Cooking something "in Bianco" here in bella Italia most often refers to a slow cooking without the addition of tomatoes.  A traditional Osso Buco is always cooked in bianco with white wine - this often leads to a more subtle flavour, where the taste of the main ingredient is more profound. Or how about the all time winner - Saltimbocca - could you imagine this dish coated in rich tomato.

We really like to cook in bianco, especially those meats, that require a little longer cooking. These dishes very often also makes really tasty sauces for pasta dishes. One of our favorites is a sugo where we cook the fresh salsiccia in bianco - making it even more "white" by adding milk during cooking - this gives a great creamy texture to the sauce without being greasy.

These types of sauces are really great with thick eggy noodles like tagliatelle or pappardelle - but any sturdy pasta will do just great.

To add a bit of freshness to the dish, we often add a prepared vegetable just at the end of the cooking, like small artichokes, broad beans or fresh peas.

Sugo di salsiccia in bianco

Serves 4-6

4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
4 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
4 bay leaves, fresh if possible
6 fresh sausages - salsiccia, skin removed and meat crumbled
250 ml white wine
250 ml full fat milk
lemon juice
sea salt and black pepper
prepared vegetable, if using
small handful of parsley, chopped

Heat olive oil in a medium pan and saute onion and garlic at low temperature for 10 minutes without taking any colour.
Increase the heat and add the sausage meat and the bay leaves. Saute for a few minutes until the meat starts to cook and crumble.
Pour in the wine and let it cook for a minute, just to get rid of the alcohol, then pour in the milk. Lower the temperature, cover with a lid and let it gently simmer for 40 minutes.
During cooking the milk will split, but at the end of the cooking the solids of the milk will come together to make a creamy sauce.
If the sauce is still quite liquid after 40 minutes, then remove the lid and continue to cook and reduce until a creamy consistency. Adjust seasoning with a bit of lemon juice, salt and pepper.

When you are ready to serve, cook your choosen pasta, add your vegetable, if using,  to the warm sauce to heat through, then add drained pasta and parsley and give it a good shake, so the pasta is coated in the sauce.  If the sauce looks a bit dry, add a little of the cooking water.

Polenta has its fair shares of lovers and haters - think it has always been like this - either you just hate this thick porridge type of corn meal and it brings back all the worst memories of your childhood. Or you simply love this rich creamy sweet tasting dish, that can soak up flavours like no other, add sustance to stews and totally bring a dish together.
We are among the lovers - we would even have it for breakfast. The key is to look for high quality polenta flour - no instant polenta here. Polenta is such a low cost ingredient, so it's not here, you want to save. You want the real stuff, the stuff that needs to cook for an hour or even a little more - on the lowest possible flame and making the sounds of a sleepy vulcano.
We always get the type called Bramata - it's a blend of various types of corn, that gives the polenta the rich yellow colour you are looking for. Also always make sure to get the freshest polenta flour - as the flavour is far superior. Simply look at the sell by date - you should at least have a year or more to go.
We eat polenta quite often here in Umbria  - we love it - either as soft polenta, where you serve it just cooked with loads of butter and grated parmignano whisked in at the end. Spooned onto a plate, still quite liquid and topped with a rich stew, sauteed greens or marinated shell fish - well that is just plain good comfort food.
Or you can cook the polenta, add the parmignano, but no butter and then pour it onto a plate or a board and leave it to set. Then you can use it in so many ways. Traditionally in nothern Italy - you would serve the set plolenta still a little warm with some salumi as an antipasto. Once cold you can cut it into pieces and grill it, you can break it into smaller pieces and coat the pieces in polenta flour and then deep fry them as tasty chips. You can top pieces of polenta with cheese and sauteed mushrooms and gratinate in the oven or place pieces of set polenta in an oven dish together with a rich tomato based ragu and bake it...so many choices....And you can make gnocchi of the leftover set polenta.

Gnocchi di polenta

For this dish you want to use polenta just cooked with water and with cheese added at the end - no butter.

