Travel

To cook like they do in Tuscany
Enoteka №8 2007

A wine tour always includes an introduction to regional cuisine.

This is natural as wine is more often drunk at the table rather than in winemakers’ cellars. On the other hand, it is commonly accepted that the best enogastronomic duets for wines of certain areas are usually made with local food. The simplest way to evaluate synergy between wine and food is to find a good restaurant with an extensive wine list that includes at least a dozen of local producers. This way is attractive in all respects, but one. If, when you return home from the tour, you wish to open a bottle of a favourite wine brought from the trip and recreate an atmospheric dinner, you are very likely not to achieve your dream. The table will be missing the second key element — authentic dishes which made those memorable combinations with wine.

But there may be a way out. Culinary courses which offer introduction to local cuisine are becoming more popular in many winemaking zones. They are aimed at a wide audience and often have several levels depending on how advanced participants’ skills are. It is well worth attending them. Chefs talk about local products and reveal secrets of their cooking. Although no one guarantees that students will cook like Paul Bocuse or Ferran Adria after a day behind kitchen stoves, they gain enough knowledge to cook a substantial and tasty dinner (or even several if the programme is more detailed) and to recreate it at home. One should also mention pleasant secondary effects accompanying these events such as new experience, acquaintances and so on.

Badia a Coltibuono lands lie in the very heart of Tuscany, on high hills of Chianti. This estate is a real jewel that attracts tourists- pilgrims by thousand-year-old buildings of a former Benedictine monastery, magnificent medieval frescos, a large library of old manuscripts and a beautiful garden. Badia a Coltibuono also continues a centuries-long tradition of winemaking. It has a popular restaurant of Tuscan cuisine, too, and a culinary school — an inimitable example of culinary action in the ambiance of a medieval villa.

The school’s history, one of the first of its kind, counts 25 years. It was founded by Lorenza de Medici of the famous aristocratic dynasty — she is best known as author of many culinary bestsellers. In the Вadia a Coltibuono complex there is a room where dozens of publications on food and cooking are gathered, including de Medici’s books. This impressive collection is another asset of the Coltibuono estate.

Today culinary classes are run by Lorenza de Medici’s son Guido Stucchi Prinetti. He admits that he never completed related academic studies but gained experience from his mother, at the family kitchen. Despite the lack of formal education Guido is an authority on Tuscan cuisine — actually, on wine as well. At times he is strongly opinionated (“Best olive oil is made only in Tuscany”), but his easy going style, often peppered with jokes, and practical approach to teaching make him a real star at the Coltibuono kitchen. The courses are mostly popular among foreigners, and Guido’s excellent command of English is his other big advantage in comparison to other chefs. He realises that a culinary class is akin to temporary experience of the Tuscan lifestyle. As such, he is not too strict about some ways of preparing things (“When making a tomato sauce, some chefs remove seeds as it is believed that they may add bitterness to the dish. I don’t do that and even leave green cores”) and about certain techniques (“Aubergines can be fried quickly on high heat or slowly on low heat. It makes no difference — as long as they do get fried”). Some measures of ingredients are outright original (sugar and wine are measured by a half egg shell), but common sense and desire to show the Tuscan cuisine in all its richness prevail.

The course menus vary regularly and depend upon which products were bought on the market, and on the season. In summer, for instance, preference is given to lighter dishes, in other months they may be more intense. Herbs such as basil, sage, oregano and others come directly from the estate’s kitchen garden.

Badia a Coltibuono school offers several options with a one, three and five day programmes. During a one day programme that is held twice a week students cook at least six recipes including bread, first course, a meat course with two side dishes and a dessert. The peak of the day is lunch served in a private dining hall and accompanied by the estate’s wines and olive oil. As an additional bonus, the guests are also taken around the Badia a Coltibuono complex and historic cellars where young wines mature in large barrels and old vintages starting from 1937 rest in bottles covered by a layer of dust.

For three and five day courses students stay in guest rooms which once were monastic cells. The first programme consists of morning and afternoon classes. Visit to the local market is also included. Special attention is given to the culture of wine and to food and wine pairings. A five day course is a true submersion in the Tuscan life when guests are offered regional excursions including a traditional Palio event in Siena in July, and exclusive dinners in finest estates. Wine and olive oil tastings are run, and rare bottles of old vintages can be opened such as Badia a Coltibuono Vin Santo del Chianti Classico 1961.

