Cooking

Chef Jens

Grand Chefs Class
Developing a full menu together with Jens Schmidt over 5 days. You will be confronted with each aspect of Italian cooking and will learn to make creative choices depending on the season and the availability of best ingredients at the time of your course. The course will include a general introduction on a typical Tuscan menu and its ingredients. You will witness the importance of local purveyor relationships, experience shopping at specialty markets (only for early Birds), and develop the general outlay of the menu upon the purchases made. Each day you will learn how to prepare one course of a 4 course menu ending in the tasting of your daily achievements. This will include 1. Antipasti, cold and warm 2. Pasta handmade 3. Secondo Piatto or Main course based on fish and meat 4. Dolce (Dessert). On day 5 you will cook the whole menu for a fellow student and enjoy his meal prepared for you in exchange. Classes are limited to 6 participants.
 
Avanti Tutti
This course explores the full variety and fun of Tuscan Antipasti. Divided into three sections, you will learn how to make the most out of fresh garden vegetables, distinguish in detail all of what the Tusacn Salumeria has to offer, and prepare some of Italy's most delicious seafood based appetizers. You will never need to cook a main course again! From ricotta stuffed zucchini flowers to fried sage leaves, shrimp wrapped in 'lardo', fresh cut soppressata and capocollo, this course catches the most of the true Tuscan farmer's spirit.
 
Available as 1, 2 or 3 day class, maximum 8 participants
 
Pasta Works
It may seem hard to believe, but this may be the hardest of all courses. Making pasta! Jens Schmidt will put you next to that pasta machine forever, as a simple recipe is not enough to succeed. Pasta is the most sensual of all preparations of Italian cooking. It just has to feel right, while you kneed the dough, while you flatten it with the help of the pasta machine, when you cut and fold it into just the right shape and then it has to cook for just the right time. All this for only a few seconds of pleasure at the table, but how many things can go wrong! And than there is the sauce or 'sugo' in Italian. The dressing of the pasta. Yes, "dressing" as no Italian would think of the 'sugo' as being more important than the pasta itself. Tagliatelle, Tagliolini, Tortelli, Tortellini and many more will be prepared and enjoyed during the class.
 
Available as 1, 2 or 3 day classes, maximum 6 participants
 
Herbal incentives: Garden Cooking
Italy's sun translates into a paradise of ripe and wonderful vegetables. Here is how to use them. Many of Italy's courses can easily do without meat and fish! How about Tomatoes three ways: Puree, Gelatin and Soup.  Jens will show you the importance of Olive Oil in Tuscan cooking and how olive oil is not only healthy but changes the consistency and enhances the flavor of each ingredient. Encounter the world of beans which will lead straight into the world of soups and that will lead to the king of all soups the 'Ribollita'. Add to that your free choice of five different kinds of Thyme, six different kinds of Rosemary, several types of Sage, Estragon and Fennel all grown in the Gardens at Montecastelli and you will be working on a menu that could last forever. The availability of the ingredients is depending on the season.
 
Available as 1, 2 or 3 day classes, maximum 8 participants
 
Dolce!
From Dolce simple and dry to sophisticated Dolce prepared to the minute. Many Tuscan dessert preparations have conquered the world. You will learn how to prepare them in the true Tuscan style: Cantucci, Crostata, Zuccotto, Panna Cotta, Bavarese alle Castagne, Fior di Latte con i Cachi. That is not all, as you will be encouraged to come up with your own recipes depending upon what is fresh.
Vin Santo ice-cream - why not?
 
Available as 1, 2 or 3 day classes, maximum 8 participants