Serves 4 as a starter

500 g cooked polenta
1 egg
60 g tipo 00 flour
some rosemary, finely chopped
a little grated nutmeg
sea salt and black pepper
a little soft butter
grated parmesan


Pass the cold polenta through a kitchen sieve, so it looks like loose mash potato. Place in a bowl and add the egg, flour, rosemary and a pinch of nutmeg. Season with salt and pepper and mix until you have a firm dough.
Take  a piece of the dough and roll into a ball, roughly the size of a walnut. Continue until all the dough is used. Bring a pan of salted water the boil. Boil the gnocchi for about a minute, or until the rise to the surface. Lift them out of the water and place on a kitchen towel to remove excess moisture.
Preheat your oven to 200c degrees.
Grease your oventray with butter and place the gnocchi inside. Sprinkle over the parmesan and bake the gnocchi in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes until golden and the cheese is melted and has formed a crust.
Remove from the oven and serve with the sauce of your chioce.
We made a very simple condiment of roasted sweet cherry tomatoes still on the vine. Just put them in the oven 10 minutes before the gnocchi, drizzled with olive oil, seasoning and herbs - and they will be done together with the gnocchi.
Or they would be great with a simple pesto or you could baked them on top of a tomato and sausage sauce....the choice is yours.....

Who doesn't like a creamy, light and fluffy potato - and yet crispy and slightly charred on the out side....well look no further than our Patate Lucchese. The saying is, that they are a speciality at a restaurant outside Lucca. We have been cooking them for ages and have lost track of the inspiration.
Look for floury potatoes, that will mash quite easily. Great as a contorno - but very often we eat them as "the dish" with a large crunchy salad and mabe some cheese afterwards....

Patate lucchese

Serves 6 as a contorno

1 kg potatoes, peeled
1 red onion, peeled
rosemary, leaves only
sage, leaves only
3 cloves of garlic, lightly crushed
1 tsp fennel seeds
sea salt and black pepper
125 ml white wine
100 ml olive oil + extra

Preheat you oven to 200c degrees.

Slice potatoes into 1 cm slices and place in a bowl. Cut onion in half and slice thinly - add to bowl together with the herbs, garlic and fennel seeds. Season with salt and pepper. Pour in wine and oil and give it a good mix.
Pour into an oven tray, big enough, so the potatoes will cook in one layer. Cover with foil and bake in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes. Remove from oven and with a large wooden spoon roughly mash the potatoes. You still want large chunks of potatoes. Push the potato mash towards the center of the tray, to create kind of a potato cake. Drizzle with a little extra olive oil and return to the oven.
Cook for a further 35-40 minutes until the top is golden and crispy.

,It's very strange how times can change so suddenly - normally this time of year - we are starting up with a full house of happy cooking students - eager to learn a few tricks in the kitchen, meet some amazing producers, experience beautiful medieval towns and first of all eat some amazing food and drink some fantastic grapes....This year not so much.....off course we would prefer to have the house full of guests, but already from the beginning, did we decide to tackle this with a positive attitude even though all spring and early summer reservations are gone. BUT - use the time constructively - doing lots of small jobs in the garden and on the house.....And make lots of orange marmalade.

To fight these difficult times - we are now offering our "to better days" offer for the rest of 2020. Stay any 4 nights in one of our deluxe rooms. Enjoy a great breakfast every morning - and even better - spend an evening with us in the kitchen doing a pasta cooking lesson. Together we will make 2 types of pasta dough and shape 2 different pastas from these - cook sauces, a vegetable side and something sweet. After all the cooking we will enjoy the dinner with local vino.....All this for just €440 - and that is of course for 2 persons. Send us an email - thomas@ilghiottoneumbro.com - for available dates.

Well lets get back to the marmalade. Try and find organic thick skinned oranges - normally stay away from the very smooth and shiny oranges - what you are looking for are the ugly and knubly ones - normally these have quite thick skin - Seville oranges are a good type to look out for....

1500 g oranges
3500 ml water
2500 g caster sugar

extra flavours - like ginger, lavander or rosemary  - optional.

