Cooking Italian at La Rusticana D'Orsa

Aside from Pacino's surgery {here}, I had such a fun weekend.  We're still celebrating Dan's mom's big birthday {as posted about here}.

At a recent fundraiser, Dan's Dad surprised Chris, his mom, by bidding on a 10-person cooking class given by the wonderfully talented Franca Colleta at La Rusticana D'Orsa, which we attended this past weekend.

The property is built so that you can imagine you're in Tuscany as soon as you've entered the gates.  It truly felt like we were in Italy.  {Property tour}  

Let's get down to the fun part, the cooking!

We cooked in this amazing kitchen, one that your Nonna might have, if you had a Nonna, which I don't.  But after this weekend, I may need to get one!

Each recipe had a cooking station set up with a cutting board, baking sheet, various ingredients and the recipe printed out.  They had baskets of fruits and veggies and fresh herbs grown on the property for us to choose from.  And while we minced and julienned and stirred, Franca's adorable grand-daughter Nica made us pizzas to snack on.

I helped make the Antipasto di Prosciutto e Fichi.  It was surprisingly delicious with so few ingredients.  And it was really easy and quick so I got to spend lots of time drinking wine and eating pizza taking photos!

Recipe:  Antipasto di Prosciutto e Fichi

 - 1/3 cup creme fraiche

 - 2 tsp fresh mint, julienned

 - 2 tsp lemon juice

 - about 2 tsp milk

 - pinch of salt

 - 12 fresh figs

 - 5 oz thinly sliced prosciutto

 - sprigs of fresh mint for garnish

In small bowl, stir creme fraiche, 1 tsp mint and lemon juice.  Whisk in enough milk to produce a thick sauce, you may not need all of the milk depending on the consistency of the creme fraiche (we didn't use any). DO NOT over mix or the sauce will be runny (but still good).  Stir in the salt.

Cut the figs in half lengthwise, wrap with a slice of prosciutto.  Arrange attractively on a shallow platrer.  Drizzle with the creme fraiche sauce, sprinkle with the rest of the julienned mine.  Decorate platter with sprigs of mint.  Serve immediately.

Everything was so delicious and fairly easy to make.  More recipes coming soon!

LMF