vegetables to fish, from fruit to meat, in a magic of colors and flavors. We will learn how to make unique Tortelli by inserting flowers in transparency, making a "romantic" dish for a special dinner. We will make "bright" Tagliolini with a sauce that tastes of the sea from start to finish. Finally, some "rustic" Ravioli, filled with sausage and provolone cheese sweetened with a delicate pumpkin cream. A trio of first courses that you will enjoy creating and that will amaze you with their flavors. I look forward to seeing you at my house.

Let's put our hands in the dough

There are treasures of Nature that delight our palate both sweet and savory, as well as being true benefactors of our health. Among them are Broccoli and Cabbage. In the Veronese territory, the cultivation of Cruciferae is very significant: cabbage, Savoy cabbage, white cabbage and a particular broccoli that grows only in the hills of Custoza, sweet and delicious, a much sought-after niche product. We will taste these wonders from an appetizer of white cabbage au gratin, to a first course of baked pasta with Custoza broccoletto (depending on seasonality), a main course of broccoli leaf rolls with perch, a side of purple cabbage with sweet and sour cinnamon, and to finish a delicate white cabbage and vanilla cheesecake. Healthy and tasty.

Savoring the Goodness of Broccoli and Cabbage from Verona

Sunday is the time for families to be together at the dinner table: it is a celebration and, as such, should convey joy. Good "comfort" food can bestow enjoyment, satisfaction and substance simultaneously.At my table you can enjoy traditional Sunday dishes, some forgotten, such as baked peaches stuffed with almonds and macaroons, and nervetti in sweet and sour salad, along with the best-known and best-loved dishes, such as baked pasta and sausages with roasted vegetables.A menu under the banner of the famous zero km and against food waste, just as our grandmothers, who were much more "modern" and forward-thinking than we are, used to do. We will see how to create a tasty and creative first or second course with just a few ingredients on hand. Try it to believe!

Traditional Sunday recipes

Vegetarian menus are a passion: a menu that is never the same because it varies according to the seasons just as it did in the past, using what nature offers us, always attentive to taste.The fresh handmade pasta is the strong point: tagliatelle, lasagne, pappardelle, but also tortelli, ravioli, depending on the season and the ingredients used.Torta Russa is an exquisite typical dessert from Verona, which consists of a shell of puff pastry filled with a delicate dough made with almonds, macaroons and eggs. According to the most consolidated tradition, it takes its name from its particular shape which resembles a fur hat, the characteristic headgear of the Russian peoples. I'm waiting for you to travel with me on a journey through traditional "zero km" cuisine, full of unique flavours

A Vegetarian Journey through Traditional Cuisine

The menu I propose consists of 4 courses from the northern Veronese tradition and involves the use of typical local products.The appetizer will be a marinated egg yolk in porcini water, with crispy rye bread croutons and black truffle in pesto. Following that, the first course: a Vialone Nano rice cream with pumpkin cream, and depending on the season, black truffle in pesto and shavings.The second course will be a cut of Brown Cattle beef from the Lessinia and aged Monte Veronese, enhanced by fresh black truffle shavings. Of course, dessert will not be missed, which will be the Veronese Sbrisolona, accompanied by custard cream.I am proud to carry on the culinary traditions of my territory and to let you discover the goodness of our dishes.I am waiting for you!

Traditional Northern Veronese Menu with Local Products

My philosophy is to use top-quality products, as much as possible sourced locally; homemade pasta, bread, pizza, and desserts. Most of the fresh products are either from my own production (fruits and vegetables) or sourced from local farms, or from DOCG, DOP, organic, or biodynamic-certified companies.The proposed menu is a full journey, starting with the appetizer of pike in sauce with toasted polenta. As a first course, fresh pasta with sardines, for the main course, either baked whitefish or herb-crusted salmon trout (depending on the season), and for dessert, Puina cake with ricotta. These are dishes of poor but genuine and flavorful cuisine, with a touch of modernity.

Local Delights from Lake Garda

Radicchio rosso di Verona PGI is one of the jewels of Veronese horticulture, with a long history behind it: imported from the East before the 14th century, it is sweet and tender, of a beautiful flaming red with very white ribs and can be found all year. It lends itself to countless uses in the kitchen, and my menu proposes three traditional recipes with red radicchio as the protagonist: as an appetizer, grilled and seasoned with oil, salt, parsley, anchovies and chopped almonds; in the first course as a filling for baked lasagna, and finally as a dessert to accompany the "Fogassa su la gradela de Cavajon", recently awarded the De.Co. (municipal designation of origin), as a sweet and slightly spicy compote. Unexpected flavors and colors! I wait for you!

Red radicchio from Verona  3 course menu

Polenta and Gnocchi: ancient Verona from appetizer to dessert

I'm Aurora from Verona, a Cesarina who loves Venetian tradition and cooking for my family and friends. To me, cooking is a form of love that allows me to show those around me how much I care about their well-being.If you come for lunch or dinner at my place, I will offer you a unique gastronomic experience, made up of traditional Venetian dishes prepared with fresh and quality ingredients. I will welcome you to my home, located in the beautiful city of Verona, a Unesco World Heritage Site surrounded by the hills of the Venetian hinterland. Here you can taste real Venetian cuisine, accompanied by excellent local wines, and live an authentic and unforgettable experience.I await you with my smile and hospitality, ready to make you feel at home!

Castelnuovo del Garda: Cooking Classes, Home Restaurant Dining and Food Tours