Lazio

Mangia Bene: Lazio

With Special Guest Sandi Stuart

Let me tell you a bit about our week at La Cucina Sabina, a cooking school/resort located about 40 minutes outside of Rome. This region of Lazio is known for its exceptional olive oil.

The villa where we stayed was originally the country home of a wonderful Italian family who lived in Rome, and is situated among olive groves. Giuseppe Micheletta and Michael Di Girolamo created La Cucina Sabina; Giuseppe is the son of the original owners. Here, the family grew olives and produced a superb extra virgin olive oil, Sabina DOP.

A few years ago, the eight-bedroom villa was renovated with updated bedrooms, in-suite bathrooms and a large “cook’s kitchen” was added for cooking classes. Chef Riccardo and Nonna Carla, along with guest chef, MargaretAnn Burchaell of St Pete, FL were our teachers.

We spent seven days and six nights at this delightful place: cooking, eating, walking around the countryside, and taking excursions to Orvieto, Rome, the Renaissance villa and gardens of Villa d’Este, as well as a wonderful winery in Umbria. There were 13 people in our group, each with a connection to the guest chef. Most of us did not know one another, but everyone got along beautifully and bonded over our scrumptious meals of meat, fish and of course, pasta and wines.

Lazio is a central region of Italy, home to its capital city, Rome. The region’s most famous and known cuisine is pasta, and sauces often contain guanciale, a cut of pork, or pecorino romano cheese. Spices are widely used, with some of the most common being the lesser cat-mint, squaw mint (commonly known as “menta romana”), laurel, rosemary, sage, juniper, chili, and grated truffle. Lazio is also home to unique meat dishes, such as saltimbocca alla romana, and abbacchio alla romana.

The dish I am featuring is a “deconstructed“ Ravioli with mushroom sauce. We made our own ravioli, as well as the sauce. What a difference freshly made pasta makes!