Place oranges in a pan and pour in the water. Bring to the boil and let them simmer until tender - about 90-120 minutes.
Once cooked, lift them out of the water to cool - but keep the water in the pan.
When you can handle the oranges, cut them into quaters. Pull away the pulp and remove any pips. Chop the pulp finely and return to the water.
Cut the peel into slices - some prefer thick cut others more finely - will leave that entirely up to you. Return all the sliced peel to the pan. Place the pan back on the stove, add sugar and bring to the boil. Stir to make sure the sugar doesn't stick. Once the sugar is disolved and the pan is back to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for about 3 hours. If using extra flavours, add these when you have about 30 minutes left of the cooking.
Place a small plate in the freezer. When you think your marmalade is ready, take the plate out and place a little of the marmalde onto the plate. It should set quite quickly and if you run your finger through, the marmalade shouldn't run back together.
Once you are happy with the consistency, remove from the pan and leave to rest for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile sterilize some jars with boiling water.
Now laddle the marmalade into the jars and seal.
We like to pass the jars through a hot water bath - then the marmalade can last for a year.

Place the filled jars in a large pan, cover with water and bring to the boil. Cook for 20 minutes, remove from the heat, but leave the jars in the water to cool until the next day. Lift them out of the water, dry them and label them,

Now your breakfast is secured for the next couple of months.

Stay safe and happy cooking...

A little update from our neck of the woods in these very difficult times, we are experiencing all over the world.
The whole of Italy, has now been in total lock down for the past 8 days - we are at least looking at 7 more - but more likely all the way until the 3rd of April...Hopefully by then, we will have cracked the code and see the numbers going down.
Being in lock down basically means, you are to stay in your home at all times. You are only allowed to leave your house for medical reasons, to go to the pharmacy or to buy food. When leaving your home, you need a document, that clearly specifies who you are and where you are going. You are not to leave the town you are living in.
We are fine here in Todi - so far only one case has been reported - luckily Umbria is a very big region with very few people living here.
So after day 8 you kind of get into a routine. We wake up in the morning, still quite early, have a cup of tea in bed, then we still make an effort to have a shower and get dressed. Then we go downstairs and have our breakfast and watch the news.
Then we start with all our little projects in the house or in the garden....right now we're washing down all the outside tiles on the terrace, pruning all the olive trees, planting pea and fava beans in the orto and today we started on our new little herb garden....so plenty to do so far...these days with plenty of time on our hands we try to test new recipes for lunch or just try out new dishes....have a look at Instagram @ilghiottoneumbro - for a daily fix of delicious food from bella Italia.
In the evening we answer emails, talk to family and friends, catch up on our italian lessons and watch a good movie or an episode of our favorite serie - The Sopranos....

These last couple of days, we have had a little craze - the focaccia from Puglia - called Focaccia Barese, as it originates from the town of Bari....this type of Focaccia is quite different to the Genovese style focaccia, that you normally see....it's more dense and almost cake like in consistency - the little secret is, that they add some riced boiled potatoes to the dough adding extra moisture to the finished bread.....we eat it all day - for a snack in the morning, for lunch with some mozzarella and a salad or as a little something for your evening drink before dinner...if you have any leftovers, slice the bread really thinly and dry them out in a low oven - for the most tasty little crisp...

This recipe can proof overnight in the fridge, so you have fresh bread early the next day, or just leave it out in a warm place to proof during the day, for delicious bread with your dinner.
You can add any type of topping, just make sure, it's not too weet...the classic is of couse tomatoes and olives, you could just do rosemary and sea salt, walnuts and goat's cheese would be nice or some sauteed sweet onions and sage....whatever you fancy and have in you pantry.

