One of my favourite things about Italy is the food; I love the fresh seasonal ingredients and the variety of regional dishes. So when I came across an Airbnb cookery experience with a Sicilian family on our recent holiday I didn’t hesitate to book it.
We were picked up by the host’s mum, Lucia, from the bus station in Catania, for the 30 minute drive to their village house in Francoforte. Upon arrival we met our host, Andrea, who offered us coffee and a delicious slice of fig jam cake. We also met the other budding chefs. There were nine of us in total, from the UK, Germany, Hungary and USA.
After washing hands and donning aprons, we learnt how to make pasta. We worked over large wooden boards, mixing semolina flour with eggs and then kneading as we added water. Lucia showed us how to make cavatelli pasta shapes by cutting up the dough, squashing small pieces onto a fork and rolling them off. It wasn’t easy to begin with but we got the hang of it after a few goes.
After the pasta dough we moved onto cannoli, an Italian pastry traditionally filled with ricotta cheese. Our job was to thinly roll out the dough and shape it around bamboo pipes. This was the extent of our involvement, but fully formed (and filled) cannoli appeared on the table at the end of our session.
Sicilian cooking class
The next dish was one of my favourites, aubergine parmigiana. It’s a straightforward dish to make, we simply layered fried aubergine, tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese before popping it into the pizza oven. Despite its simplicity I never make this at home, as the magic comes from quality ingredients. Our hosts made their own olive oil and grew or bought fresh local vegetables. They were very different to the sorry looking aubergines at Sainsburys!
On to arancini, a Sicilian street food, which we’d tried for the first time earlier in the week. We dipped our hands in water and then took a handful of sticky rice and shaped it into a half cone using our fingers. After adding a cheese and spinach filling, we created the final shape, and then dipped the arancini into flour, ready for deep frying. In the south-east of Sicily arancini are shaped like small volcanoes, as a homage to Mt Etna. Some of ours needed a little extra work to make them look like Etna!
Our final cooking job was to roll out pizza dough, spread it with tomato sauce and add toppings, before popping the pizzas into the oven.
As Andrea and Lucia made the final preparations we laid the outside tables and carried food down to the terrace. As well as the dishes we’d helped prepare there were platters of meat and cheese, bread and locally made wine, more than we could possibly eat.
It was so lovely to sit and eat our meal outside in the sun, with the backdrop of Mt Etna in the distance. The food was delicious and it was great to talk to the other guests and get to know them. Andrea’s dad then gave us a lift back to Catania, accompanied by leftover pizza and pasta.
After the experience Andrea messaged us the recipes but I haven’t been brave enough to try any yet. I’m not sure I want to spoil my memories of such good food!
Challenge complete!
Attend a cookery course – complete April 2024. Pop over to see the rest of my 60 things to do before I’m 60 list.