A Farm to Table Day

(Still trying to catch up on blogging my most recent tour....)
Today was simply all about food. That’s not bad, is it? Seeing as this is billed as a “food and wine tour”, that’s actually pretty, darn good in my book.

We start the day at Granarium. This is a place I have blogged about before. It’s a place I love, and will continue to return to. Granarium is a farm, flour mill, bakery and storefront all rolled into one. It’s amazing isn’t it? In order to create delicious bakery products, the folks at Granarium start with growing the wheat. It’s kind of like the story of the Little Red Hen….they grow the wheat, turn the wheat into flour, use the flour to make fantastic doughs for pizza, cookies and cakes, and then sell it all in their tiny little shop.  Notice our shopping bags :)

Tiziana is our tour guide today, and she explains to us how the process works. 

After she shows us how the flour is made, she opens their amazing oven so we can have a look. This is the biggest wood-fired oven I have ever seen. Yes, it is wood-fired! Can you believe it?! Every day, they churn out a huge array of delicious products from this oven; the only oven they have in the place. 

At the end of our tour, we find that Tiziana has set out a huge variety of samples for us to try. And then we all cram into the tiny shop and make so many purchases because it’s all simply so good. Their whole wheat biscuits are my morning go-to staple with a cappuccino. When I eat one, it holds me until lunch, it’s so filling, and just so darned tasty. (That's them in the upper, right hand corner of the photo.)

After good-byes at the mill, we are off to our next food destination; cooking class! Yes, this is our second cooking lesson after our earlier wood-fired pizza making lesson. Today, we’ll be cooking an entire classic Umbrian meal under the tutelage of Wendy Aulsebrook and her local helpers at Antonelli winery. 

We have so many dishes to prepare, it’s nearly mind-boggling, but the group is so excited for today, and everyone is ready for our hands-on lesson. Here's our menu:

We start with appetizers: We make focaccia bread with fresh rosemary from scratch. On the right, you see the finished focaccia bread. It's served with local cheese and the winery's own jam made from Sagrantino grapes. In addition, we've made our own liver pate which you see served on some crusty local bread. This first course is served with Antonelli's white wine. 

Next comes the classic first course. Our "primo" is homemade pasta with a basic tomato sauce. The table is set for pasta making.....and everyone works hard for their lunch!

Of course, our pasta has to have a sauce, so we are taught how to make a basic, fresh tomato sauce:

For our main course, our "secondo", we're taught how to make a classic, Umbrian roasted chicken.

This chicken is amazingly flavorful and tender. It has been rubbed with a garlic and fresh herb mixture. Fresh lemon juice and liberal amounts of olive oil are poured over the top. Then it is baked in a convection oven. We can't get enough! 

Our side dish, or "contorno" is a roasted combination of potatoes, zucchini and tomatoes. So delicious...especially the little bites of tomato!

And what meal would be complete without dessert? We get to have two! First we make panna cotta with a chocolate ganache topping and also some delicious red wine cookies. We are so lucky. And it is all paired with the fantastic wines from Antonelli vineyards.

As usual, it has been a full and productive day. We are so grateful to Wendy and her helpers for showing us how to cook classic Umbrian cuisine. Everyone declares it.....truly delicious!