Enjoy a private and authentic cooking class in the comfort of your own residence in Tuscany! This is a perfect experience for anyone looking to connect with local culture over food. Mirella, your warm and wonderful personal chef, learned to cook from her grandmother (nonna), a highly skilled top chef. Mirella decided to follow in her grandmother's footsteps and received an education in culinary skills. She has been cooking ever since and is an expert in the history of Florentine cuisine from the Renaissance period! The aim of Mirella’s cooking class is to share her knowledge about food, its preparation and its Florentine and Tuscan history. Mirella prefers conducting a hands-on class, where you will learn how to make 3-4 Tuscan dishes such as various bruschette or antipasto, a pasta, a main, pasta sauces and other seasonal recipes. Mirella is happy to accommodate special dietary needs such as gluten or lactose intolerance, vegetarian or vegan. Please NOTE that unlike typical Traveling Spoon experiences that take place in a host's home, this experience is where your host will come to your venue to host a private chef experience.
Enjoy an authentic Italian meal in your villa that Mirella caters. Mirella offers a variety of Tuscan menus to choose from based on your dietary preferences. Below is only one of many. The cost of your meal includes wine, prosecco and limoncello.
Please note if the villa is located outside the 50km radius of Florence, you will be charged extra. Please include the location of the villa at the time of booking, so Mirella knows if she can accept it or not.
This is just a sample menu to give you an idea of the types of dishes the host cooks. Your menu will vary according to seasonal availability.
Chicken Cacciatore or Beef in a Chianti reductionVegetable ratatouille or rosemary potatoesCioccolatissimo (special chocolate cake), carrot cake with chantilly cream, pistachio cheesecake or several other optionsRisotto with Asparagus and Taleggio cheeseGnudi (ricotta cheese and semolina dumplings) with spinach in a butter and sage sauceTuscan Coccoli (pillowy fried dough) with stracchino cheese and ham & fried zucchini flowers and sageThis is a unique opportunity to have a local chef introduce you to traditional Italian cooking in the comfort of your own villa or rental in Tuscany or its surrounding areas. Your host Mirella lives in the south of Florence but can drive within 80 kms to your villa or vacation rental to offer you a private cooking class and dinner. Mirella conducts a hands-on cooking class that lasts about 2 hours. Learn to make a four-course Tuscan meal that includes a variety of bruschette or antipasto, a pasta, pasta sauce, a main, and other seasonal side dishes, all enjoyed over wine local Italian wine. Mirella's cooking is greatly influenced by Renaissance cooking, and she offers a different menu for every season, as she prefers using fresh, seasonal ingredients in her cooking. Some of the dishes you might try are bruschetta with sausage and stracchino cheese, penne with meat ragù sauce, peasant meatballs with seasonal vegetables, and tiramisu or cioccolatissimo (rich chocolate cake) for dessert. Mirella is happy to accommodate your dietary requests and personalize your menu. If you are interested in a meal only and not the cooking class, please choose the 'Dinner only' option during booking.
"AMAZING!!!! Would give this 10 stars if we could!! My wife & I thoroughly enjoyed our experience with Mirella and Stefano. It started with the both of them taking us on a tour of the Sant’Ambrogio food market, where they told us fascinating details about the market and vendors. This is where they picked up the ingredients for the menu we were to cook a bit later in the day. This market tour was a fascinating & entertaining way to start the experience! We then got to cooking, during which my wife and I could not stop smiling. It started with two different forms of bruschetta, both of which turned out DELICIOUS. Then, we made handmade tagliatelle pasta with Tuscan ragu. WOW, just wow. The next thing we prepared for the menu was chicken cacciatore. Sooooo wonderful, tender, and flavorful. Finally, we prepared homemade tiramisu. It was every bit as tasty & amazing as it sounds! Throughout the food prepping and cooking, Mirella & Stefano gave us the perfect combination of talking us through it, assisting hands-on if needed, and informing us about the fascinating history behind each dish. The time passed so quickly, as we were having the time of our lives! When it came time to eat, Stefano served us each course. The food all came out INCREDIBLE and it was amongst the best meals we had throughout our entire week in Florence! Stefano & Mirella’s kindness and courtesy made us feel like we were family. This was our first full day in Italy (our first experience in all of Europe, in fact!) and we can’t stop talking about this experience. We get so welcomed & appreciated by Stefano and Mirella. We would highly recommend this experience to just about anybody, regardless of culinary interest. For all of the fascinating things you’ll learn about Tuscan food & history, you’ll also feel like you just had an amazing get-together with new friends! Thank you, Stefano & Mirella. The next time we make it out to Florence, we will absolutely sign up for another class. Oh, and one more thing: Mirella handed us a printout of our entire menu, with detailed instructions of how to prepare each item! We’ve already recreated the bruschetta with Tuscan bread, sausage & stracchino cheese - DELICIOUS!!! Grazie mille, James & Christa"
