Cooking together, cooking whatever strikes our fancy…is the utmost anti-stress activity! Assembling and using only top quality, seasonally available and local ingredients, soothes the soul and lifts the spirits. No cellophane packages, no cans, no jars to open…just washing, chopping, mixing, sauteeing – using mainly what our very own olive trees, vineyards, fruit trees and vegetable garden so generously produce! When we need other ingredients, we make sure they are sourced as closely as possible to km. 0: a nearby flour mill (the Granarium), Umbrian-farmed potatoes from Colfiorito, an area at an altitude of 800 meters where it is not necessary to spray for the voracious potato bug, free-range eggs…or other vegetables we may not have ourselves from our trusted farmer just five kilometers down the road!
When we have uninterrupted free time, we love to choose music that fits our moods from our iTune playlists, up the volume…and have Fun in the Kitchen. If we have recently made a rich broth, we like to make ravioli or agnolotti or tagliolini. If we have a particular ingredient, like fresh beets from our vegetable garden, we enjoy making a scrumptious risotto. If we have recently made a Sagrantino meat ragù, what could be better than Sagrantino-infused gnocchi – made with local Colfiorito red russet potatoes?
If it happens to be Carneval period, what fun it is to make the traditional Umbrian fritters: castagnole drizzled with local artisanal honey!
And if our vegetable garden gave us garlic and onion last summer and this winter provides us with kale, spinach, Swiss chard, cauliflower and our farmer has carrots, beans, and celery, how we love to come home after a busy afternoon to the epitome of comfort food: a steaming bowl of winter minestrone.
What Fun in the Kitchen!!!!!!!! A sense of “Back to the Basics”, an amazing anti-stress outlet for personal Creativity and enormous Satisfaction.
