Spring 05 Cookery Course - Day 1

Its almost midnight and we just got back home from the first proper day of our 2005 late May cookery course which we decided to record as we go along... hence here we are! The weather was fantastic today, and we begun with a visit to our favourite pastry shop in a little town called Palazzolo Acreide. There we tasted their excellent cannoli and a few other possibilities from what you can see is quite a range.
 

After a walk around Palazzolo to explore this beautiful baroque city we went back to the Masseria for lunch and then after a little siesta by the pool went into the kitchen for the first course on some of the classic rustic dishes on the area. We begun with the differences between different types of flour used in the bread and 'scacci.

We also tasted the local ragusano cheese as well as the 'drunk' ragusano, which is treated over 36 months with Nero d'Avola wine. We also prepared some of the classic fillings such as ricotta and local sausages, tomato sauce with basil and cheese, and also raisins, anchovies and pinolo.

We then got straight into it and started creating our own 'scacci after learning how it really should be done. From the 'scacci we moved on to bread (which is a whole other story) and then on to the cassatina di pasqua - which is pastry filled with ricotta mixed with just a bit of sugar and lemon zest.

We then enjoyed the labours of quite a productive four hour course over some Cerasuolo di Vittoria DOC for the scacci and some Moscato di Noto to accompany the cassatina.