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COOKING ITALIAN STYLE

by Madelyn Miller

They say that the very best Italian food isn’t in the gourmet Italian restaurants..it is actually in the kitchen of the best home cooks. And because the fresh ingredients and traditional recipes make everything so special, the highest compliment you can get is being invited to someone’s home for dinner.  But you say, you don’t know anyone in Italy. Have I got a friend for you.

Gabriele Dellanave is like an Italian culinary matchmaker. He will fix you up with a kitchen and a cook and a place to stay and make sure you feel like one of the family. I don’t have any Italian relatives…or at least didn’t before my recent trip to Italy.

Gabriele sent me to Maria’s house for a few days of lessons and eating and tasting and drinking.  The family practically adopted us and we got to know her son Claudio who also rents horses for countryside rides, his wife, who is Maria’s right hand woman as well as children, aunts, brothers and cousins. This is not the place for someone who wants to spend time alone.  But this is the place to learn the real Italian cooking secrets. Maria, owner of the Malvarine Country Inn where I stayed is a remarkably good chef who teaches “Cucina Casareccia” (Umbrian home cooking) to a group of eight people. Now in her late 60’s, Maria has been cooking for her entire life and knows all the secrets of the authentic regional dishes.

After a week of her lessons, you too, will know the secrets and can re-create the dishes at home. Now I pour olive oil over everything instead of using butter. And there are a lot more courses (small tastes) in my meals.  The Malvarina Country Inn, which was featured in the February 1994 issue of Conde Nast Traveler Magazine, is just two miles east of Assisi but seems like it is out in the country. The property, set deep in an olive grove and among woods, offers opportunities for hiking the slopes of Mount Subasio, biking and horseback riding.  At Malvarina, guests can choose to stay in either a room with a private bath or in a private cottage with full kitchen (why you would need a kitchen is beyond me…you make and learn everything in Maria’s) Farm products from the property—honey, cheese, bread/grains, jam, prosciutto, salami, wine, and the ever present olive oil—are offered for sale and are served in the restaurant that is open exclusively for guests.  I ate a wonderful meal at il Molino at Spello.

Gabriele will also arrange post-cooking tour excursions to Rome, Florence, and Venice on request. In addition to the cooking school lessons in Malvarina, Gabriele arranges classes in other parts of Italy—including a stay at the Hotel Cappuccini Convento which is a former monastery.

Contact Gabriele’s Travels to Italy.507-287-8733.
Website: http://www.cookinginitaly.com
email: info@travelingtoitaly.com

If you can’t get to Italy, I’d recommend one of the wonderful Italian cookbooks by Guliano Bugialli.

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