Chef Patrizia’s Country Kitchen Umbria™

Tie on your aprons for hands-on cooking and pasta making classes in Umbria with Chef Patrizia and her family, Signor Filippo and Giacomo in Assisi.  She opens her family cookbook and shares recipes dating back to the Etruscans – in Assisi cooking classes.  Using seasonal products from her garden, she’ll teach you how to prepare recipes from Umbria, while immersing you in the history of Italy’s Green Heart – including her pasta making class.  During your stay meander through the garden and pick seasonal fruits and vegetables which are used in the cooking class.  Chef Patrizia advocates using simple ingredients and farm-to-table produce from her garden along with her family’s organic olive oil.  Enjoy your Umbrian hands-on cooking classes and scenic tours Italy!

A magical countryside location with a beautiful sitting room that welcomes guests and a garden overlooking Assisi, the property is just a few minutes from the main town of Assisi.

Umbrian Cooking Classes – Pasta Making in Umbria

Under Chef Patrizia’s guidance, you’ll learn how to prepare Umbrian traditions – antipasto, fresh pasta, main courses, and desserts. On the menu is classic stringozzi pasta – a thick pasta served with wild asparagus, or mushrooms, or sausage.  Learn how to make umbrichelli in salsa di Trasimeno, pasta with perch fillets, shallots, garlic, and chilli pepper, and spaghetti col rancetto, spaghetti with rancetto sauce, ham, cherry tomatoes and fresh pecorino cheese.  You will learn how to mix and roll pasta into delicate sheets for lasagna.  You’ll make tagliatelle with fresh tomato and herbs or garnished with shaved black or white truffles when in season.

Spending a day in the kitchen with Chef Patrizia is a food experience filled with passion and love.  Her philosophy respects the traditions of the territory as she cooks in the rhythm of the seasons.

Learn how to prepare braised fennel, grilled pumpkin or stuffed eggplant.  Soups in Umbrian are a staple – such as faro and zucchini, beans or lentil soups.  Learn how to prepare pollo alla cacciatora, hunter’s chicken with vegetables or roasted pork, and braised apples.  Desserts are delicious using farm-fresh eggs to make the famous Assisi rocciata, a pastry strudel made in the shape of a spiral or brustengolo, a pastry prepared with farm-raised apples, raisins, pine nuts, lemon zest, olive oil and walnuts.  Enjoy your desserts with a Caffe Umbria, coffee and vanilla gelato!

A typical traditional menu includes pappardelle al ragù di salsicce e costarelle di maiale brado, wide Umbrian pasta with a sausage and pork sauce; roll’è di coniglio casereccio with Panzanella, tenderloins of rabbit rolled with herbs and served with a bread and tomato salad, and bignè fatto in casa alla crema, handmade profiteroles filled with cooked cream.

You will also learn the secrets of making homemade bread in the Umbrian tradition. She Patrizia uses Old World technique for mixing and baking beautiful country bread.

Following each cooking class, guests enjoy the foods that were prepared in class with a toast of local wine and water included.

Assisi

Step back into time when you stroll through Assisi, the birthplace of Saint Francis of Assisi, founder of the Franciscan order and one of the most popular saints in history.  The 13^th-century Basilica di San Francesco is adorned with frescos painted by a young Giotto where he depicts the life of Saint Francis. You may also visit Saint Francis in the crypt, or meander through its outside areas and inside halls. Assisi is also home to Rocca Maggiore, a medieval fortress, and the Basilica di Santa Chiara.

Umbria Accommodations

Check into the charming guest house in Assisi – a picturesque property surrounded by lush green gardens and flowering fields with a view overlooking Assisi.  The property also has a flower garden and farm that produces almost all of the ingredients for the cooking class.  Each guest room and cottage is elegantly decorated with Umbrian linens, comfortable bedding, and private ensuite bathrooms. Bright wide windows swing open letting in the fresh Umbrian air.  The caffe bar serves a delicious Italian breakfast including Umbrian cakes and bread, fruit, eggs, cappuccino, espresso and tea.  The property has a Slow Food osteria and swimming pool and offers horseback riding along cypress-lined footpaths with medieval villages as the backdrop.  There is wifi on the property.

