Italy is known for great food. A great way to experience Italian cooking is to take a cooking class. This is a popular thing to do in Italy and there are many options to choose from. You can find a class in almost any city in Italy and pick one that fits your schedule. They fill up fast though, so be sure to book ahead.

Our first experience with a cooking class in Italy was a few years ago when we visited Sorrento. I had not booked far enough ahead and had trouble finding a cooking class that would work for our itinerary. Luckily, I found a class scheduled for our last night in Sorrento at the Quanto Basto cooking school. The school is located in the central area of Sorrento- very easy walk from our hotel. Inside there is a large kitchen that opens up to a dining area with a long dining table and chairs. The ceiling is decorated with hanging bunches of tomatoes, peppers, and garlic. There were 10 of us in the cooking class and that was very manageable. Antonio (Tony) was our instructor along with his assistants.

In our class we prepared a meal of meatballs and gnocchi with tomato sauce and a tiramisu for dessert. Everyone had the chance to participate in preparing the meal. Some of us preferred to drink wine and take notes (that was my role). We learned several new skills in this class. Making the gnocchi was something that we had never tried before. It was a bit labor intensive- you need a lot of hand and arm strength to get all of those potatoes through a ricer! When rolling out the dough it was important to make sure that they were all the same size.

We often cook meatballs and tomato sauce at home, but Tony gave us some tips that we have put to use in our own kitchen now. One tip was to make sure that your olive oil is heated to a med high temp before adding the meatballs to the pan, that way the meatballs will not taste greasy. The other tip was to add only one herb at a time and then taste the sauce before adding more. Too many herbs can overpower the food.

After we finished preparing the meal, we all sat down to enjoy the outcome with another glass of wine.

We had such a fun experience at our cooking class that when we returned to Italy this year, we decided to try another one. This time we were in Lucca where we scheduled a class with Extra Virgin Cooking School. We met our host and instructor, Guiseppe, at 9:00 am in a small piazza in central Lucca. He led us to several shops where he purchased ingredients for the lunch that we would prepare that day. We stopped at one shop to buy focaccia, a small market for vegetables, and a wine shop.

After shopping we proceeded to Guiseppe’s home where we prepared our meal. There were 8 of us in this class and it felt very intimate working together in Guiseppe’s kitchen. Our menu included an appetizer of a timbale accompanied by salad greens and fresh tomatoes, an entree of asparagus risotto and gnudi in tomato sauce, followed by a custard with fresh berries. As we were working on the meal, we tasted different types of focaccias paired with a variety of olive oils, pecorino cheeses, and honeys. Guiseppe is a very hands-on instructor and made sure that every person took part in preparing the meal.

We started our class with glasses of prosecco as we all introduced ourselves. Guiseppe is very knowledgeable about different wines from the region and introduced us to several different ones throughout the class. We sipped on Vermentino while we worked in the kitchen and sampled some excellent Chianti with our meal.

I was not familiar with timbale before this class. The one we made was a custard like dish with zucchini, garlic, egg, and parmesan baked in individual ramekins. It was delicious! I am definitely going to try to make this at home. Our main course was gnudi in tomato sauce accompanied by a risotto made with asparagus and truffle butter. Risotto is a dish I am familiar with, but I had never heard of gnudi. Gnudi is similar to gnocchi except it is made with ricotta cheese instead of potatoes. Guiseppe tried to teach us how to form the gnudi using two spoons to make a small football shape. Most of us were not very good at it, but we had a lot of laughs as we attempted it. Guiseppe was very meticulous in preparing the food and taught us new techniques.

After working so hard in the kitchen, we all sat down at a beautifully decorated table in the dining room to enjoy our meal. We enjoyed delicious food, excellent wine, and a wonderful camaraderie with our classmates.

This was one of my favorite experiences in all of my travels. I highly recommend that you find a cooking class to take part in when you travel to Italy.