For the third year running, The Chopping Block has partnered with Onward Travel to host a cooking boot camp in Tuscany. They've been so popular, we are delighted to announce two tours of culinary and cultural discovery in Italy in 2020: October 17—24 & October 24—31.
During Cook Like a Tuscan, our small group will stay at a beautiful stone villa in Panzano in Chianti. Grapevines and pomegranate trees come up almost to the doorstep and the charming town is a short walk away. The tour features four hands-on cooking classes, excursions to nearby towns and cities and epicurean field trips. Of course, there will be lots of lovely meals and wine tastings at the villa as well!
View the itinerary for all details, including cost.
Tour host and Sommelier Viktorija Todorovska is The Chopping Block’s former wine educator. She’ll share her wine knowledge all week and her culinary skills too, as she went to culinary school in Florence!
If you have any questions about the tour, please get in touch with Molly at molly@onwardtravel.co or 845-293-2729.
Chef Benedetta Vitali leads a Cook Like a Tuscan 2019 cooking class
A highlight for this year’s group was a cooking class at Badia a Coltibuono. Chef Benedetta Vitali (as seen in Netflix’s Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat show) taught a pasta and sauces class. Badia a Coltibuono is located in the forest in Chianti… they produce organic wine and olive oil and have a beautiful garden at their 11th-century stone abbey. The cooking classes they organize are lovely, and the food is unbelievable.
Chef Benedetta Vitali with members of Cook Like a Tuscan 2019
Below is a recipe for their delightful Pasta e Fagioli soup. For this soup, a good quality olive oil makes a difference!
Serves 8
400 grams dried white beans (2 cups)
1 red onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
1 stalk of celery, diced
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
Rosemary, chopped
4 cups stock
Extra virgin olive oil of good quality
Sea salt & black pepper, to taste
1. Cook the beans according to package instructions until they are soft.
2. Make a soffritto with the onion, celery and carrot, sautéing the vegetables in a little olive oil. When golden in color, add the chopped garlic and rosemary.
3. Add the beans and stock and cook for 10 minutes. Reduce to purée, thin with more stock or water if necessary. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Cook pasta such as maltagliati or broken tagliatelle in a separate pot in salted water and when “al dente,” add the pasta to the soup. Garnish bowls of soup with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.
Culinary travelers will also learn about extruded pasta, ancient grain and gnocchi. This is the perfect opportunity to perfect your pasta-making (and eating) skills!