So what really happens behind thick medieval walls when the students of culinary school gather in the private kitchen of Coltibuono? This is how a one-day course ran this summer.

It is the end of July, and the sun is unbearably hot starting from the morning. The church bell hasn’t yet struck ten when a group of people has gathered in a medieval salon in the villa of Badia a Coltibuono. This is a room with a restrained decor where half of space is taken by an old fireplace. People start talking to each other and examine a selection of books and magazines. Some, led by curiosity, move to the shaded terrace. Soon Guido Stucchi Prinetti, a young guru of the Tuscan cuisine appears in the doorway. He will have several hours to present the Tuscan approach to the class and to teach the students six typical dishes. As a proper chef, he is dressed in a white coat tied — intentionally or not? — with an apron of the colour of a Chianti wine. Students move to the kitchen, they are given branded Badia a Coltibuono aprons, and another day course starts in the Coltibuono culinary school.

The kitchen space is not too big, but it is enough for everyone, and comfortable. Guido stands behind the demonstration table which is raised on a podium and offers a good view from the ‘students’ area. Actually, the kitchen was not specifically designed for the needs of the school, and it remains a focal point of the estate’s private life thus making a link with real Tuscany even more palpable. While the students settle and skip through files with recipes to be cooked today, Guido gives a brief introduction to the Tuscan lifestyle and basic culinary approaches. Questions aren’t there yet, and without wasting time the chef moves onto the practical part.

Three volunteers are called to the table. They will make dough for schiacciata al rosmarino, or rosemary flat bread. The basic recipe features water, yeast and flour and is equally suitable for pizza, foccacia and other types of the so called flat bread. Students are mixing the ingredients. In the meantime Guido answers the question which all visitors to Tuscany invariably ask — why is local bread made unsalted? The students find out that it keeps better this way. In the past families baked it only twice a week. It is traditionally served with sausages or pates, already salty enough.

Schiacciata dough is left to rise, and the students start preparing vegetables for side dishes, fillings and a tomato sauce. A giant colourful mountain of tomatoes, aubergines, peppers, carrots and celery has been resting on the demonstration table. For pepperoni al forno, baked peppers, Guido recommends only red and yellow species motivating his choice by the fact that the green ones are equally green in taste. Peppers are cut along in two halves, cleaned from stalks, seeds and bitter white fibers, put on the tray and sent to oven. When the pepper skins are blistered, they are put in a bowl and covered hermetically with cling film for several minutes. This little trick later helps to remove skins without much effort. Peppers are cut in stripes, mixed with fresh basil, olive oil and some garlic to make them more piquant.

The second garnish is quadrucci di patate al finocchio, or baked potato cubes with fennel seeds. Here the secret is to leave peeled and cubed potatoes in water for at least 20 minutes. Then they are guaranteed to come out crunchy. Guido pours olive oil in the tray, adds potatoes and sprinkles them with fennel seeds.

The tray is put in the oven and forgotten for nearly an hour, until the dish is ready. Guido doesn’t like to turn potatoes more than twice in order not to break it. If the tray is non sticky, this operation is not needed, which is also the case for the Coltibuono kitchen.

Next comes the turn of aubergines which will make a filling for crespelle alle melanzane, or Florentine style crepes with aubergines. Vegetables are cut in cubes and fried together with garlic in olive oil. Guido gives some practical advice here, too. Aubergines are porous and can absorb much oil, but a cook shouldn’t be tempted to keep pouring it in the frying pan as the vegetables will swim in an oil lake later. He also calls for moderation when using garlic. “Contrary to the stereotype, the Italians do not eat much garlic, and add it for aromas rather than flavours”. While aubergines are frying to become golden brown, Guido blanches tomatoes, having crisscrossed the skins so that they can be easily removed. Peeled tomatoes are mashed and sent to a pan with finely cut carrots, celery and onion. The mixture will be cooked into a tomato sauce that will be used in the recipe for crepes.

