Cooking classes and vacations in Puglia Italy

In Puglia we don’t define ourserselves as vegetarian people, but we certainly eat lots of vegetables, legumes and dishes which would be perfect for vegetarians.

This may be due to the fact that in Puglia we produce lots of vegetables (in fact we are also known as the garden of Italy); or to the fact that, having a sunny and warm weather for most of the year, we prefer eating simple and fresh dishes, not rich in proteins and fats.

Lots of our dishes do not include any meat at all, but just cheese, eggs and vegetables: from eggplant balls (similar to meat balls, but made with eggplants instead of meat), to eggplant parmigiana, to fava broad beans and chicories.

When we do have meat, we would never have a steak (Puglia is definetely not the region where to go to if you like steaks!). Meat will always be a sort of side dish to all the vegetables we have at any meal: from zucchini, to eggplants and bell peppers prepared in all the possible ways.

One of the most interesting things about the cuisine of Puglia, is that even at the end of a meal we would have a plate of vegetables. If the French end up their meal with a plate of that delicious cheese, in Puglia we finish our meal with a plate of crudité: from cucumbers, to carrots and fennels (when in season). These are all vegetables that facilitate digestion. However, I would say that the main reason why we do that is to spend more time at the table!

If you come to Puglia, you find cucumbers at any market from June to October. They are very sweet and very different from the more bitter cucumbers you may find in other regions.

They are very delicious, dressed with just a bit of fruity extra virgin olive oil, sea salt and black pepper. They are also very nice when added to a tomato salad.

One of the reasons why Puglia has become one of the most famous regions in Southern Italy is certainly the Pizzica or Taranta dance, which is very popular in the Salento area. Salento is the southern part of Puglia.

Also, the Wall Street Journal recently dedicated a wonderful article to the Pizzica dance, its origins and the Salento area.

If you have a chance to come to the Salento area from May to September, you may easily have a chance to attend a Pizzica dance event in Lecce or Galatina. Usually these events take place in the main square and are free to visitors. After a few minutes of hearing the pizzica music, it will be very tempting to start dancing!

Every August, there is also the famous Notte della Taranta festival which features events every night for the whole month, in the Grecia Salentina or Greek Salento, a part of the Salento area which includes towns such [...] Continue Reading…

Puglia is one of the best regions to go to if you love fresh, tasty and delicious tomatoes.
From June to the end of September, at any market or any street corner in Puglia, you see all the local farmers selling their own fresh and organic tromatoes.
You can buy fresh tomatoes by the kilo or, if you plan on making the traditional tomato sauce preserved in jars for the winter (salsa di pomodoro), you can also buy the whole basket. In this case, you will certainly receive a price discount!

If you are an early morning person, you can also go to the countryside and pick the fresh tomatoes yourself or together with the farmer.

How nice is it to eat the fresh tomatoes that you picked yourself a few hours earlier?

This year, also I and Marika experimented with planting tomatoes at our parents’ garden. We had a small production, but it is so nice to make a [...] Continue Reading…

It’s the 10th August (and by the way, it’s my birthday!) and in Puglia we are enjoying a wonderful summer. The weather is just perfect, sunny but not too hot. Our white sandy beaches are more and more popular. And Puglia has become one of the trendiest and top destinations in Italy for food and wine lovers.
If you are planning to visit Puglia and you just found our blog, you may find interesting reading some of our favorite posts:

About Puglia

aperitif time: raw sea urchins!
millenary olive trees in Puglia
how to order a meal in Puglia
delicious figs from Puglia
fresh burrata
where to have the best seafood in Puglia
best ice cream to have in Puglia if you want to be local: the spumone
Altamura durum wheat bread
food fairs in Puglia: delicious meat
the taranta festival in Puglia
trulli houses in Alberobello and Valle Itria
best places to see in Puglia
hiking in Porto Selvaggio

About Lecce

Living the dolce vita [...] Continue Reading…

Having lived in so many different countries, I am lucky enough to have local friends almost everywhere. Whenever I take holidays from my cooking classes in Puglia and I travel, I always make sure I go and visit them. So I am very spoiled, because I get to visit the world with local people who take me to the most authentic places and best restaurants and order for me the most local and delicious food.

Whenever, it happened to me not to have such help I always been a bit disappointed with the food I ordered.

