Travel Tales: Cooking the Italian way
Italy is home to some of the world’s finest cuisine, where simple rustic flavours are created with the greatest of ease. Tracey Davies – who says she’s “as good in the kitchen as Mike Tyson is at knitting” decided it was time to properly learn how to cook the Italian way!
I adore eating Italian food – the incredible pasta, the fabulous pizzas, not to mention the ice cream. Sadly, though, I can’t cook any of it. Determined to change all this, I’ve opted for some cookery lessons in the heart of Italy’s larder. Which is why I’m on my way to Forli in the northern part of the country.
Set deep in the heart of Emilia-Romagna, forty miles south-east of Bologna, this part of the world is famous for its fabulous cuisine and its wonderful indigenous produce – from Parma ham to parmesan, much of Italy’s essential ingredients come from this single gastronomic region. Thanks to no-thrills airline Ryanair, which manages to fly into all the nooks and crannies of Europe, taking cookery lessons in Italy couldn’t be easier!
Casa Artusi, my temple of culinary wisdom, is seven miles from Forli and situated in a pretty little town called Forlimpopoli. Opened in 2007, Casa Artusi is being touted as a centre of gastronomic culture and is devoted to Italian home cooking. Its modern pale stone and glass building is spacious and airy and has been built to the highest specifications, making it completely accessible by wheelchair. It houses a cookery school, an extensive private library and the Casa Artusi restaurant. It’s named after Pellegrino Artusi, who is considered to be “the father of Italian cookery” and wrote one of Italy earliest and most famous cookery books – The Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well. This delightful collection of recipes was first published in 1891 and even now – more than a hundred years later – it is still recognised as one of Italy’s finest cook books and the core of
Casa Artusi today.
BY HAND
Casa Artusi’s speciality is making fresh, home-made pasta under the guiding eyes of the mariettas, the cookery teachers who are named after one of Artusi’s cooks, Marietta Sabbatini. Donning my first ever apron, I am led to a shiny silver work station – wide-eyed, fearless and faced with a collection of raw ingredients. A ring of fine flour and the yolky eyes of a couple of fresh eggs perched in the centre is apparently all I need to make fresh pasta the Italian way. Starting slowly, I mix the eggs into the flour, softly and deftly, flinging flour all over the place and getting in to quite a mess. Soon enough my pasta dough starts to form and I begin the hard task of kneading. With my sleeves rolled up and flour tickling my nose, it’s this part of the pasta-making process that seems to take forever. Each time I stop my marietta nudges me on with a smile.
Then comes the rolling. Here at Casa Artusi, all the pasta is made by hand. None of these fancy Jamie Oliver-type rolling machines here, just a good old-fashioned two foot long, wooden rolling pin. So I roll, and roll and roll. “The pasta has to be really thin, almost see through,” says my marietta in her singsong Italian. Finally, a wide sheet of paper-thin dough lies silky in front of me.
NOW FOR THE FUN PART!
My marietta brings out a selection of pasta-making instruments. My favourite is the chitarra, a small, square guitar-like apparatus, fitted with two dozen fine steel strings.
Laying my sheet of pasta over the top, I press hard with the rolling pin slicing it with the strings. I then pluck the chitarra as if I am strumming a guitar and with a whoop of joy, threads of perfect flat spaghetti called macherroni al chitarra fall on to the surface. I have made my own pasta!
Now there is no stopping me. With my soft, smooth sheet of hand-rolled dough I get to work on making piles and piles of beautiful shapes, from tagliatelle and pappardelle to rigatoni and penne. It’s the garganelli, however, that is the most satisfying for me: using a small wooden combed contraption, I roll squares of pasta over a thick wood pin making perfect ribbed tubes. It is surprisingly easy, and therapeutic enough that I could happily do it all day.
Along with fresh pasta my marietta teaches me how to make the local flat bread called piadina. In every restaurant and café in Emilia-Romagna, this delicious bread is served with soft local cheese called squaquarone and cured meats – it’s absolutely delicious. It’s made with flour from the region, a knob of lard, some salt, yeast and a splash of milk before being kneaded to within an inch of its life and rolled out into little pancake shapes. The flat breads are then cooked on a hot skillet until they turn a mottled brown. There is something wonderful about making a dish from scratch, cooking it and eating it fresh from the pan. I think these will be a real hit with the family back home!
OUT OF THE KITCHEN
After the cookery lesson, my fellow students and I enjoy a meal – sadly, our much-sweated over pasta shapes were not included – in the Casa Artusi restaurant. We taste some fresh, hand-made Romagna pasta, made here in the kitchens and served with a simple butter, cheese and tomato sauce and it really is out of this world!
There is plenty of other attractions in the area including the delightful old city of Forli, with its fascinating history and beautiful, and again very accessible, art gallery. It’s well worth an afternoons visit. Whilst in the area you must try the local Emilia-Romagna wines. The region is famous for Sangiovese, Lambrusco and Albana wines with many vineyards happy to opens their doors and let you sample a drop or two.
It’s been a fantastic trip to this beautiful region of Italy. At Casa Artusi I have learnt how to make proper Italian pasta and I’m very excited about taking my new talent home as a well-earned souvenir. Now, where can I go to learn how to make some of that delicious Italian ice cream?!
Travelling to Forli
You can get to Forli easily and cheaply with budget airline Ryanair, flying from London Stansted in little over two hours. Both Stansted and Forli Airport’s are fully accessible with wheelchairs available. British Airways flies to nearby Bologna.
If you are flying with Ryanair and have reduced mobility you must advise them when booking, enabling you to pre-book your seats without charge. See our article on page 39 for further guidance.
Top Tips:
Be aware Ryan Air can only take 2 wheelchair users per flight so its essential to call and check wheelchair passenger space before booking your flights.
In many areas English is rarely spoken so a phrase book is essential.
Many costal resorts are flat and easily accessible by wheelchair as are many of the Lido’s / beaches.
Accessible toilets are well sign posted throughout Venice and other large cities.
Venice is surprisingly accessible with lifts on some of the bridges and discounted water bus rates for disabled passengers and carers allowing access to nearly all corners of Venice and its many attractions.
Equipment suppliers are limited so be sure to take all you need with you.
For inspected areas of Italy to ensure
they are accessible for a wheelchair
user, please contact Accessible Travel
& Leisure on 01452 729739 or visit
www.accessibletravel.co.uk
– Andy Wright at Accessible Travel
CONTACT DETAILS
Ryanair
0871 246 0003, www.ryanair.com
Airport to Hotel transfers in Forli
HolidayTaxis.com
If travelling with a wheelchair call on 01444 257 041 to ensure suitable vehicles, www.holidaytaxis.com
Hotel Castrocaro
00 39 543 767 114,
www.termedicastrocaro.it
Casa Artusi,
00 39 543 743 138, www.casartusi.it
Tenuta Pennita Vineyard
00 39 543 767 451, www.lapennita.it
For more information about Forli
and surrounding areas, log on to
www.turismo.fc.it
