Fabulous Cooking Class!

We had an early start on Tuesday March 15.  We headed out in the sun at about 8:15 a.m. to meet Chef Massimo at 9:00 a.m. at Porta Messina (the far gate from us on Corso Umberto I, the main street of Taormina).

We paused at Piazza IX Aprile and had our best look yet at snow-covered Mount Etna.

Finally a pic of Mount Etna in the distance

We found that we had overestimated the time it would take to get to Porta Messina, so we stopped for a caffe and cornetto at Licchio's Bar, a favourite with locals.

Alonso at Licchio's Bar

 Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a sign for the evasive tourist office, located in Palazzo Corvaja. The door to the courtyard and the office was finally open.  We stopped in for a moment.

Finally- tourist office is open

We got to Porta Messina a few minutes before 9:00 a.m. and met the other couple who would be taking the cooking class with us.  Norman and Rosemary are a retired couple from Vermont.  Massimo met us at 9:00 a.m. with some bad news.  He lives in Catania and it turned out that the restaurant he usually cooks in in Taormina was closed for renovation for a few days.   While we could have organized another date with Chef Massimo, the other couple were leaving on Friday.  Massimo said that he would see if we could take a class from another restaurant nearby.  He called his colleague, Stefano, who said he would meet us at 9:45 a.m.

Massimo felt badly and treated us to a coffee as we waited for Stefano.

Coffee with Chef Massimo

Stefano is the son of the chef and owner of the family-run Porta Messina Restaurant.  He took us to the covered market where Alonso and I had been the other day.  He spent a lot of time discussing the different types of fish- which were local, and which were not.  He got our fish at the place where we had purchased our fish for dinner on Saturday.

Some of these fish are farmed and not local

Stefano explained the difference between calamari and sepia squid. He said we would be having sepia squid with squid ink in the pasta we would be having for lunch.

We got the seppia squid for the squid ink pasta

We also were going to have local anchovies.

Fresh anchovies

Stefano also explained that there were red and white shrimps and that while he thought the white shrimps were tastier (and they are less expensive), most restaurants get the red shrimps as they are a more dramatic colour.

Stefano with a red and white shrimp in each hand

 We moved on from fish to vegetables.  Stefano pointed out this beautiful bunch of wild asparagus.

Wild asparagus

 He also pointed out the different types of tomatoes.  Apparently, about 20 years ago, the Sicilians developed cherry tomatoes which are now exported everywhere.  They are more expensive than the larger tomatoes.  Then about 10 years ago, grape tomatoes were developed, which are more expensive than the cherry tomatoes.  The market had all the different type of tomatoes, at varying prices (all very reasonable compared to what we pay in Toronto).  Very interesting bit of food history.

Tomatoes galore

We walked back to the restaurant and before starting our class, sat outside and had a glass of fresh squeezed orange juice and a biscotti.

Norman and Rosemary with fresh squeezed orange juice and biscotti

We then went inside and the first thing we did was knead the dough for bread rolls that would be baked in the wood oven.  The bread/pizza chef showed us what to do.

Loading the dough

  Picture of group at beginning of class- Alonso is holding dough

Alonso -thumbs up

A later picture of Stefano and our bread rolls with olive oil and oregano and a plate of cheese, olives, salami and a dish of marmalade

Our next task and perhaps the most fun was making macaroni pasta (different from our macaroni).  We started with just flour and water and kneaded it into a roll.  We cut the dough into small pieces and then rolled them out on a small stick.  We removed the stick and the macaroni were ready.  There is a space in the centre where the stick was that lets the sauce in.

Cutting the dough into small pieces and rolling it out on a stick

We ended up with a tray full of made from scratch macaroni.

Home-made macaroni ready to cook

We then moved on to cleaning the anchovies, which meant removing the head and cleaning the insides.  The anchovies were very soft and they were relatively easy to clean.

Plate of cleaned anchovies

We then put a breadcrumb, parsley, olive oil and optional parmesan cheese mixture in between two anchovies.

Alonso at work

We put together lightly fried eggplant, tomato sauce and basil in layers to bake.  As I am lactose intolerant, Alonso and I did not make ours with mozzarella cheese.   We also rolled thin pieces of swordfish and thin pieces of eggplant with a breadcrumb mixture (some with parmesan as well).  There was also a sea bream covered in salt that would bake for twenty minutes.

Tomato sauce, eggplant and basil layers

We then all went into the kitchen where Stefano's dad Angelo was making various sauces for the pastas and fish.  Lots of homemade tomato sauce with everything.

Angelo at the stove

Sicilian small fish in sauce

Sauce for fish with olives, capers and tomato sauce

Angelo also showed us how he makes his mayonnaise.  Lots going on in the kitchen.  He also made the squid and squid ink sauce for spaghetti.

We went back to the area with the wood stove and made individual pizzas.  We kneaded the dough and chose our toppings.  Then into the wood stove on a high temperature for a few minutes.

Alonso's pizza

Finally, it was time to go into the restaurant for our lunch.   There was enough food for a small army.  Spaghetti with squid and squid ink; baked eggplant and tomato sauce; another spaghetti with shrimp and garlic sauce; our home-made macaroni and a tomato sauce; anchovies with breadcrumbs; rolled swordfish and eggplant with breadcrumbs; the small sicilian fish in the tomato-olive sauce; an avocado with oil/vinegar and lemon; small marinated shrimps and anchovies (in lemon and olive oil); the sea bream that had been done in salt; and at the end of the table our four pizzas.  Lots of wine and bread.

The table

Close up of small fish in tomato olive sauce

Alonso deciding what to eat first

Our home-made macaroni

 For dessert, Stefano brought out cannoli--- they are filled with ricotta cheese.

Cannoli

 As a parting gesture we got certificates.

We finished our meal at about 2:30 p.m.   It was a fabulous day.  The restaurant was very good about packing up all the extra food (we never did get to our pizzas) for us to take back to our apartments.

Alonso and I took the food back to the apartment- there was a light drizzle which stopped by the time we got back.  We had a rest and at about 5:30 p.m. we went out for our evening passeggiata (stroll).  We noticed a few more stores opening up for the season.

We stopped at Daneu, a lovely linen store in operation since 1885.

Daneu in Taormina since 1885

Other part of window

We passed a small store with the large Sicilian lemons called cedro (citron), which one can eat in their entirety.

Large cedros in the top row

As we headed back to the apartment, the door to Chiesa di Santa Caterina was open and the inside was lighted.

Inside of Chiesa di Santa Caterina

Side wall with twisted columns

At the apartment we had a late dinner of one of our home-made pizzas with salad.  We would highly recommend the cooking class to anyone travelling to Taormina.  The Sicilian cuisine is fantastic and the fresh fruits, vegetables and fish are some of the best we have tasted in our travels.