VACATION DESTINATION|CUCINA ITALIANA

Lorena Autori, who has starred as a guest chef at Boston’s own Rialto Restaurant, offers private cooking classes in her home, which is located in an historic building in the very center of the drop-dead charming medieval hill town of San Gemini.

After we reached Lorena initially via email, she first let us choose our menu well ahead of time from a wide selection of tantalizing options.  We selected things that our daughter would eat and also dishes that we felt that we could later prepare at home.  Lorena was delightful to chat with while she performed wonders in her kitchen, during the very little “down time” we had…as she worked us quite hard!  And had a lot of fun.

Together we whipped up some amazing delicacies, including gnocchi made from scratch (JUST the right variety of potatoes, peeled after boiling, and pushed through a ricer), a special Umbrian version of pesto, polpette di pollo (chicken croquettes), vegetarian stuffed peppers, batter-fried zucchini blossoms stuffed with mozzarella, and an awesome lemon cream tart. (She even contributed on her own a special local dessert that she thought our daughter would like, since there wasn’t enough time for us to bake two desserts.)

The whole cucina italiana experience with Lorena, while intense and focused for almost four hours, was an absolute delight. And then we ate! Buon appetito!

CONTACT INFO:

Lorena Autori

Percorsi con Gusto

Via Casventino, 4

05029 San Gemini

Italy ‬

Tel. +39.3347769989‬‬‬‬

PRICES & AVAILIBILITY:

Umbria or Boston – PERCORSICON GUSTO

ONE-STOP SHOPPING:

Doubting your abilities to communicate in Italian? Crack tour guide Alessandro Manciucca in San Gemini can book this for you, and arrange for a visit to a family-run winery, in a small Umbrian town.

Allessandro can be reached at www.dreavel.com