This recipe makes 2 round focacce:

100 g potatoe, no skin
350 g water
2 tsp fine sea salt
1 tsp sugar
5 g active dry yeast
50 g olive oil + extra for the tins
350 g flour Tipo 0
200 g semolina rimacinata

your choosen topping


Start by boiling the potatoe. Once cooked, drain and use a fork or a ricer to mash. Place in the bowl of your stand mixer and pour in water. Add salt, sugar and yeast, give it a stir and leave to activate for a few minutes.
Pour in olive oil and add the 2 types of flour. With the dough hook mix on low speed for 2 minutes. Scrabe down the sides and mix for a further 5 minutes on medium speed. Your dough should be smooth and a little sticky.
Dust your bench with a little flour and pour out the dough. Cut the dough in 2. Working with one piece of dough at the time. Pull the sides into the middle all around, to build up a little elasticity in the dough. Place the dough in the oiled baking tins and push the dough out a little
If you want to proof overnight in the fridge - leave the tins out on the bench for an hour, then transfer covered to the fridge. Otherwise leave them to proof on the bench covered until double in size and you can see bubbles in the dough starting to form.

If you have proof the dough overnight in the fridge - take the breads out of the fridge 1 hour before baking.

Preheat your oven to 240c degrees and bake the breads for 20-25 minutes until golden.

Winter is upon us - even though this winter has been one of the mildest so far her in Umbria - it almost feels like spring - lunch has even been enjoyed outside a few times on a sunny bench.
This time of year is also we when we do some of the heavy lifting in the garden. So right now we are giving our olive trees a little much needed love and care - it's been a few years since we last gave them a serious pruning.

Normally it's a little bit early, as you don't want really cold and frosty weather, when you do the pruning - but with these spring like temperatures - we thought we would get a head start.
When spending most of the day in the garden, we like to stock the fridge with lots of easy to go lunches - and what is more filling, warming and delicious, than a big bowl of soup.

One of our favorite soups is the classic tuscan Ribollita - basically a minetrone with plenty of  cavolo nero - the black kale of Tuscany, that has been reheated and thickened with lots of bread and served with a generous dose of spicy olive oil.
The story goes, that the family had minestrone one night and there were some leftovers. Not enough for the next day - so lots of stale bread were added to the soup, to thicken the soup and to feed the family. These days it's a classic served all over Tuscany - sometimes it's soupy, other times it's so thick, you eat it with a fork. If you like the traditional condiment, besides the oil, is lots of raw red onions on top.

La Ribollita - serves 6 as primo piatto

4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil + extra to serve
1 celery, just the pale tender parts, chopped and leaves set aside
1/2 celeriac, chopped
3 red onions, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
1 handful parsley, chopped
800 g tinned tomatoes
750 g cavolo nero, steams removes and leaves roughly chopped
200 g dried bolotti beans, soaked overnight and cooked, save the cooking water
1 small day old loaf of sour dough, crust removed and teared into small pieces
sea salt and black pepper

In a large pan heat the olive oil and saute celery, celeriac, onions, carrots, garlic, pasley and celery leaves on medium to low heat for 30 minutes without taking any colour.
Add the tinned tomatoes and break them up with the back of a wooden spoon. Cook for a further 30 minutes. Add cavolo nero and let it wilt down for a few minutes.
Pour in the preserved cooking water from the beans. It should just cover - if you need more liquid, pour in water to cover. Bring to the boil and let it simmer for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile pure half the beans.
Once the soup is done, add the whole beans and the pure together with the bread. Give it a good stir - if too thick, you can add a little water.
Season with salt and pepper - and maybe a touch of lemon juice.

This is one of those soups, that just keeps getting better - so a great dish to cook the night before and have ready to feed a crowd.

When serving be generous with the olive oil on each plate.

