Cooking courses in Italy and the importance of quality ingredients: Interviewing Natoora

Being recently on a cooking holiday with Flavours, I had the chance to find out more about how important it is to use fresh and quality ingredients in your food. Having this in mind, I started looking for the best places to buy fresh food and that's how I discovered Natoora. Natoora is a leading online supplier of fresh food and this month they are offering to all Flavours friends an exclusive offer. Here is a short interview with them:

When did you start Natoora? 

It all started in 2000 with a peach. When Natoora founder, Franco Fubini, overheard a customer in a shop asking for peaches in December, completely out of their natural season - this started a process from which Natoora was born.

What was your motivation to start the business?

The idea was to re-establish the seasons as a natural and logical way of eating. Only in the right season can fruits and vegetables taste at their best. Natoora would give customers access to quality, varied products that would inspire and delight.

We now supply some of London's most renowned restaurants, including Hibiscus, Theo Randall and Dinner by Heston Blumenthal. Since 2005, we have also sold the same quality produce direct to consumers via our website and in 2012 launched a shop within Ocado.com. Most recently, in May 2013, we fulfilled a long held ambition by opening our first retail store in Chiswick, London W4.

How do you source the products?

All our produce is carefully selected by our expert buyers from the best growers and cooperatives in Italy, France and the UK. Having worked with some of the same farmers for many years now, we can ensure incredible consistency, quality and flavour. We select our fruits and vegetables primarily based on taste, believing that taste is a sign of quality and virtuous farming practices. We also produce our own fresh pasta, source the finest charcuterie and cheese from incredible producers, and work with local experts in meat and fish to supply our website customers daily.

What's your favourite recipe?

We are very fond of a Theo Randall pasta recipe featuring our extra sweet datterini tomatoes, taggiasche olives and basil - so simple and flavoursome, it brings summer to your table. You can find it on our blog here

 

Easy cooking classes from Italy - Cream of Limoncello

After the popular previous posts about limoncello we want to give you more cooking classes from Italy and your favourite liquer. Enjoy!

Cream of limoncello is a delicious digestive liquor. You can also prepare a sort of “granatina” with it by just adding chopped ice, or you can use it to garnish ice cream. And it is also often used for sponge cakes! As discussed in our previous post for the limoncello recipe, it is very important to use untreated lemons and avoid low-quality alcohol, otherwise you may find it completely frozen when you take it out of your freezer!

INGREDIENTS

8 lemons

1 kg sugar

0,5 litre of whole milk

0,5 litre of fresh milk cream (panna)

0,5 litre of alcohol at 95°

1 vanilla bean

You will also use:

A glass jar which can close tightly

A cutting board and a knife

A vegetable peeler

A strainer

A glass bottle

First wash the lemons with lukewarm water and then, with the vegetable peeler, cut the zest (don’t take the white part below, it is very bitter!). It is better if you put them on a cutting board and cut them to make them smaller. Then put the lemon zest in the jar and pour 750ml of alcohol. Then close it tightly and let it macerate in a fresh and dark place for a month. Then sift the liquid.

In the meantime boil milk, cream and the vanilla bean (you have to open it first) together. When you are letting it cool remove the thin surface layer and add the sugar. Stir it until the sugar is all melted. When it is cold remove the vanilla bean.

Then mix it with the liquid you had sifted and stir meticulously.

Pour everything into a glass bottle and put it in your freezer. It has to rest 15 days, after that your cream of limoncello will be ready to be served!

Enjoy and remember to check our website for more recipes and ideas for cookery courses in Italy!

 

Rapid Italian cooking classes: How to make limoncello

Even though it is said that there is no unique recipe for limoncello, as every family in Italy usually makes it following their own family recipe (the recipe is passed down through the generations), here we can suggest one of the classic ones we teach in our cooking courses in Italy.   

The preparation is quite simple, but you have to follow the recipe meticulously to taste the yellow liquor in more or less two months. Then you can either sip your limoncello after lunch/dinner as a digestive drink or use it in a tasty dessert or in a colourful fruit salad! If you are interested to find out more about limoncello's history you can find more details here

Limoncello Recipe 

Ingredients: 

10 lemons

1 litre of alcohol at 95°

1,2 kg of sugar

1,5 litre of water

Advice when choosing the ingredients:

-If you do not have Italian lemons, please choose at least untreated lemons to make limoncello.

-Since limoncello has to be kept in the freezer before serving, it is very important not to use low-quality alcohol, because it will freeze!

You will also need:

A glass jar which can close tightly

A cutting board and a knife

A vegetable peeler

A strainer

A glass bottle

 

The first thing to do is to wash the lemons with luke warm water and then, with the vegetable peeler, cut the zest. Pay attention not to take the white part below, because it is very bitter and it will change the final flavour of your limoncello. It is better if you put them on a cutting board and cut them to make them smaller. Then put the lemon zest in the jar and pour 750ml of alcohol. Close the lid tightly and let it macerate in a fresh and dark place for a month. 

A month later you have to boil 1,5 litre of water and then add the sugar. Stir until the sugar is all melted. Then let it cool.When it is cool pour it in the jar with the zests. Add also the remaining 250ml of alcohol.Then leave the jar to rest for 40 days in a dark place.When the time is ready, just open the jar and sift the liquid. Pour it in a glass bottle.

Then put it in your freezer, so it will always be chilled enough to   offer to guests whenever you want!

Cheers!

And make a toast to Flavours Holidays too!

LIMONCELLO: a beam of sunlight after your Italian meal

One of the most usual questions of our guests in a cooking holiday in Italy is about the local food culture. A very interesting example is when and how Italians enjoy a very popular liquer, the limoncello. 

