Join Chef Natalia in her Sicilian villa for hands-on cooking classes in Mondello – just outside of Palermo – on the sea. Open only to a select group of guests, she invites you into her private home where you will spend the day immersed into a true Sicilian cooking experience. Not only will you learn her noble family recipes, you will also discover how to cook with extra virgin olive oil made on her farm.
Learn how to prepare Sicilian arancini, stuffed rice balls, caponata, eggplant and tomato salad, panella, handmade pasta and sauce, artisan bread made with chickpea flour and beccafici, roasted Sicilian sardines. From antipasto to dessert – including cannoli and cassata, ricotta citrus – you’ll learn how to create authentic Sicilian recipes that you can recreate in your home kitchen.
Your morning begins in the villa kitchen where Natalia serves Sicilian coffee while going over the menu. She begins with a discussion and tasting of extra virgin olive oil produced on her farm. Following the introduction, tie on your apron for a unique cooking class where you’ll create a full-course menu. Seasonal menu examples include:
A Sicilian Dinner
White sauce and cheese arancini
Caserecce pasta with saffron cauliflower, dried raisins and pine nuts
Meat rolls with herbs or sarde a beccafico – sardine rolls with a pine nuts and sultan filling
Sweet and sour pumpkin with mint
Peppers with capers and mint pâté
Green salad with lemon zest and toasted pine nuts
White cream pudding or white grape Sicilian gelee
or
Late Summer In A Sicilian Dinner
Crostini with sun-dried tomato pesto
Pasta with almond and mint pesto
Sweet and sour Sicilian belt fish or stuffed calamari, or fish fillets with cherry tomatoes and capers
Grilled eggplant with mint and oregano
Green salad with lemon zest and toasted pine nuts
Ricotta pie
Guests dine with Chef Natalia following the cooking class with wine included. Cook with a Contessa in the seaside town of Mondella – a once-in-a-lifetime experience!!!
Program Includes:
- Introduction and caffe or cappuccino, included.
- Extra virgin olive oil tasting and discussion on In the Kitchen and Cooking with olive oil.
- Hands-on cooking class including the preparation of antipasto, fresh pasta and sauce, main course and dessert. Following the cooking class, everyone enjoys the food that was prepared in the cooking class with wine included.
- Cooking Vacations Welcome Bag with chef’s apron and recipe book included.
Program Prices:
$345 per person, based on 2 guests.
For Single Guests: If you are traveling on your own, please call us for the best group price. We are happy to welcome you into an already scheduled group.
Morning classes start at 10am & afternoon classes start at 5:30pm.
*Please note: One-day cooking classes do not include transportation, accommodations, or any other excursions. If you would like to add on transfers to and from your hotel or cruise ship port ~ please let us know your group size and we will be happy to provide a price and reserve the transfers for you.
2024 Dates: Cooking Classes are available every day throughout the year. Rates are subject to change based on currency exchange. Call for updated rates. Airfare not included. Group transfers for any cooking tour or tours that include transfers, are for the group and are not private. Transfers before, after or to another destination outside of your cooking tour are not included in the program price. If you would like to add on a private transfer or transfers, let us know and we will send you pricing.
Market Tour, Shop with the Chef, Cooking Class and Olive Oil Tasting
Your morning begins in the villa kitchen where Natalia serves Sicilian coffee while going over the menu. Next, it is off to the nearby food shops where you will shop for artisan products and farm-to-table produce starting with the baker, fruit & vegetable seller, fishmonger and butcher. Learn about seasonal produce, the food culture, and how the markets were influenced by the Spanish and the Arabs with the influence of sweet and sour, nuts and chocolate.
After the market tour, return to the kitchen for a discussion and tasting of extra virgin olive oil produced on Natalia’s farm. Following the introduction, tie on your apron for a unique cooking class where you’ll create a full-course menu including an antipasto, fresh pasta and sauce, main course and dessert with wine included. Guests dine with Chef Natalia following the cooking class with wine included.
Program Includes:
- Market Tour and Shop with the Chef.
- Introduction and caffe or cappuccino, included.
- Extra virgin olive oil tasting and discussion on cooking with olive oil.
- Hands-on cooking class including the preparation of antipasto, fresh pasta, second course and dessert. Following the cooking class, everyone enjoys the food that was prepared in the cooking class with wine included.
- Cooking Vacations apron and recipe book included.
Program Price:
$395 per person, based on 2 guests.
Program starts at 9:00am with lunch following at about 1:30pm. Shop with the Chef Tour is available Monday to Saturday: shops are closed on Sundays.
*Please note: One-day cooking classes do not include transportation, accommodations, or any other excursions. If you would like to add on transfers to and from your hotel or cruise ship port ~ please let us know your group size and we will be happy to provide a price and reserve the transfer(s) for you. If you have a non-cooker who would like dine, but not cook, please let us know and we will also send you pricing.
2024 Dates: Cooking Classes are available every day throughout the year. Rates are subject to change based on currency exchange. Call for updated rates. Airfare not included. Group transfers for any cooking tour or tours that include transfers, are for the group and are not private. Transfers before, after or to another destination outside of your cooking tour are not included in the program price. If you would like to add on a private transfer or transfers, let us know and we will send you pricing.