The last cooking guests checked out last week - so now we're entering a more quite time of the year. Just a few B&B guests here and there - yes we are open all year for B&B - and Umbria is also great in autumn and winter.
So with no guests in the house - it's time to tackle the vegetable garden - has been a bit neglected over a very busy fall - so in good need of a little love and care.
So one of the first things to do - is to clear the beds from tomato plants and a lot of weeds. Hidden among those weeds, the cchili plants were still alive and producing like mad. So according to tradition, you pull them out, with the roots and hang them upside down in a dry place. Once all dried out you can use them for months to come - we often just leave them on the dried out plant - looks good in the kitchen.
So with all these chilis - why not do one of the most classic dishes in the italian kitchen - the one and only - Spaghetto aglio, olio e peperoncino - the perfect dish, when you face an empty fridge or if you come home late after a night on the town - and just a little hungry. This dish can basically be done in more or less 10 minutes. Being such a simple dish - you really have to rely on the best of ingredients - so look for great garlic - the red one are the best, this is the time to use your best extra virgin olive oil and get some good quality dried pasta - if you can get a thick spaghetto extruded from a bronze disc and slowly dried - go for that one. Favorite brand for this dish is Faella - but other will work as well. Normally this dish is made with dried chili - but if you have fresh, you can use this as well - we did. Use as much or as little as you like - but remember it has to be on the hot side.

This time we cook it in a slightly more modern way - creating a creamy sauce with the cooked garlic and not heating the olive oil - so we keep all the great flavours of the oil - this time we even used the new oil adding yet another spicy layer of flavours to the dish.

So for 2 persons you need:

4 cloves of garlic, cut in half lenghtwise
250 g spaghetti
80 g extra virgin olive oil
80 g natural mineral water
sea salt
a drop of lemon juice
chili, fresh or dried, chopped
fresh parsley, chopped

Place garlic in a small sauce pan and cover just with water from the tap. Bring to the boil. Once boiling, drain and return to the pan. Recover with water and bring to the boil. Repeat this 4 times, to remove some of the harsh notes from the garlic.
Meanwhile bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and cook your pasta al dente.
When the garlic is cooked the last time, place in a small bowl and add olive oil, water and season with salt and lemon. Use an handheld stick blender and blend into a creamy sauce and pass through a sieve.
Place in a large bowl and add chili and parsley. Once your pasta is cooked, drain and transfer right away to the sauce. Cooling the pasta slightly in the sauce with help to make the sauce even creamier - so give it a good stir.
Plate up - and enjoy......

If you are feeling real festive add some grilled calamari or flaky fish to the dish when you serve.

We have just added a new feature to our Instagram called " Ask for a recipe". We add a post to our Instagram feed more or less every day - and very often - as in almost always it's food related. We post pictures of what we will be having for lunch or what we are serving to our guests in the B&B. When you follow us on @ilghiottoneumbro - you can now ask for recipe for any of the posted dishes and we will  publish it here on the blog.

As a little extra - we will put all the requests into a big bag and draw some great gifts at the end of the year for christmas - so what's to loose.

The first request is from Tone from Norway, who would like to know how to make Arancini di Riso.

These fried rice balls has been on our menu for almost 20 years - first in the restaurant in Copenhagen and now here in the Umbrian country side, where a lot of guests cook them during their cooking course.

Basically it's a great way to use leftover risotto from the day before - you can use any type of risotto. Arancini is the number 1 street food in Sicilia - and if you come to Rome we call then Suppli - slightly different shape, but they are more or less the same.

The arancini we posted on Instagram was made with left over Risi e Bisi - the classical Venetian risotto with peas and mint - so we will add the recipe for this as well.

Happy cooking and join us on Instagram - @ilghiottoneumbro

a sa
Risi e Bisi - classical Venetian risotto with peas and mint

Serves 6

50 g butter
1 onion, finely chopped
300 g risotto rice
250 ml white wine
1 litre chicken stock
350 g fresh podded peas
50 ml extra virgin olive oil
1 handfull fresh mint
50 g parmesan, grated
lemon to taste
sea salt and black pepper

Melt half the butter in a large pan and saute the onion on medium to low heat for 15 minutes without taking any colour. In a seperate pan heat the stock and adjust the seasoning.

Mean while bring a small sauce pan with salted water to the boil. Blanch half the peas for a minute or so. Drain and transfer to the bowl of a small food processor, process with the olive oil and 3/4 of the mint to a paste. Season with salt and pepper. Set a side.