After a lavish meal Italians usually have an espresso and then an after dinner/lunch drink or digestive, colloquially said ammazzacaffè or coffee killer, because it “kills” the flavour of the coffee and aids the digestion. For this reason in restaurant menus in Italy you will find them under the name “digestive”, but in trattorie and cafés you will always hear the more common and convivial word ammazzacaffè.

One of the most typical “coffee killers” is limoncello, a fresh lemon liqueur. Italy is the world’s largest producer of lemons, harvesting them most of the year; this is probably why Italians have found this pleasing way to use the abundant fruit.

Limoncello was first produced in Southern Italy, overall in the area of the Gulf of Naples, in fact one of the most famous limoncello is the one which is made with lemons from the Sorrentine peninsula. In particular the Amalfi coast is one of the most important centres of the limoncello production. Now it is quite spread throughout Italy (even if in the Northern regions it is more common to drink grappa as after meal drink, probably dued to the weather implication, limoncello is quite refreshing and it is perfect for warmer areas such as the South, the centre and the islands while in the North is usually colder) and now it has become the second most popular drink after Campari.

The actual history of limoncello is not clear: some say it has spread at the turn of the 19^th century, when the wealthy Sorrentine families started to serve it as a special treat to their guests; some say that the monks invented it, others say that the inventors were fishermen, who drank a shot of limoncello it as a way to fight the cold of the nights fishing in the sea. What it is sure is that limoncello has only been commercially produced in the last century.

 

It is a very fresh liqueur, usually kept and served ice cold, and it is ideal after a summer meal in which you had enjoyed fish dishes! Its distinctive yellow colour derives from the infusion of lemon zests in pure alcohol.

Actually there is not a unique recipe for limoncello but they are all unique, since every family makes it following their preference and the family tradition (usually the recipe passed on through generations, Italians love cooking “as Granma did”).

It is quite common to find another version of limoncello, the “Cream of Limoncello”, a delectable cream liqueur. The difference with the regular version is that the cream is thicker, sweeter and paler but what both have in common is the fresh and delicious taste.

All over Italy there are many local shops that show in their window innumerable attractively-shaped bottles of limoncello, and in many of them you will be offered a tasting of what you surely will want to bring back home and share it with your family and friends. So even when you come back home from Italy and it is raining, you can always enjoy a beam of Italian sunlight after your meal: limoncello.

So, if you like to learn more about the Italian food culture and taste the authentic Italian limoncello, why not join us on a cooking holiday in Amalfi?

 

An Italian chef’s guide to the Tuscan flavours

Spending a few days in a cookery course in Italy next to our Italian chef, was a great chance to interview him and ask to share his secrets on the Tuscan region menu.

We gathered your most frequent questions and here is your guide on how to order like an Italian on a cookery holidays in Tuscany.

Aperitivo

Aperitivo in Italian refers to the drink you should have before your meal. Enjoy an aperitivo in a piazza before your meal to stimulate your appetite.

Antipasti

Antipasti means before the meal and is a selection platter that complements the aperitivo. Antipasto comprises of a variety of appetizers like cheese and smoked meats but also local specialities in small portions. Make sure your antipasto in Tuscany will include salame Toscano and Toscan pecorino with chestnut honey! 

Primi

Primi refers to the first course and there are lots of local specialties you can choose from. Our favourite one is Papa al pomodoro, a classic Tuscan soup with tomato and thick pieces of bread or Ribollita – a traditional soup made with seasonal vegetables, such as cabbage, beans and potatoes is also highly recommended.

Secondi

The main course in Tuscany is typically meat as the region is characterised by a large variety of meat dishes that are always enriched with locally grown olive oil and olives. A classic choice that won’t let you down is GalloLivornese alla cacciatora.

 Dolci

Finish your meal with Tuscan style and enjoy a local dessert. I admit; it was extremely difficult to choose only one but I would highly recommend chestnut flour cake with fresh seasonal fruits and chocolate! Deliciozo!

Italian cooking classes: the Italian food culture and how to engage all senses

The Italians’ philosophy about food is to indulge in flavours that will satisfy all your senses including sight, smell, hearing and touch-not only taste.

Great you may say but how can we manage to engage all senses only by cooking one dish?

Read the tips below for some rapid cookery courses in Italy and cheat your guests that you’ve been taught by an Italian chef!

Smell: Italians refuse to use processed flavourings like vegetable cubes as using fresh ingredients is a vital rule of Italian food. Go to a food market to buy your ingredients rather than supermarkets. Close your eyes and focus on smelling your veggies and fruits - a golden rule to pick up the best!

Touch: Touching your ingredients with care when you do the food preparation is far more important for the end result than most people think. Take the time to cut your veggies properly and be sure that they will bring up all their unique flavours.

 

Hearing: Hearing how your food cooks is a basic rule of Italian cooking classes to help you understand if the process you have followed is correct.

Top tip: Use your hearing when cooking allacacciatora – very typical in Italian style cuisine where you include wine in the sauce. You will be able to tell that the sauce is almost ready when you hear the wine evaporates.

Sight: Cooking in Italy depends very much on seasonal and local produce - adopt this perspective to create dishes that will appeal to the eye and impress. A guide to that is the colours of each season - for example in spring you would use green vegetables like asparagus, artichokes and green beans to cook risotto garmugia.

Taste: Cooking courses about Italy wouldn’t be complete if we don’t emphasize the secret to tasty food. Avoid using too much of everything- contrary to what you think you don’t need to use lots of salt to enhance the taste of your food! Remember - less is more!

BUON APETITO!