We are in Matera, Unesco World Heritage city.The cooking class experience begins with the preparation of appetizers for the aperitif: Parmesan pearls, bruschetta with burrata and rocket or other ingredients according to seasonality always with local products, always accompanied by local proseccoThe appetizers will generally be with seasonal ingredients, prepared with guests who will be the makers of the dish.The first course will be homemade pasta: orecchiette, strascinati or ravioli with sweet ricotta typical of some moments of the year, it will be seasoned with vegetables or fresh tomato sauce or meat sauce always according to the season..The dessert always of local tradition with cream or ricotta.

Traditional Cooking class and Aperitivo in Matera

Although not traditional, this menu of mine is definitely a menu that combines the ingredients of the territory to a form of oriental cuisine based on fish and meat with vegetables and flavors of the south, modern and ancient that come together to create three courses: appetizer, first and dessert that are well suited to special events or simply dinners with friends always seasoned with "sharing and joy" two ingredients that can never miss in my cooking classes.

Did someone say FUSION?

After welcoming my guests and showing them the rooms where we will spend together the time necessary for the preparation of the dishes, usually 3 hours plus the time for lunch or dinner without rushing, we start with the lesson in the kitchen. From past experience, the kitchen is very appreciated by foreign guests because they feel welcomed as if they were family. During the lesson there is a break for a toast/aperitif with appetizers prepared by me and excellent Prosecco almost always from the territory. In the dining room I carefully organize a "Mise en Place" different, can not miss the flowers that I choose depending on the season, strictly cloth napkins and everything else according to the canons of good taste as I always do, both with my family and with old or "new" friends because for me the guests are also this.....AMICI

Cooking class: Italian Pasta Lovers!

the guest who visits Matera knows he has to make a passage in history, in the origins of man among caves, rock churches, water collection systems, alleys and stairs, ancient palaces with their courtyards where the daily life of the CIVITA took place and then going back to the center of the new town he decides to know the traditions of the local cuisine, poor but made of quality ingredients of the territory: flour of ancient grains and water for the orecchiette, cavatelli or "strascinate", cooked legumes and then reduced in cream to season pasta and vegetables, the "peperone crusco" that from the appetizer to the dessert is sovereign of our tables and of mine in particular, that table where the guest will sit welcomed as at home, in joy and ready to put "his hands in pasta".

In Matera with its traditions

Visiting Matera, walking or just admiring its Sassi and viewpoints, is an unforgettable experience.My guests are welcomed with sympathy and a big smile. I show them the house and the places that will see us at work and with our hands in the dough.Putting them at ease and doing our lesson in a familiar environment like the kitchen allows everyone to lose that awkwardness of the first moments.Even the aperitif that I offer them for a pleasant break with Prosecco and stuzzichini prepared by me, helps in getting to know and socialize.The menus change according to the season but I always use quality products, from the territory to combine traditional dishes that they can replicate and it is a pleasure almost a pride when they send me photos of what they cook.

Cooking Class: At the Table with Pleasure

Family cooking is that made up of dishes that are easy to make but bring to the table all the flavors of a land, they are those dishes steeped in memories prepared to be good together.During the course we will prepare chickpea hummus, the oil flavored with rosemary to flavor it and serve it with the freshness of Apulian burrata cheese that goes well with the hazelnut grain and tarallo powder.We will get our hands in the dough to prepare cavatellini kneaded with primitive wine and served over a cream of local cheese.The Apulian table cannot miss almond desserts, which we will prepare in mouth-watering mignon versions.

The family kitchen

From the expert hands of a real Apulian housewife, we will discover the secrets of bringing typical Apulian pasta to the table.Hands in pasta then to make cavatelli, orecchiette and maccheroni con il ferretto, while the meat sauce simmers and floods the kitchen with its aroma.Welcoming guests as appetizers will be a trio of typical bruschetta: butter and anchovies, cherry tomatoes and basil and with dried cherry tomato pesto and stracciatella.

Bringing Apulian pasta to the table

Cavatelli is a short pasta format, made from durum wheat.Its characteristic is the roughness with which it absorbs the sauce of the mussels, giving us the scent of the sea. We will make pasta together with special flours,I will also show you how to make green or red colored pasta with vegetables . We will have lunch outdoors will conclude the meal a dessert made by me with a prosecco .I am waiting for you

Fragrances , flavors and pampering on Pugliese tables.

Orecchiette al ragù di "brasciola".Apulian name given to the meat roulade that contains salt, pepper, parsley, cheese and if you like garlic with lemon zest.It is known in Bari the typical pasta is made of orecchiette made of durum wheat semolina that creates roughness to the pasta creating a perfect partnership with the ragù .The aroma of this dish spreads throughout the house and gives the unmistakable idea of being in Puglia.

Orecchiette al ragù .Dish of the great Bari tradition

Tagliatelle with pesto that ,depending on the season, can vary in this way :artichoke pesto,basil pesto or wild arugula pesto which is what I am proposing today with arugula from my garden, almonds, parmesan cheese and fresh burrata di Andria. Everything will be sauteed with the noodles and will conclude this sauce the sun-dried tomatoes that will give color to our dish.