Gluten Free Cooking Class in Tuscany, Italy

Gluten Free Cooking Class Tuscany

It turned out that Ry and I had our own private cooking class at the Agriturismo Podere San Lorenzo and the menu was entirely senza glutine.  Does it get much better than that?  Well, yes it does once you know what we cooked and how delicious everything tasted!  The night before our class, we were told that we were going to be cooking for everyone eating dinner at the Agriturismo that evening, as well as the staff, so eight people in total.  That was a bit scary, but thankfully we had our incredible teacher and chef Marianna to help guide us.  I’ve never done a hands-on cooking class before; I must admit it was so nice not having to do any of the prep or cleanup!  We had such an enjoyable three hours in the tiny chapel that the class was in.  There was laughter and intense discussion on food while the homemade red wine kept flowing.  These are the courses that we helped to prepare, with the close direction and help by Marianna.

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Paradise in Volterra, Toscana

One of many picnic lunches on the gorgeous grounds

We spoiled ourselves a bit on this trip.  As Ry said we were only going for two weeks so that meant we could spend more money!  Well, not exactly.  But after such a hectic year working on a big project, I needed the first leg of our trip to be very relaxing.  So we thought the hills and olive groves of Toscana would do the trick.  We found the lovely Agriturismo Podere San Lorenzo by a top recommendation by none other than our go to Lonely Planet.  We rented a car specifically so that we could get to this gorgeous hideout.

There were so many wonderful aspects of the Agriturismo: peacefulness, beautiful views and secluded.  But one of the biggest draws was the food.  We had a kitchen in our apartment and it was so nice being able to cook breakfast and lunch and then bring it outside to eat on the gorgeous grounds.  There is nothing more enjoyable than a lazy afternoon lounging under a big umbrella in a field of olive trees laughing over pecorino, Milanese salumi and a bottle of local wine.  Our first night there we cooked pasta with olive oil, tomatoes, onion and zucchini with a side of caprese salad and ate it outside on the terrace.  It’s so nice being able to always eat outside.  Fresh air complements food so well.  We even got a sample ¼ L of the Agriturismo’s homemade olive oil from the olive trees on their property that we used for the rest of our trip.

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