Oh Well… Where to start?
What about being in Italy, looking at the beautiful Tuscany countryside mountains, drinking wine & making fresh nana’s pasta recipes? Better than that – just the part where we ate what we have made – in the end – accompanied by a lavender panna cotta with a espresso. Salute!
This pasta making class is a true Italian cooking experience in Florence.
What an unforgettable experience. Hence, what I will remember the most, is the love you feel from the hosts and the unpredictable closeness from the other (complete strangers) participants of the class. Them, from all around the world, we all became intimate friends for a day, by sharing of the most understood language in the world: food. In this case, our carb loaded yummiest Italian tradition – PASTA!
This authentic cooking class experience hosted by Luca and Lorenzo started by all of us meeting at the train station in Florence, where we took a train to the chef’s house. It was only 15 minutes away and the train ride was already included in the class price. The home of LoveXfood is a beautiful restored old farmhouse which preserves its rustic character, but with a modern inside. The view overlooking the Chianti hills is peaceful and quiet. The garden that surrounds it is encircled by aromatic plants, a vegetable garden and fruit trees where the chickens run around free.
The chefs & hosts Luca & Lorenzo are so accommodating, charismatic and knowledgeable about food.
Both grew up watching their grandma to make fresh pasta and although with a background in the fashion world, they realized their real passion is to work with food and its traditions. You can feel how they enjoy what they do and the attention to detail in each class experience.
We started our cooking class experience by picking our fresh eggs and seasonings & lavender from their gardens. Right after, we set down on a long table outside in the porch to appreciate a fresh made espresso and some homemade Italian cookies while introducing each other to the group. Also at that time the menu was announced:
– Panna cotta (choices from lavender, hazelnut or coffee flavor)
– Spaghetti Carbonara
– Ravioli (truffle & ricotta filling) w/ sage & brown butter sauce
Wow… when I heard of the dishes we were going to cook my mouth was watering and I started making the math in my head (“how long of the wait till the final sacrifice of tasting it all?”). The fun then began and we then started to get our hands dirty kneading the pasta dough made with 3 simple ingredients (fresh eggs, flour and water).
We made everything from the scratch, the pasta, the filling, the sauce.
The simplicity of the recipes explains the beauty of the flavors and the fresh ingredients. Not one dish had more than 3 ingredients (for either the pasta, filling, sauce & dessert) and each one popped on your palate like they were still in the garden. With all of the products being genuine and locally produced – I honestly have never made such a simple recipe that tasted as good and as fresh as that.
In between each phase of the cooking class (from making the pasta, filling & dessert) we were cherished with wine, snacks & traditional Italian cookies. You definitely have more than enough to eat, plus the big reward are 2 big pasta plates and a dessert that will get you full for lunch and dinner.
In the end, we all set down in the porch and ate together under the same hypnotic flavors of that beautiful meal, sharing life experiences and adding each one a different flavor to the experience by telling a story of their own. I will remember the words said by one of the chef:
“If we pause for a moment to think about many important moments of our lives we will realize that most of them have occurred around a table.”
I completely agree with their statement and need to add to it – cooking should be a magical moment! You are dedicating your time to create something, to nourish someone’s body at the same time we are attempting to viscerally please them with our skills.
Although I was not hungry for food anymore towards the beginning of the afternoon, I was curious in regards to the Tuscan food. Lorenzo described to me: ”The food in Tuscany is more rustic. We make a lot of soups, with lots of vegetables and chickpeas. The steaks or any other meat that you will get here will be very countryside made. It’s cooked for only few minutes on the grill which will give you a more rare & bloody prepared steak.” Just how we “gauchos” from the south of Brazil like our steaks. I wouldn’t have a thing to complain.
When asking Lorenzo about the most important thing in regards to Italian food in general, he stated: “The quality of the ingredients, for sure. Italian recipes are not hard to make but the secret is to have only few, but great ingredients. Also, Love & Passion! “
Luca addition was “Lots of love!”. You can definitely feel the deep but simple love for food on what they do. Luca & Lorenzo definitely made that cooking class experience a magical moment for me. You won’t find a more authentic Italian cooking class than that. Everything was great, from beginning to end.
If you are in Florence or planing on traveling there you can book their cooking class online on their website www.lovexfood.com or by emailing them at lovexfooditaly@gmail.com . They also have it available on the Airbnb experiences or on TripAdvisor. I highly recommend them if you would like to have an authentic Italian cooking class and pasta making experience in the Chianti Hills in Florence with two amazing chef’s & hosts.
