Return to Gattavecchi

Il Sasso has a relationship with La Cucina di Liliana at Gattavecchi cantina and the restaurant offers cooking classes to incoming language students one night per session. Luisa took the class last year and has been raving about it since, so I decided to give it a go.

Liliana is a warm general, loudly giving orders to her assistants, but following up with a smile. A busy mother of four, she runs a tight ship, expects nothing but perfection and is willing to put her entire self into everything she does. Her passion shows in her food and she is generous with her recipes, sharing all that she knows with her students.

We happily chopped zucchini, rolled pasta and peeled countless chestnuts under her tutelage and the end result was a multi course dinner that began with salumi and cheese with a glass of rosso, continued with platters of zucchini gratinata and a frittura di zucchini with their vernaccia. Next was the tagliatelle made with vino nobile topped with a simple sauce of cherry tomatoes, sage and mozzarella. Then there was the roasted pork loin topped with a chestnut cream sauce, fragrant with rosemary. We started to leave about 10, knowing that we still had a long walk to the car, then a drive home, but were beckoned back with a plate of budino di pecorino--a cheesecake made with sheep's milk cheese. Fantastic!!

Finally, a big round of hugs and thank yous, then Liliana gave each of us a signed bottle of Gattavecchi wine to enjoy later. Just a wonderful night.