di Alessandra Bandoni
C.F. BNDLSN68T66D969J

You and your friends or family have attended one of our cooking lessons lately and now you would like to try at home one of the recipies you learned in Italy? Just download it here, wear your apron and good luck!

Entry dishes

Fried polenta with mushrooms sauce
Toasted bread with red sauce  from Garfagnana

Toasted dark bread with creame (stracchino) cheese, sausage and fennel seeds
Stuffed Mussels (cozze ripiene)

First dishes and pasta sauces

Pappa al pomodoro
Mushroom sauce
Hand made pasta with eggs with ragù, ricotta (kind of cottage cheese) and chard .
Tagliolini al brodo di fagioli (Bean Soup with tagliolini)
Ravioli with fresh tomato and aromatic herbs dressing
Ravioli with butter and sage
Ragù (meat sauce)

Second Dishes

Fegatelli
Stuffed vegetables
Rosticciana con le olive (pork ribs with olives)

Chicken with lemon, olives and aromatic herbs
Rotolo di manzo (beef roll )
Roasted Vegetables

Side dishes

Zucchini in trippa
Vegetable (fennels) pie
Beans

Desserts

Panna Cotta
Wild fruit sauce
Tiramisù
“Cantuccini” biscuits

We want to give you a taste of our Lucca. We have chosen these three characteristic recipees of Tuscan cooking. Try them and impress your friends and family! And then, why not write to let us know how it all went?

Torta coi becchi

It is said that a mythical old woman, a fairy or a witch, which one, we are unsure, had the idea to invent a cake without an equal in the world. Therefore the "cake with the beaks" was born. The ingredients for the outside are:

500 gr. of flour, 5 eggs (of which 4 egg yolks and 1 egg white), 100 gr. of butter, a drop of milk, a pinch of salt, 2 shots of liqueur, 250 gr. of sugar, yeast as needed.

The ingredients for the filling are: a bunch of swiss chard cooked in butter, a pinch of Italian parsley, 200 gr. of bread soaked in milk, cinnamon, pepper, nutmeg, liqueur, parmesan and romano cheese, 3 eggs, a bit of sugar, pinenuts and raisins.

Prepare the pastry by making a 'vulcano' with the flour on the pastry-board, working it well with the other ingredients. After working the dough, leave it to rest. After it has been well rested, roll it out and drape it over a well-buttered baking tin, being sure a good amount hangs over the edges of the tin. Carefully mix all the ingredients to prepare the filling that we will carefully lay down on the baking tin. With the dough that hangs over the edges, fold them towards the center, giving them the shape of cones - the famous "beaks", than will crown it like merlons. Cook at moderate heat for approximately 40 minutes.

Chicken with herbs and lemon

In order to make this flavorful chicken, we need 2 or 3 lemons, rosemary and sage in abundance, garlic, extra virgin olive oil, meat broth and chicken pieces. We prefer thighs and above the thigh.

Brown the garlic with rosemary and sage, all previously chopped with a mezzaluna chopping tool. Add the chicken, and after having bathed it with white wine, add the peeled lemons, cut into thin slices. Cook the chicken slowly taking care to add broth as it evaporates. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve warm.

We want to give you a taste of our Lucca. We have chosen these three characteristic recipees of Tuscan cooking. Try them and impress your friends and family! And then, why not write to let us know how it all went?

Tordelli:

Tortelli, here in Lucca pronounced "tordelli", are pasta 'pillows' filled with meat, parmigiano cheese, egg and herbs. First of all, we must prepare the mixture for the filling: for this we use slices of roasted beef and pork minced very finely, eggs, bread slices softened in broth and crumbled, cooked chopped swiss chard, grated parmesan and pecorino cheese, nutmeg, thyme, salt and pepper.

 

To prepare the pasta, mix together flour, eggs and salt. Then spread or roll the dough as thinly or as thickly as you want the pasta to be. At this point, cut the dough into long strips, approximately 8 - 10 centimeters wide and on each one, put a small spoonful of filling. Then fold each strip on itself the full length, close it and cut it with appropriate fustella, making each "tordello" moon-shaped.

 

Once the "tordelli" are prepared, cook them in abundant salted water and serve them with meat sauce sprinkled with fresh grated parmesan cheese.