The Organic Farm

On the organic farm, the family produces high-quality extra virgin olive oil (a product of excellence awarded with numerous awards), honey, preserves and delicious jams.

The property also produces 80% of its ingredients on the nearby farm; including the meats and cheeses according to the Umbrian tradition along with the recipes of the master pork butcher Signor Lillo.  The vegetable garden is carefully cared for growing seasonal vegetables and greens; while the surrounding forest and countryside is brimming with mushrooms, asparagus, truffles, and wild herbs.

Slow Food Member

The property’s Osteria is part of the Slow Food Italian Taverns, and it shows every evening as a meeting place for like-minded foodies who are curious to learn and enjoy the tastes and traditions of the local cuisine with a glass of wine in a relaxing atmosphere.  Guests are welcomed into a convivial, characteristic, and hospitable atmosphere where traditional Umbrian cuisine is served.  Recipes handed down through the family and revisited with passion, character, and originality by the chef Patrizia.  Her philosophy is genuine zero-kilometer raw products and organic food products produced by small local producers.

Wining and dining together at Osteria with delicious food, family and the best wines is the family motto.

Assisi, the Umbrian Travelers’ Dream

Assisi conjures up images of Saint Francesco and emerald green olive oil. Umbria is a land brimming with verdant landscapes, peaceful Medieval villages, and ancient art.  Between your cooking classes, visit to Assisi, and visit to the farm, garden, and olive orchard.  You’ll be immersed in an authentic cooking and food experience.  The property is close to Spello and Todi.  Beautiful green landscapes lace tours to Assisi to Perugia and Terni cooking classes for an incredible stay.

In season, add on a truffle hunt or a visit to Todi.  Check in, relax and sip a glass of wine while overlooking Assisi!

Property Photos

Itinerary ~ 5 Days, 4 Nights

Day One: Check In & Chef’s Welcome Dinner

• Arrival transfer and check-in.
• Enjoy your Prosecco toast.
• Welcome Dinner with a Chef’s Tasting menu featuring local fare.

Day Two:Cooking Class, Foraging & Farm Tour

• Breakfast is served.
• Following breakfast, join Chef Patrizia for a tour of the garden and farm. Experience a walk through green grass, beautiful gardens, and the farm to discover the seasonal vegetables and herbs along with various fruits. Foraging with Chef Patrizia has you picking herbs and vegetables and also learning about each one – for the cooking class.
• Tie on your aprons for your cooking class where you will prepare a menu of Umbrian fare.  Following the cooking class, everyone enjoys the food that was prepared in the cooking class with a toast of wine.

Day Three: Assisi, Santa Maria degli Angeli and Cooking Class

• Breakfast is served.
• Following breakfast, meet your English-speaking driver and guide for an excursion to Assisi. Stroll along the peaceful town lined with artisan shops – showcasing laces, linens, wood crafts, caffès, ice-cream shops and restaurants. Visit Saint Francesco’s church and grounds and discover the art, history, and culture of the historic Umbrian town.  Following Assisi, visit Santa Maria dei Angelia It is home to the Basilica of Santa Maria Degli Angeli and includes Porziuncola, the most sacred place of the various Franciscan Orders and where Saint Francis died.
• Lunch is on your own in any one of the quaint restaurants during your one day in Assisi.
• Return to the property.  Tie on your aprons for your cooking class where you will prepare a menu of Umbrian fare.  Following the cooking class, everyone enjoys the food that was prepared in the cooking class with a toast of wine.

Day Four: Cooking Class & Wine Tour Tasting Lunch

• Breakfast is served.
• Excursion to an Umbrian winemaker with tour, tastings and lunch included. Meet your driver for a unique wine-tasting light lunch with driver.
• Return to the property.  Tie on your aprons for your cooking class where you will prepare a menu of Umbrian fare.  Following the cooking class, everyone enjoys the food that was prepared in the cooking class with a toast of wine.
• In the evening, relax at the property and enjoy!

Add On

Truffle Hunting or Perugia

Add on a truffle hunting with a prized hunter and truffle dog for an authentic truffle hunting experience in the heart of Umbria.  Additional add on excursions include Perguia.  Visit Perugia and experience our famous chocolate tour and tasting.

Day 5: Check out & Arrivederci

• Check out and transfer to the Assisi train station.
• Arrivederci Umbria!