Loving food and wine so much, I can never have enough. Even when I am on holiday I am always interested in trying different foods and wines. I believe cuisine and wine are such a wonderful way to learn about the local culture and traditions.

Because Puglia is still an undiscovered place and because not many people speak English in best local restaurants, [...] Continue Reading…

One of the best things to do when traveling on holiday to Puglia is attending a wine tasting tour and visiting the many excellent wineries the region is famous for.

For thousands of years Puglia has been a very famous region for its wines and viticulture. 2000 years B.C. the Phoenicians started producing wines in Puglia. Then the Greeks, more than 2000 years ago, brought the Negroamaro and the Aglianico. Also, the Romans really liked the wines produced in the fertile region of Puglia. In the 19th century Puglia was known as the “cellar of Italy”, providing big quantities of wines to Northern Italy and to other European regions.

When visiting Puglia wineries, you will be really impressed with the variety of indigenous and very ancient grapes.

Starting from the North of Puglia, you will find very interesting grape varieties such as: Nero di Troia, Aglianico, Fiano, Moscato di Trani, Bombino Nero and Bombino Bianco.

Going South, Salento is one of [...] Continue Reading…

If you ever come to Puglia and Southern Italy you will certainly notice that there are many people and women in particular who live up to 100 years and in very healthy conditions.
Certainly the slow and relaxed Mediterranean lifestyle has a big influence on this: everybody goes back home for lunch, eats with the family and takes a little nap before going back to work at 5pm.

However, the Mediterranean diet is one of the main reasons why women and people in general, live so long. One of the most important features of the Mediterranean diet and cuisine is that people eat a combination of carbs, proteins, and fats at every meal (breakfast, lunch, dinner). What is extremely important is that, everything is eaten in moderation and that focus is on GOOD carbs, proteins and fats.

In Puglia extra virgin olive oil is used almost for everything, even for sweets. Lots of vegetables are eaten at every meal. Proteins [...] Continue Reading…

Puglia is certainly one of the best places in Italy where to go to if you like eating super fresh seafood, crustaceans and shellfish.

Because in Puglia, we also think that food should be local and eaten where it is produced, you will eat the best seafood in places, such as Gallipoli, Otranto, Polignano a Mare, Torre a mare, which are beautiful sea side towns.

When you look for best seafood in Puglia, there is something you should definetely not miss and that you can only find in Gallipoli: the famous big red shrimps from Gallipoli (which look more like prawns)!

The best way to prepare them is to bake in sea salt crust, as if it was a sea bass or sea bream.

BIG RED SHRIMPS BAKED IN SEA SALT CRUST

INGREDIENTS
2 servings
1 lb 3 oz big red shrimps from Gallipoli
coarse rock salt (as necessary)
PREPARATION
Preheat the oven at 425°F.
Wash the shrimps. Place a layer of sea salt on the bottom [...] Continue Reading…

June is one of the best months to visit a food market in Puglia. There are so many colours and flavours as all farmers start selling their delicious and sweet summer fruit and vegetables.

Being Puglia and Southern Italy, also known as the “garden of Italy”, we produce all kinds of seasonal fruit and vegetables, which are also distributed to Northen Italy.

A fruit that is really special in Puglia in June is the ”fiorone” (literally, big flowers), which is a type of fig.

Fig season in Puglia is from August to September, where you can find the most delicious and sweet figs.

Fiorone are sort of early figs and you can find them only in June (their production last for about 2 weeks). They are much bigger than figs you find in August.

Even though they are a little bit less sweet than those in August, it is such a joy to be able to eat figs in June.

They can be green or [...] Continue Reading…

Summer has definetely arrived in Puglia and we have been experiencing unusual warm temperatures for the whole week.

This also means that we can also finally find all the super delicious summer fruit.

Marika has been making all sorts of fruit salads, which not only are very delicious, but also very refreshing and healthy.

Today she made a fruit salad with cantaloupe melon and pineapple.

She says this is the best fruit salad to have on a very hot day, like today!

Due to its water and mineral content, this juicy and fresh salad made of cantaloupe melon and pineapple can help rehydrate our body on such a warm day!

Pineapples and cantaloupe melons are perfect for salads, juices, fruit cocktails, snacks and also if you like decorating with fruit. We tried to make a swan using just  toothpick!