Once the onion is done, add the rice and stir to coat the rice in the buttery onion. Turn up the heat and pour in the wine. When the rice has absorbed most of the wine, you can start to add the warm stock a laddle at the time. You might not need all the stock.

It takes around 18 minutes to cook a risotto, when there is 3 minutes left, add the rest of the peas. The risotto is ready when the rice is creamy and al dente.

Chop the rest of the mint. Once the risotto is ready, remove the pan for the heat and stir in the butter, parmesan, pure and the chopped mint. Adjust the seasoning with salt, pepper and a little lemon.

Your Risi e Bisi is now ready.

When you want to make arancini - then leave the risotto to cool completely - even overnight is great.

Then you need:

flour
a few eggs
bread crumbs
sun flower oil

Now take you cold risotto and shape into small balls - if you like you can even adda cube of mozzarella in the middle. Once all the risotto is used - set up the breading station. You need a bowl with flour, one with the eggs whisked together and one bowl with bread crumbs. Take each ball and turn in the flour, the in eggs before coating in the bread crumbs.  Once all balls ae coated, you can cook them right away or even keep them in the fridge for a few hours.

When you are ready to fry them - heat some oil in a pan - we prefer to use a low sided pan - once the oil reaches 180c degrees fry the arancini until golden and crispy - you might wat to fry them in batches, so you don't overcrowd the pan.

Fried arancini can be keept warm in a 100c degrees hot oven until all are cooked and ready to serve.

Happy cooking and see you soon with yet another Insta recipe - it might just be your request.

Many of you know this - but there might be some unaware of our cooking courses, that we do here in Umbria. They range for 3 to 6 days with lots of hands-on cooking in the kitchen, visits to farms and vine yards, lots of tastings, good amount of vino, laughter and good talks around the kitchen and table. 
Each year we try to change things a little - adding a new course to the cooking calendar, adding new elements to the exciting courses - well in general - shake the bag a little once in a while.

Each course is very seasonal - we cook what's in season and try to keep things as simple as possible - in our kitchen, you will not find shelves packed with crazy equipment - a pasta machine an and ice cream churner are the most advanced gadgets we have around. We do this on purpose - food should be simple, easy, tasty and straight forward. In Italy we are blessed with great products so why spend time and effort to cover up the taste of a great produce.
The cooking course are spaced out through the whole year - on our web site - www.ilghiottoneumbro.com - we have the cooking calendar with all the dates and availabilities for the year to come. 
​Most of the courses takes place at the house in Todi, where you will stay during the course.

Cooking in Rome.

This is our new cooking course for 2019. 
A whole new concept at Il Ghiottone Umbro - we will relocate to bella Roma for a long weekend both in the spring and autumn.
For 3 days we will be eating and cooking our way through the delicious roman food and other regional delicacies. We have borrowed the charming kitchen from our friend Alice at Latteria Studio - a cooking studio on the border between Trastevere and Monteverde.
The 2 cooking lessons will be "market to table" cooking - nothing is planned - we will go to the market together in the morning and see what's available - and together we will walk back to the kitchen to cook up a nice lunch. We will be making lots of delicious antipasti, different homemade pastas, gnocchi, sauces, pestos and tasty desserts. 
You will also enjoy aperitivi at local enotecas, welcome dinner at the one and only Armando al Pantheon and pizza night at Emma pizzeria.

The dates are:
4th to 7th of April 2019 - just 1 spot left - grab the last spot for €525
10th to 13th of October 2019 - 4 spots left

The price is € 600 per person and include: welcome aperitivo, dinner, 2 market to table cooking lessons, aperitivo and pizza dinner. The price does NOT include accommodation in Rome.