White peaches are blanched, too. They will form basis of a dessert. They are peeled, cubed and sprinkled with lemon juice to prevent them from going dark.

In the meantime the dough has risen; it is kneaded and distributed between three round forms. Guido decides to make three versions of schiacciata — with rosemary, sea salt crystals and onions. By the way, onions don’t burn if they were previously soaked in water.

During the course students ask Guido about various issues, from electric hobs to organic products. There is also an opportunity to taste olive oil, and a bottle of Albereto arrives. This is organic extra virgin oil made in Badia a Coltibuono from own olives. It is pressed from five different varieties and features a typical Tuscan bitterness which is strongly approved by Guido. At the Coltibuono kitchen extra virgin oil is also used, but, unlike in Albereto, part of harvest is bought from other farmers.

The meat dish of the course is involtini di vitellone alla salvia, veal rolls with sage. There is a heap of thin rectangular pieces of meat on the board. A sage leaf is put on the top of each; meat is rolled and covered with a thin slice of bacon, then fixed with a wooden toothpick. Guido demonstrates the cooking technique frying the rolls in olive oil and then adding some white wine. Meat cooks very quickly — it will be fried at the last moment, just before serving. In order to free some time, one can also fry the rolls lightly and finish them in the oven.

The students return to the first recipe of crespelle with aubergines. Guido makes batter for crepes, using a measure of wholegrain flour for more flavour. Not being afraid of the angered French who would leave the mixture to rest for at least half an hour, the Italian chef starts frying the crepes and invites the students to practice the skill. The aubergines have been fried by now, they are mixed with ricotta, grated parmesan and finely chopped mint. The filling is put in the middle of a crepe, then the crepe is given a form of a little sack and tied with blanched shoot of a spring onion. Crespelle are put in a large form covered with tomato sauce and sent to the oven for a few minutes.

It is finally time to finish the dessert — pesche con crema allo zabaione e amaretti, or peaches with zabaione cream and amaretti biscuits. Guido admits that the dessert is Venetian, but there is Tuscan influence as a typical sweet Tuscan wine Vin Santo is among its ingredients. The peaches are already prepared. Egg yolks, sugar and Vin Santo are whisked over steaming water, then mixed with milk cream.

Three hours are quickly gone, and hungry students teased by the smells of the kitchen are ready to eat their fruits of labour. They are invited to the main lounge for an aperitif. With a glass of rose Cetamura 2006, Badia a Coltibuono negociant brand, they look at wonderfully preserved frescos and listen to a brief story of the estate that was started by the Benedictine monks a thousand years ago. In the meantime Guido finishes the dishes in the kitchen. A few more minutes, and the group is seated in the dining room around a large table. Spirits are lifted, and the food is especially good. The wine is also poured: firstly, red Cancelli 2005, with easy to understand, open flavours of ripe cherries and berries and a silky touch. It wonderfully matches crespelle alle melanzane. Badia a Coltibuono Chianti Classico 2005 is served in wider glasses. This is the wine with supple, intense aromas of violets and cherries and deep, persistent flavours of fruit and minerals. Guido chose this Chianti Classico for the main meat dish. Peach and zabaione dessert is accompanied by Badia a Coltibuono Vin Santo 2001 that was also added to the cream and echoes the dessert flavours.

After the meal the guests move to the salon for a cup of coffee or a grappa digestive. Then, by Guido’s invitation, they go down to Badia a Coltibuono medieval cellars where the estate wines are aged or stored. Large oak barrels fill nearly all the space of dark tunnels, and there is a collection of old wines spanning for seven decades in the middle of the underground kingdom. Guido is an excellent guide. It is probably not so difficult for him as the Stucchi Prinetti family have made wine for the past century and a half, and Guido as a chef deals with wine a lot, too.

The day finishes in the Italian garden, amongst impeccable geometric patterns, vine arches and a small kitchen garden. The impressions settle in the inerasable memory niche, and the material proof presents itself in the form of a diploma with a golden Venerabile Badia a Coltibuono seal and a chef’s hat. Later, at home, another one is added. It is a properly cooked dinner, the one like they make in Tuscany, with that favourite bottle of a Tuscan wine.