Cantaloupe melons have lots of other health benefits. They are a good source of potassium and are rich in anti-oxidants that can help prevent cancer and heart disease. They are very rich in Vitamin C, beta-carotene and Vitamin B complex.

Pineapples [...] Continue Reading…

In three days the World Cup starts and everybody in Puglia is getting ready for it with lots of good luck rituals!
You may know that in Southern Italy we are very superstitious.
I and Marika will make this simple and delicious recipe to support our Italian team, the Azzurri!
It is made with rice, potatoes, zucchini and tomatoes.
We chose this recipe because it has the Italian flag colours (white, green and red). We chose a blue plate like our Italian team’s t-shirt!

The deal is that if we win the first match (Italy vs Paraguay) on June 14th, I and Marika will be making and eating rice, zucchini and tomatoes on all the following matches …..until the final on July 11th!

RECIPE

4 servings

INGREDIENTS:
- 5 small potatoes (small size)
- 3 zucchini
- 7 oz rice
- 15 cherry tomatoes
- 1/2 white onion
- pinch of sea salt
- a few mint leaves
- pinch of black pepper
- 1 [...] Continue Reading…

Stile Mediterraneo Cooking School Puglia celebrates its fifth anniversary in 2010!

Because of such an important event, we are hosting special PIZZA, FOCACCIA and BREAD cooking classes at our cooking school in Puglia.

On these days, cooking classes will focus on the preparation of traditional Italian pizza, bread and focaccia from Puglia.

Classes will be at a very special price! Contact us at info.stile@gmail.com to book a place.

Dates:

June 19, 2010

July 9, 2010

September 19, 2010.

Hope you will join us!

If you are interested in our Pasta days click here!

For more information about our cooking classes please visit the Stile Mediterraneo Cooking School Calendar or subscribe to our newsletter.

Stile Mediterraneo is ranked #1 Best Thing to do in Puglia on Tripadvisor!

Stile Mediterraneo Cooking School Puglia celebrates its fifth anniversary in 2010!

Because of such an important event, we are hosting special PASTA cooking classes at our cooking school in Puglia.

On these days, cooking courses will focus on the preparation of traditional Italian pasta from Puglia: from egg tagliatelle; to durum wheat semolina orecchiette; durum wheat semolina cavatelli; stuffed ravioli and gnocchi.

Classes will be at a very special price!  Contact us at info.stile@gmail.com to book a place.

Dates:

June 13 and June 26, 2010

July 2, 2010

September 12, 2010.

Hope you will join us!

If you are interested in our pizza, focaccia and bread days click here!

For more information about our cooking classes please visit the Stile Mediterraneo Cooking School Calendar or subscribe to our newsletter.

Stile Mediterraneo is ranked #1 Best Thing to do in Puglia on Tripadvisor!

We are in May, the weather in Puglia is wonderful and I and Marika are pleased to announce that our ice cream season has officially started!

Italy is certainly the right place for ice creams lovers. Also, in Puglia there are many ice cream artisans (or artists!) who make delicious ice creams, using only the best ingredients. Hazelnut is our favorite flavor, but we also like pistachio, dark chocolate and lemon. We love ice creams by the cone or the nocciolino (ice cream with warm espresso coffee on top).

However, what Italians from Puglia really die for when we come to ice creams, is the spumone. This is something not to be missed on your gourmet holiday in Puglia! Coming to Puglia and not having a spumone would be (almost!) like going to Rome and not seeing the Trevi Fountain!

Spumone ice cream is made of different ice cream layers (usually chocolate, hazelnut and zabaione) and has a little sponge cake with toasted hazelnuts in the middle. [...] Continue Reading…

The beauty of the cuisine of Puglia is that you can prepare very delicious dishes without spending too much time in the kitchen. As always, the key is to use fresh and very high quality ingredients. So basically if you want to save time in the kitchen, you should spend a little extra time looking for the right ingredients.

Today I and Marika want to share this recipe which we guarantee will impress your guests on a dinner party! We love this recipe, first because it is very tasty and second because you can serve it cold, so you can prepare it in advance and enjoy your dinner with your guests!

As always we got inspired by what’s in season now in Puglia and Italy: the fresh green peas!

You also need very small calamari. Please note that it is very important the calamari are fresh and not frozen.

RECIPE

4 servings

INGREDIENTS:
- 500 grams fresh green peas (small [...] Continue Reading…