Italian Summer Cooking

This course will celebrate all the sun ripened veggies of the summer - not strictly vegetarian - but vegetables will be the main player. During the 3 cooking lesson, we will concentrate on all the delicious anti pasti and primi dishes of the summer - fill the table each night with simple dishes, that you can easily recreate back home. 
We will also visit a local organic farm, that makes some of the best goat's cheese around. We will go for a walk in the stables and talk to Anne-Line about life in the Umbrian country side, see the animals, then of the dairy for a talk about how to make cheese and finally a tasting of the different cheeses produced on the farm.
Wine will also be part of the course - one day we will visit a local biodynamic vine yard - that more or less makes wine, like in the old days - everything is concentrated around the concept, that you should always give more back to the earth than you take. We will go for a walk in the vine yards, talk about this biodynamic way of making wine, then of the the cellar for more info before we sit down for a tasting of the wines.

The dates are:
24th to 28th of July 2019

The price is € 850 per person. This include 4 night stay in a double room, breakfast, welcome dinner, 3 cooking lessons and visits to organic farm and vinery.
​

​

Tuttomato

The summer is still full on and hopefully the garden and the fields are full of sweet tomatoes - this course is all about tomatoes. A part of the course will be all about preserving and canning the tomatoes for the winter to come. Peeled tomatoes and passata for the larder. We will also be making the sicilian sun dried tomato paste - Strattu. Each cooking lesson will be filled with red and sweet tomatoes in various anti pasti, primi, secondi and even sweets.
We will also visit a local vinery for a great tasting of biodynamic wines.

The dates are :
21st to 25th August 2019

The price is € 750 per person and include a 4 night stay in double room, breakfast, welcome dinner, visit to local vinery and 3 cooking lessons.

​

Nostra bella Umbria

Here we pay special focus on our beautiful region of Umbria and all it has to offer - a week long cooking course emerged in Umbria and all its glory. During the 3 cooking lessons we will cook all seasonal food, packed with flavour but still easy to do. Expect lots anti pasti, home made pasta, gnocchi, rich soups a hearty stew, breads and sweets.
One of the mornings we will be spending time with a local guide from Assisi - getting to know this amazing town and all its history and about the legend Francesco of Assisi. This is followed by a rustic country lunch full of grilled meats.
We are also going truffle hunting one morning - we will spend a few hours together with Bruno and his dogs looking for this priced mushroom. All the walking and hunting will have left us hungry - so we will walk to the restaurant for a truffle lunch.
We will also be visiting a vine yard and have a tasting as well as making a visit to a farm with production of organic goat's cheeses.
A busy week - but still time to relax and absorb all the experiences of bella Umbria.

The dates are:

16th until 22nd of September 2019

The price is € 1500 per person - this include a 6 night stay with breakfast, 3 cooking lessons, guided city walk in Assisi with lunch, truffle hunt with lunch, visits to vine yard and farm with tastings.

Happy sunday to you all - sundays are made for sleeping in long, a good book and a cup of milky tea in bed before a good and long breakfast with the sunday paper - well that is the dream - we know it rarely looks like this - but you can always dream.
What we always try to do is go for a long walk - get some fresh air and go for a coffee in the piazza. These days the word "sunny Umbria" isn't really true - this time of year can be freezing cold, foggy, humid and windy - so when we get back from a long walk - a bit cup of tea and some freshly baked cookies are really needed.
Are you a fan of cookies and brownies - well then these crinkle cookies are going to do the trick - they have and almost brownie texture and are so easy to make. You can even make the dough beforehand and just keep it in the fridge for up to 2 days - pure magic. Just perfect for a lazy sunday or when unexpected guests shows up at your door step.

Makes about 20 cookies

175 g dark chocolate, chopped
60 g unsalted butter
175 g flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 fine salt
2 eggs
150 g caster sugar
60 g icing sugar

Melt the chocolate and the butter in a bowl over a small pan of simmering water. Cool slightly. In a separate bowl mix the flour, baking powder and salt.
Beat the eggs and sugar until pale, about 4 minutes. Reduce the heat and add the chocolate mixture. Add the four mixture until blended together. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for 90 minutes or up to 2 days.
When ready to bake preheat your oven to 150c degrees.
Put the icing sugar in a small bowl. Shape the dough into 4 cm balls and roll in the sugar. Place them on baking sheets lined with baking paper and press down lightly with your hand to flatten. Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes.
Let cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.