12 - Pseudough cooking lessons with no risk of Sulmonella

Sulmona was the first part of our trip that we hadn’t pre-booked. Only three days earlier we had considered extending our beach time in Vieste and skipping over the Abruzzo countryside but as you can tell from James’ blog, watching the parking police was the most exciting part of Vieste so Abruzzo won.

It did not disappoint. We arrived to the warmest welcome from our Airbnb host. Freshly baked cakes and fruit, a phone call to book us in for a cooking class, the offer of us all sitting down together for a coffee and the promise that we had picked the best weekend to visit Sulmona. Only two days earlier the town had decided to put on a festival. The fact that this can be organised in two days was a hint that we were on to something special but an even bigger hint that it must be a very small town.

As we usually do when we first arrive somewhere, we went for a walk. The scenery was stunning with the backdrop of dramatic mountains that hugged the town from every direction you looked. There was dozens of little shops filled with confetti (sugar coated almonds) which is what Sulmona is known for. We could see the whole community coming together to prepare for the festival with people setting up stages and speakers, hanging balloons in every shop and an excited buzz with kids playing in the streets. We turned one corner and a man driving and playing a grand piano with a real life ballerina dancing on top came hurtling towards us. This was as weird as it sounds

Since we’ve arrived in Italy we wanted to do a cooking class. Pasta is (and forever will be) a staple in the J&M household and we thought that a couple of tricks may improve the dinners that we cobble together hurriedly after work. We arrived in Pacentro which is another old and pretty town on a hilltop overlooking Sulmona. We were greeted by our teacher for the day. Her day job was as an Architect and she had restored a dilapidated house with sweeping views over the region that she ran weekend cookery classes from. She has two nieces and was traveling to Thailand for a holiday the following day. She would be catching a bus from Sulmona to Rome airport as it is much quicker than the train. Her boyfriend worked in construction and his parents were friends with a Michelin star chef. We were fortunate enough to eat some of his bread but she swore us to secrecy. James teased that all my personal enquiries meant I learned more about her life than I did about how to cook pasta.

We made fresh pasta with a tomato sauce which she told us was a traditional dish from the Abruzzo region (though I would argue that it is traditional for all of Italy) and I can’t say we found out too much new stuff in the four hours we were there. After she shared a glass of wine with us overlooking the view, she announced that she was a bit drunk. She then proceeded to do most of the cooking herself while we watched. We had a really fun time regardless and enjoyed our pasta, wine, cheese, salami, fancy bread and the company. Best of all there was plenty of leftovers which we took back to Sulmona for dinner that evening.

Scanno had been recommended by our cooking teacher so we set off the next morning to this beautiful, quiet lake. It was a perfect 5km loop so we decided to run it and finished off with a coffee on the water's edge. We stopped in a national park on the way back for traditional arrosticini (barbecue lamb skewers) and headed back to Sulmona where we spent our last evening enjoying wine and a meal in one of the old squares.

Abruzzo surprised and delighted us with its beauty and we just hope that San Marino, which is our next stop, can compare.

J&M

Spaghetti alla Chitarra Recipe

1x egg

100g flour

10x cherry tomatoes

1x clove garlic

Salt

Pepper

Basil

Olive Oil

1. Pour 100g flour on a flat surface and make a well in the middle. Crack egg into the well and add a pinch of salt. Slowly combine egg and flour by running fork around the edge of the well in a circular motion until all flour is combined. Dough should be firm and not too sticky. Knead the dough for what feels like forever. Wrap dough in cling film and set aside for 30 mins.

2. Prepare tomatoes by cutting into quarters and set aside.

3. Heat a generous pour of olive oil in a frying pan. Peel the clove of garlic, crush and place in hot frying pan. Add the tomatoes and stir.

4. Remove garlic, add a sprig of basil, season with salt and pepper and reduce the sauce.

5. Unwrap the pre-prepared dough and roll using a rolling pin until it is quite thin.

6. Cut rolled dough into thirds and place the first third on top of the Chitarra that you have purchased from a souvenir shop in Abruzzo. Roll the dough on top of the Chitarra until it falls out the bottom in long spaghetti strands. Place spaghetti strands on a large tray and cover well in flour. Repeat for each third of dough.