During these times when all of our wings have been clipped and our travel itineraries halted, Tuscany Tours has been offering some amazing online experiences to our travel community.  Many of our travelers have enjoyed the expertise of our friends, Chef Vincenzo and Sheryl, during our online cooking classes. The recipes featured so far have allowed our home cooks to Bring Italy Home! by way of Italian recipes like gnocchi, orecchiette, pallotte cace e ove, and amazing desserts tiramisu and biscotti!

Larry & Nancy having fun in the kitchen!

Those folks adventurous enough to dive into these authentic, homespun Italian recipes have learned how to use cheese curds, the difference between regular flour and semolina flour (very important for the orecchiette!), and that carrots in a red sauce is normal in Abruzzo!  Not to mention, getting to know the local Trader Joe's or discovering Amazon Food for finding the authentic ingredients needed for some of the recipes.

We are excited to share with you the recipe for Dark Chocolate Almond Biscotti (pictured here).

If you'd like to join one of our online cooking classes - or another of our virtual experiences - check out our Bring Italy Home! Shop.  We hope to see you in the kitchen soon!

Vincenzo Giangiordano trained at the very traditional Italian culinary institute Villa Santa Maria. This culinary school is in the mountainous region of Abruzzo where he is originally from. Chef Vincenzo has worked in restaurants within five star hotels all over Italy, including Milan, Rome, Venice, Florence (Fiesole) and Siena. This is where he learned the traditional dishes from each region. For seven years, he was owner and chef of La Porta del Chianti in the heart of the Chianti region in Tuscany. During this time, the restaurant earned a place in the Michelin guide.

Sheryl Ness recently published a book about their life together called Love in a Tuscan Kitchen: Savoring Life Through the Romance, Recipes, and Traditions of Italy. The book will take you on a journey to Italy and to a little village in Chianti where she and Vincenzo lived for 6 years. The book also includes 38 traditional recipes for dishes such as spaghetti carbonara, risotto, ribollita soup, pici cacio e pepe and the hot chocolate love cake, among other treasures.

Chef Vincenzo & Sheryl Ness