Wednesday, July 5th

We ate breakfast at the B&B on a vine-covered patio overlooking the gardens teaming with hydrangeas, roses and irises, a fish pond surrounded by box hedges and grapevine-covered walkways…it was so peaceful!  At 10:30, the four of us met up with a family of four from Chicago in the kitchen for our cooking class, which was an amazing experience!  Our chef, Patricia Del Cucina, and the B&B appeared on Samin Nosrat’s Netflix show, Salt, Fat, Acid six years ago…I could see why given her personable nature and upbeat personality!  She started us off prepared the leavening mixture for our schiacciata (like focaccia)…she prefers fresh to dry yeast and using your hands to mix the yeast, sugar, flour & water.  This mixture was set aside in a warm place to proof for about an hour.   It should be proofed for 6 hours…if you have less time, use more yeast.  We then moved on to our pasta, adding one whole egg and two egg yolks into the well created in the middle of our equal parts mixture of semolina and regular flours and first using a fork and then your hands to mix the ingredients.  Additional egg whites would make the pasta chewy.  She said “don’t be shy, get in there and work out your frustrations”!  She added some water and salt as we continued to knead the pasta, using our fingers to pull the dough and the heel of your palm to press it.  Once well mixed, she wrapped the dough in plastic and set it aside to rest.  In warmer summer months, wrap it in a damp towel.  The biscotti dough was next, again hands were used to mix the flour, butter, salt, sugar, later adding whole almonds and rolling the dough into long logs, which were refrigerated until cold.  Next we made the besciamella sauce, heating the flour and butter together on the stove (adding the flour to melted butter can cause lumps since the ingredients are different temperatures).  Milk heated at the same time as the flour mixture is added all at once and then stirred over heat until thickened.  She added two handfuls of grated parmesan cheese (she called them “pinches”).  Pre-sautéed, cubed vegetables and fresh grated nutmeg were stirred into the sauce, the mixture then turned into a baking pan and sprinkled with breadcrumbs, which was baked for 20 minutes.  We took a break on the patio overlooking the garden and ate tempura-battered zucchini blossoms and sage and drank the villa’s crisp white wine…delish!!  We returned to the kitchen to make our schiacciata flat bread by adding flour, water, olive oil and salt and kneading for at least 20 minutes (adding more flour if dough stuck to the surface); then it rose for another hour.  We then made our spinach ricotta mixture for our ravioli. We flattened our pasta dough using the pasta machine (3 times on 0; folded in thirds between each time; 1 time on 2; 1 time on 4; 1 time on 6) and cut out circles, which we filled with spinach mixture and sealed in semi-circles.  We used liberal amounts of semolina flour on dough.  We then made a tomato ragu sauce and boiled the ravioli.  If the ragu is too acidic, she said to add brown sugar.  We were seated at the adjacent dining table and served ravioli with ragu sauce and schiacciata with a glass of their Chianti classico…unbelievably delicious!!  We went back in the kitchen to watch our chef prepare our beef tenderloin, which she dredged in flour, sautéed in olive oil, cut into medallions and sautéed with cut side down.  The meat was then served in the dining room with the besciamella vegetables and their reserve chianti classico…amazing!!!  We finished our meal with biscotti and a glass of their sweet wine…outstanding!!  We even received a graduation certificate!!  Needless to say, we could do nothing else but lounge the rest of the day by the pool and a light dinner at the villa’s restaurant!