Cooking classes and vacations in Puglia Italy

We are back from three fantastic days in Milan where we attended an International Culinary Conference with some of the most important Italian, French and International chefs, such as Alain Ducasse, Moreno Cedroni, Andrea Berton, Frank Cerutti, just to mention a few.
I and Marika now have only one certainty! There is not a unique way to cook pasta. Each acclaimed Italian chef has his own theory on what the best way to cook pasta is.
Alain Ducasse even said that his restaurant in Tuscany will be the only one in Italy, because Italians have too many different views on how to cook pasta!!

Of course there are some features all Italian chefs agree on:
- sea salt must be added to water before the pasta;
- it must be coarse sea salt;
- olive oil must not be added to water when cooking dry durum wheat pasta!
- Italian pasta must be eaten “Al dente“.

However, there are as many ways to make an Al dente pasta as the number of acclaimed Italian chefs!
It is not just a question of “gnocchi and pasta with eggs” versus “dry pasta without eggs”.

Within the dry pasta category, there are so many theories on how long pasta should be cooked for, how to drain it, what to do before putting it on the plate and serving it.

Even a simple “Spaghetti with tomato sauce” requires so much consideration, care and thought …if you want to reach the most delicious and tasty result.

And you, how do you make the “al dente” pasta? how long do you cook spaghetti pasta for? what do you do before serving on the plate and bringing on the table?

Our guests attending our cooking classes in Puglia are always surprised at the fact that in the Pugliese cuisine we use garlic in a very delicate way.

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In Puglia, to have fresh tomatoes when it is not the season we prepare the so called Pendola tomatoes. In the summer we pick the tomatoes with the vine. We hang the tomatoes with the vine on a rope and store them in a cool environment. The skin turns hard but the juice stays inside! Then in the winter, we simply roast them: the skin breaks down and the tomatoes release all the juice and the taste of the sun!

Do you have any other way to suggest to preserve vegetables and tomatoes?

What to cook and what NOT to cook!

The extra virgin olive oil is the key of the Mediterranean cuisine. The extra virgin olive oil (which by definition means it is fruity….otherwise it can’t be “extra” virgin!) adds its fruity taste to your dish, without covering the original taste of the ingredients.: eggplants will still taste like eggplants; fava beans will still taste like fava beans etc.

For more information, please contact us at: info.stile@gmail.com

Buying ingredient at the farmer market!

The quality of the ingredients you use to prepare a dish is what makes the real difference in your plate and most of all …in your mouth!!
Buying your ingredients at the market is a really good investment, which will definetely result in a more tasteful dish, certainly appreciated by your beloved ones and friends.
A very fresh ingredient has lots of taste, which means that you don’t have to add any sauce or dressing to give flavor to your dish.
Also a very fresh ingredient does not need to be cooked for too long and in this way you preserve all the good properties and vitamines it may contain.
Moreover, a very important feature is that at the market you usually find local products produced by the local farmers. Every season you find different vegetables and fruit and every season you can prepare different seasonal recipes. Creativity and variety is one of the beauties of cooking!
This is why Puglia cuisine is very simple but SO delicious at the same time. The region is a big producer of all vegetables you can think of (artichokes, eggplants, zucchini), tomatoes, fish, durum wheat, legumes. In Puglia, all ingredients are cooked in a very simple way…but the result is always terrific.

Finally, not everybody has the time to go to the market every day. Then, how do you store your ingredients? or how can you have “fresh” ingredients out of the season, without importing them?
In Puglia, for example, we produce lots of tomatoes in the summer. To have fresh tomatoes in the winter (without making them dry), we prepare the so called Pendola tomatoes in the summer.
Also, in Puglia we produce lots of vegetables in the summer, such as eggplants, zucchini and bell peppers. We preserve them in extra virgin olive oil..so that when the winter comes we still have the local vegetables bought at the local market.