Searched for wild strawberries in the Tuscan spring?

Tasted extra-virgin olive oil as fresh as the day it was made?

Inhaled the fragrance of young wild fennel greens?

Rolled fine egg pasta by hand till it’s delicately thin as the finest silk?

Are you ready to wake up your senses?

Your nose, your eyes, your palate, even your sense of touch,

all come alive when you cook and taste, simmer and savor,

in the Olive Oil Kitchen at Villa Campestri.

Nancy Harmon Jenkins invites you to join her May 20 – 26  for five days of cooking focusing on Tuscan traditions and how we use our beloved extra-virgins—in the kitchen and at the table. Working with Nancy and Villa Chef Jerry Zanieri, you’ll learn what oils to use in a range of dishes from antipasti and pastas all the way through to breads and desserts and you’ll have a wonderful time as you cook your way through the most cherished dishes of the Tuscan tradition, gaining competence and confidence in the Olive Oil Kitchen.

Five days and six nights at this beautifully restored historic resort high in the hills above the gorgeous Mugello valley, just half an hour north of Florence, include:

• Accommodation in one of the Villa’s 32 beautifully furnished rooms, and a chance to experience all its delights, from a stroll or a hike through the beautiful grounds to the luxury of an olive oil massage; mountain bikes are available, there’s an Etruscan tomb to contemplate, or you can just relax on the Villa’s sunny terrace with a prosecco and a view that inspired Giotti himself
• Five hands-on cooking classes, limited to 8 to 12 students, preparing lunch or dinner, including hand-made pasta and its sauces, baking in the wood-fired oven, and Tuscan traditional dishes such as ribollita, arista di maiale, crostini rossi e neri, et cetera
• All other meals, including wines, either at the Villa or in several carefully selected restaurants nearby
• A chance to understand the whole process of olive oil production, why some oils are great and others less so
• A structured tasting of a variety of olive oils with expert Gemma Pasquali, to understand the range of flavors and how to tell good from bad and indifferent
• A structured tasting of important Tuscan wines with expert Ian d’Agata
• A visit, in-depth tasting and delightful lunch with the wine-maker at a winery in the Chianti Rufina DOCG zone
• A visit to a nearby producer of fine cheeses and salumi (prosciutto, salame, pancetta, etc.)
• A visit to Tuscany’s greatest maker of knives of all descriptions, from butter knives to steak knives to butcher’s cleavers—and a chance to shop if you will for these fine products

Find out more at:

http://www.villacampestri.com/attivita/amorolio-la-cucina-parla-toscano_en

http://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?EventID=1062757

We call this program “Speaking Tuscan in the Kitchen/La Cucina Parla Toscano” in homage to the great traditions of Tuscan cuisine, based as they are on the super-high quality of la materia prima, primary ingredients. Think extra-virgin olive oil, think spring vegetables (fava beans, wild asparagus, early peas, wild nettle greens), think plump free-range chickens and rabbits, farm eggs and fresh cheeses, and all the other delights of this delicious season. We’ll be working with them all in the expansive kitchen at Villa Campestri.

Which, if you haven’t heard yet, is a miracle of rebirth in its own right–a Renaissance villa on a 13th century foundation, beautifully restored by the Pasquali family who run it as a luxury inn with an award-winning restaurant, l’Olivaia. We’ll be working in the kitchen with Campestri’s engaging chef Roberto (“Jerry”) Zanieri and also visiting a number of local restaurants, cheese- and salumi-makers, wineries, even one of the great producers of  fine hand-crafted knives in neighboring Scarperia. We’ll also taste a range of olive oils and learn what constitutes olive oil excellence (the Oleoteca Villa Campestri won an award at Madrid Fusion in January for most innovative contribution to the world of fine cuisine in 2011). And we’ll have a master class in tasting Tuscany’s most prestigious and interesting wines.
So join us for an exceptional week–five classes in five days and six nights at Villa Campestri for an all-inclusive price of E 2500 plus $500.

More details are available at villacampestri.com and at http://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?EventID=1062757

That puts The New Mediterranean Diet Cookbook in number three position among the best healthy cookbooks of the last 25 years. Thanks to all of you who have bought it, cooked from it, talked about it, and eaten the great, flavorful, healthy foods from the Mediterranean.

We’re already signing up for AmorOlio in the kitchen, March 23-29, and two AmorOlio seminars devoted to understanding the harvest and how great extra-virgin comes to life: October 20-26, and November 3-9. Get more information at villacampestri.it or at jenkins.extravirgin@gmail.com.

Where: Villa Campestri Olive Oil Resort, high in the hills of the Mugello north of Florence

When: March 23rd to 29th, 2012

In love with Tuscany and Tuscan cuisine? Want to discover all its secrets? Then don’t miss our newest “AmorOlio” experience!

After the success of our extra-virgin seminar, “AmorOlio: Adventures with Olive Oil,” in October 2011, we’ve prepared something new: “AmorOlio: Speaking Tuscan in the Kitchen,” a series of cooking classes and food experiences based on olive oil, set for next March 23rd to 29th.

Tuscan cuisine is the star of the show, which will be directed by Villa Campestri’s resident chef Roberto (Jerry) Zanieri and Nancy Harmon Jenkins, journalist, writer, and author of many books including her classic Flavors of Tuscany. Together they will unveil everything there is to know about one of the best loved cuisines in the world.

Learn to make

• bread and pizza in our wood-fired oven
• hand-made, home-made pasta and the sauces to accompany it
• Tuscan spring favorites: cacio e bacelli (pecorino cheese and raw fava beans)
• crostini of all shapes and descriptions
• the legendary arista di maiale
• lamb and artichokes for Easter or Passover feasting
• Tuscan springtime sweet traditions

“AmorOlio: Speaking Tuscan in the Kitchen” includes:

• 3 half-day cooking classes with chef Jerry and Nancy Jenkins, ending with lunch or dinner
• a structured tasting of extra-virgin olive oils with expert taster Gemma Pasquali, a recognized member of the national organization of olive oil tasters (Elenco nazionale assaggiatori di olio extravergine d’oliva)
• a structured tasting of a number of Tuscan wines, with wine expert Ian d’Agata, including wines produced in the hills of the Mugello
• tasting visit to a Chianti Rufina producer
• foraging for wild greens and mushrooms
• visits to local markets, cheese and ham producers, bakeries, and other producers of refined food products, as well as to one of Italy’s finest makers of hand-crafted kitchen and table knives

The cost of the tour, including six nights at Villa Campestri, meals, transportation, and lessons: € 2500.

For further information, write to villa.campestri@villacampestri.it, or to jenkins.extravirgin@gmail.com.