A little piece of Italy comes to Stockwell
August 21, 2011 | 
Author 21.8.11
Yesterday started well with sunshine and yoga in the garden and finished well with replete and evidently satisfied customers who had enjoyed our Tuscan Cookery Class with my friend and colleague Lisa Banchieri.
Yoga class before Tuscan Cookery lesson
The sun might not have been as intense as we might have hoped for in Tuscany but according to Lisa who left Florence on Thursday morning it was hot enough out there for them to be glad to get away to London with our paler sunshine and occasional rainstorms
Lisa and Alessandro with another friend from Florence - Kath Thomas and my husband John on the Millennium Bridge the night before the Tuscan cookery class
Our menu for the day was a vegetable and parmesan individual cheese flan – we chose zuccini as our vegetable but any others work as well , followed by home made pasta ravioli stuffed with spinach, ricotta and nutmeg , and then the most gorgeous roasted pork loin I have ever tasted – served with Tuscan roasted potatoes, cooked with pancetta and big fat red grapes, and to finish a strawberry version of Tiramisu.
After emulsifying the vegetable mousse for the flan and leaving it to set everyone had a go at making pasta.
Lisa and Harriet make very thin pasta for the ravioli
Debs helped Lisa placing the ricotta and spinach fillings whilst behind them Sarah had the pasta making machine rolling relentlessly on – we needed 42 large ravioli , which seemed a lot, but this was no problem for Lisa who last year made fresh ravioli for Sting and Trudie Styler and 150 of their guests!
Debs helps Lisa place the spinach and ricotta fillings - behind the pasta making machine grinds relentlessly on
Below, Lisa gets passionate about the herbs and extra virgin olive oil we will use to baste the pork loin and pancetta.
Lisa Banchieri gets passionate about pork loin in our Tuscan Cookery class
Those who didn’t fancy pork were able to enjoy the alternative of cod baked in the oven on a bed of potatoes with cherry tomatoes – equally delicious – and possibly healthier – but most of us didn’t care!.
Tuscan recipe for baked cod with cherry tomatoes
We all stood in the kitchen to watch the whipping of the mascapone by Lisa whilst Sarah also made a splendid job of whisking the egg whites for the strawberry tiramisu – yummy
Group watching the egg whisking at the Tuscan Cookery class
Finally we sat down and got down to the serious business of eating it all – a toast to Lisa – a very special lady!
Lisa with farina e basilico
Clean plate club at the end of the meal
Clean plate club from the other side of the table
Posted in 8 Responses to “A little piece of Italy comes to Stockwell”
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Thank you for a wonderful afternoon with Lisa teaching who is delightful, and great to learn more about Italian cuisine and have lots of new recipes. Lovely to meet the other ladies in the surroundings of your beautiful home, and great that John and Lisa’s partner Alessandro could share the gastronomic experience with us at the end.
The tasters I brought home were extremely well received so I am under pressure to replicate!!
A truly memorable experience all round. My taste buds are still a tingle!
Thanks for all your hard work and adding your own personal touch of being a thoughtful generous and warm hostess whilst also making it lots of fun.
Helena
Penny, of Beyond the Yalla Dog fame, looks on proudly as the Tuscan cookery afternoon she organised gets underway – I loved it! – photo supplied – Sarah
It was fabulous, Penny and thanks for your hospitality.
Jane
We all had a brilliant time Penny – thank you for organising – Harriet enjoyed it immensely
see you soon! x
Kay
the sun came out at the perfect fir our Salutations in your garden. Next time… in Florence!??
Cindi
…little bit of envy… Romina
Dear Penny,
Thank you for the class and lunch yesterday.
It was most enjoyable. Fun, learnt some useful tips inc new recipes, and of course the final product was a delicious and special lunch.
I’m glad that Lisa volunteered to do more. As you say, it would be worthwhile for her to come again and do 2-3 classes within a week.
If you have a Chianti supplier, it could be combined with wine tasting. (you could get a script to read from abt the wine) I transported some Chianti over a few years ago and it costed 1euro a bottle, 12 euro per case. I’m sure you could get a bulk discount. If your supplier could do something similar, you could earn commission on wine sales too.
FYI, private supper clubs charge £25-35 for meals in homes, with no wine provided – BYO. We all thought that the class and meal yesterday was v good value ie you could have charged more.
Do let me know if you organise a class for Nov/Dec, and I’ll gather a group along. It’s a great outing when the winter sets in.
BW
Jade
Dear Penny,
It was a lovely cooking & eating session – I enjoyed it very much & hope you do repeats
Ida