Albert Einstein once said “When you stop learning, you start dying.” I will be honest with you, I was not a fan of school. For me, school was what happened in between sporting events and dances. I enjoyed attending college and did actually learn a lot. However, it was not my favorite thing.

As I’ve gotten older and stopped catering full-time, I realize that to keep my brain moving to continue being creative. I needed not only to teach others to cook, but learn new things myself. 

The type of cooking classes that I have taken have varied from very specific ingredients, to learning to cook for a certain region, to a week long immersion in the hills of Tuscany. I have happily done it all! Today, I am going to share with you about the class where I learned how to use the ancient grain of Einkorn. I learned how to make all things from Emilia-Romagna Italy from a cesarine named Raffa. The most intense cooking I’ve ever ever learned was my week at Tuscan Women Cook.

I am going to start with the most time consuming and intense week of cooking. I don’t want to get ahead of myself, so let me tell you all about the night we learned about Tuscan Women Cook.

We were at a friends house for dinner in the winter of 2021. My husband and I really wanted to start traveling internationally now that all of our kids were done with college and we were on our “bonus careers”. It had always been a desire, but so many great options we didn’t know where to start. Our friends Karen and David travel a lot, so I asked them “if you could take one more trip in your life. Where would you go?” They both answered Tuscan Women Cook!

By the end of dinner, I was all in! My husband, on the other hand, needed a little more convincing. I am the cook in the family (surprise!). He is happy to throw a piece of meat on the grill, but that’s the extent of his interest in cooking. He loves to explore all types of food and wine, but prepare it? Heck no. I really wanted to do this trip, so I did what all smart spouses do. I created a compromise, a proposal if you will, that he could not resist! Some people might call it manipulation, but when they know what’s happening, I don’t think so. It means he gets something he wants, right? The proposal for my husband was we go into a week worth of wine exploration prior to going to Tuscan Women Cook. He loved the idea. Perfect.

Side-note: I am also a big wine lover so this was a great solution for me!

We started our by flying into Milan. We spent a few days in Turin before heading to the town of La Morra in the Piedmont region. We had a lovely time, but that’s another story for another day.

Then we headed to Tuscany. We spent a few days in Montalcino exploring, wineries, restaurants, and soaking up all of the goodness that is Tuscany.

That Sunday, we headed to the tiny little walled town of Montefollonico, to begin our week with Tuscan Women Cook. It is drop dead gorgeous and charming to boot! This village is truly something out of a storybook. This beautiful boutique inn, iCastagni, was going to be our home for the next week and I could not have been more thrilled.

One of the many reasons I love Tuscan Women Cook is it’s a different approach to teaching others how to cook recipes based on tradition. Every morning, except Wednesday, where you head to Sienna for the day, you meet with Nonnas.

The nonnas, the Italian word for grandmother, share their cooking techniques and recipes with everyone in class. During the week we made pici, the traditional Tuscan pasta, risotto, zucchini, flowers, chicken, a few different ways, a few different soups, eggplant, and so many other wonderful dishes.

A few weeks ago, I shared my version of one of the zucchini flower recipes that we had learned in Montefollonico. You can read about that here. 

I know you are wondering how my husband fared doing some thing that he doesn’t love. Guess what? He had the time of his life! Besides the cooking in the morning, the lunch together, eating all that we made in the morning, We also got to take some wonderful field trips in the afternoon and partake in some fantastic dinners. If you are a bon vivant with a love for all things Italian, do yourself a favor and check this out!

Cooking with my favorite cesarine, Raffa

I recently shared my love for the food from the region of Emilia-Romagna in Italy. This is the birthplace of Bolognese, tortellini, balsamic vinegar and of course the King of Cheeses, Parmigiano Reggiano. 

Experiencing a private cooking class while seeing in Modena was truly one of the highlights. Not just of that vacation, but of my life. I’ve made a friend in her and also have referred lots of people to her. She is very accommodating and is willing to teach you anything you ask.

If you are interested in learning how to make traditional Modenese style ragu, check out the recipe here.

One of my favorite things that I learned was how to make brodo, Italian broth. It is extremely simple, but the surprise is it is beef along with chicken! To me it does not taste beefy at all, instead it adds another level of flavor. I would say it’s just a little more well rounded than a simple chicken broth.

When I booked the class with a cesarine, someone who teaches cooking classes out of their home, Raffa asked us to meet her at the market. As soon as I saw her riding her bike up toward my husband and me, I knew we were going to have a wonderful day. 

I have always dreamt of living somewhere that has a market that I could visit on a daily basis, like the one in Modena. Simply stroll through the market and be inspired to make something new. Heaven. Raffa asked what I wanted to make, and I was taken a back. She hadn’t planned anything? It was all up to us!? Fantastic!

At this point, we had been in Italy for a week and I was in love with Tortellini in Brodo. I had to learn how to make this luscious, comforting soup. We went through the market and collected all the ingredients. She had made a cherry tart so we were not going to deal with dessert. We planned on making soup along with homemade pasta for both the tortellini, and of course, the ragu.

We collected the ingredients and proceeded to go back to her apartment, where we spent hours together making a beautiful, not to mention tasty, meal. She opened a bottle of Lambrusco around 2:30, poured us each a glass and let my husband and I enjoy the meal we made alone.

The recipes for the Tortellini and the brodo are here.

Einkorn – Excuse me, what is einkorn? 

When I lived in the Berkshires, I was lucky enough to attend a few cooking classes at the Berkshire Botanical Gardens.

The first class I attended with my friend Nancy and my daughter Marissa, was a cheesemaking class. We had so much fun making fresh mozzarella and other yummy cheeses. Unfortunately, all of those recipes were lost in my housefire and have yet to recover them.

However, I did find the recipes in my email from one that I took from the pastry chef of a restaurant that was sold in the Berkshires. The class was called “Baking with Ancient Grains”.

When I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes in 2008, I met with a nutritionist. I have been in food sales, not to mention also a caterer for years, so understanding nutritional information was not new for me. I did, however, have to learn how to think of carbs, all the time. 

I had done a lot of research and found a grain called einkorn. Einkorn is the original wheat. It was the first seed planted by farmers 12,000 years ago and it was almost extinct during the Bronze Age. It is considered an ancient grain and can be found primarily in Italy. Some people have found that if they are gluten sensitive that Einkorn is a grain that they are digestive system can handle. It has never been hybridized and lacks the gluten proteins that trigger symptoms of gluten sensitivity. It’s higher in protein and lower carbs than modern wheat. It also has a lot of vitamins and trace minerals that modern wheat does not have. This led me to believe that it also might not have the same effect on a diabetic that traditional wheat could.

Jovial Foods carries a whole line of flour, wheat berries, sourdough starter, pasta, and crackers made with Einkorn. Make sure you check out their information. I purchase mine on Amazon, but it is now readily available in supermarkets. I will warn you that the price point is a bit more than typical all-purpose flour.

I learned a lot that day, but my favorite recipe were the shortbread cookies. They are a little softer than your traditional shortbread, but they really hit the spot! It is not as easy as a 1:1 ratio to replace Einkorn for wheat flour. There is a cookbook and websites available. I would say using fat in these recipes and those portions, is the key to success. You will find the recipe for the shortbread cookies below.

This was just three examples of the types of classes you can take. A week long immersion, a private cooking classs or a more ingredient driven one. If you get any joy, or want to find the joy in cooking, I highly recommend looking into one of these adventures to try. Trust me, you won’t regret it.

With grace, grit & gratitude,

xx, JeriLynne