Chianti and Cooking

Wednesday was another one of our slow moving mornings.  (After a few weeks of this it might be hard to get up for 8:00 a.m. services.  But God willing...)  We hung around and did some laundry and reading and finally about 2:00 took off for a drive.  We had nothing on the schedule except a 5:00 p.m. appointment in Panzano, a small village about 10 miles south of us.  We decided to see a tiny village that looks over Greve, known as Montefioralle.  It has been voted one of the most beautiful villages in the world, and the trip advisors say we won’t see tourists.  It’s only 2 miles from our town, so seems simple… until we start up the hill.  It is only 2 miles, but 1 of those 2 is straight up!  We go at about a 45 to 55 degree climb for almost a mile -- all in first or second gear.  The road is only wide enough for one car for half the way so I’m nervously praying no one comes the other direction and praying that the car doesn’t stall out.  By the time we get to the top I know why we won’t find tourists!

I’m still not sure it was worth it (because I had to drive!), but the town IS beautiful.  It is the old Greve village from the medieval period when you had to live on top of a mountain to protect your home from invasion.  Because development stopped about the 14th century it still looks like an ancient village with only about 100 people living up there.  There really isn’t anything to do there so sane tourists stay out.  We walked the town a bit and got back on the back roads (the other direction to avoid the mountain).  

We drove Chianti back roads for the next couple of hours.  They were mostly dirt roads going from one small village or winery to another.  Surprisingly there were a lot of people we passed.  There were postcard quality views around every corner.  

At 5:00 we made it to Giulietta Giovannoni’s home, “Fagiolari” in Panzano in Chianti.  Chris and I had booked a Tuscany cooking class for the evening with Giulietta, who is a well-known local chef and teacher.  She has taught at Penn State U before and runs a B&B, publishes cookbooks, and teaches various cooking classes.  We had another couple in our class who became delightful companions for the class and meal.  They were from Melbourne, Australia.  After wine and introductions, we got down to business! 

I won’t describe all the details or this will be long and boring, but suffice to say, we had one of the most fun and delicious and educational evenings ever!  (Ask us and we will bore you with details when we get home.)  The meal which we prepared with Giulietta’s guidance consisted of: homemade spinach ravioli filled with zucchini, ricotta, pine nuts and spices; roasted breast of turkey stuffed with pork sausage, wine and orange; eggplant rolls with fresh mozzarella, tomato, basil and parmesan; and for dessert, an apple torte.  All along it was supplemented with her own red wine from her vineyard…  Molto Buono!  

Ciao!  Bob and Chris