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I was born (at a very young
age) in a flour mill and bread bakery in a little riverside village
in the center of Tuscany in March 1952.
My
earliest memories include the flour mill
with its pond, the wooden cogs of the flour mill turning enormous mill
stones with booming, rolling sounds that seemed mysterious and magic...
the smell of the freshly baked bread in
the morning, the crispy crusts that the baker let me taste... and the fear
of a mysterious animal, (evoked for me by the mischievous baker),
that supposedly resided in dark depths of the coal cellar...
I
remember the trips on a horse drawn cart to deliver freshly baked bread...
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I remember very old women...(at least 30 years old!) making delicious smelling
dishes for the family...
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My palate was imprinted with
the aromas of tomatoes, of basil, rosemary, sage, parsley and celery that
they used to bring from the fields near the mill... the fish from the river,
the home made hams, the chickens and the rabbits from our farm (poor little
ones!) that where part of our diet.
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As I grew up, from the time I was little,I
always had a keen interest in cooking,watching
my mother prepare food for the family, simple,
but tasty dishes made with few, but genuine ingredients.
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I guess this interest must have been noticed by my parents, in fact they
encouraged me to join the catering college in my home town Montecatini
Terme, in Tuscany, from which I graduated in 1970. I studied all
aspects of restaurant and hotel work as well as French and German, that
I speak fluently, and English that I speak and write as well as my mother
language, Italian. My cooking classes are routinely held in all three languages.
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Striving
to perfect my languages and skills, I
worked my way up the Culinary and Hotel industry ladder passing through
several countries in Europe, U.S.A. and the Middle East and the USA. During
my career I have launched and managed several restaurants and catering
operations in several countries.
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Throughout the years I have always cultivated a keen interest for good
food, primarily because I like eating!
I
have bored many chefs with my questions and practiced my newly acquired
knowledge on my friends and family, delighting them ...most of the time...
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After having overcome the phase where
everything your parents did was old and valueless, I bored my mother also
with precise questions on her recipes and as to the ingredients and quantities
that went into a dish, causing her some difficulties...
Once
I asked her how she makes her minestrone and she told me:
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First you make a chicken stock with this and that, than you chop some celery
and carrot and onion and make a "soffritto" then you add all the vegetables....
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Just a minute!? what are "all the vegetables" ?...
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Come? tutte le verdure no? (-
Well, all the vegetables, you know !!) -she
replied somewhat nonplussed!... I
eventually found out what they where... it was like pulling teeth!...
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This was the case with most of her recipes...it took some patience but
she was more than willing to give away her secrets to her "Paolino"
(little Paolo)
-This
is part of the instinctive cooking that comes once you know what
the basic ingredients are and how they combine together to make many different
dishes.
-This
"italian cuisine" cooking class or "Cucina
Italiana"as it should be correctly called,
is designed for the Gourmet and cooking enthusiast, although professional
chefs and caterers will also benefit from this course.
The
goal is to give you a basic knowledge of how the Cucina Italiana is structured
and prepared: the herbs, spices, olive oil, pasta, rice, combination of
flavors.
Chef
Paolo Monti, thanks to his background
in hotel management, does his own web design,
desktop publishing and marketing... all the while managing
the busy Grand Hotel Portovenere!
Mediterranean
Cuisine
-Italian
Cuisine, a.k.a. "Mediterranean Cuisine"
is justly famous for being a healthy diet, Italians have one of the highest
average lifespan in the world, now higher than the Japanese, but we have
more fun! I am sure that the way we eat has lot to do with it.
- Everybody is
familiar with the typical shape of the boot of Italy, its geography has
helped shape the local regional cuisine. In the old days the difficulty
in traveling long distances from place to place has contributed to the
development of local regional cuisine, the same dish can change its taste
from region to region and even from town to town.
- Our Cucina
Italiana, has developed over a long time
without much outside influence, taking advantage of what the land had to
offer and making the best of local produce, herbs, cheeses and wildlife.
The type of cuisine
that Italy is best known for can be found in the regions starting from,
Emilia Romagna, Liguria, Toscana, Lazio, Marche, Abruzzi, and Campania.
This type of cuisine is also known as the Mediterranean Diet.
Fish plays an important
part in our diet and will be prominent in the recipes taught.
by
working with public I have also learned what it is that people really like,
without taking into consideration temporary fads like “Nouvelle Cuisine
“, which is now "old hat" and had the unfortunate trait of leaving both
your pockets and stomach empty!
Even Paul Bocuse,
the Chef that invented Nouvelle Cuisine, has now gone back to regional
cooking
Other regions like
Piedmont on the west bordering with France, has been influenced by the
french. Trentino and Friuli Venezia Giulia on the east have been influenced
by germanic cuisine.
Sicily, haviung
been occupied by the greeks first than the arabs has a distinct flavor
of middle east in many of its dishes.
- La
Cucina Italiana is rich in vitamins,
protein, fiber and low on fats that cause cholesterol, rich in wine that
lower it!:
- Chianti, Brunello,
Barolo, Barbaresco, Rubesco, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano and other red
wines, are the most delicious heart medicinethat has ever been discovered.
The cure for heart disease doesn't have to be found in the Amazons, it
is right in Italy vignards!
- During the course
we will do a wine tasting that will take you through a small tour
of Italy's wines. We will do it at dinner time so you won’t fall asleep
afterwards!...
Buon Appetito
!!! |
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