After hiking the Cinque Terre on a beautiful sun filled day we met up with all of our group in Monterosso. We strolled the boardwalk and took in the last of the late sunrays in the day, first with a cold beer, then with an esppresso and a gelato to replenish the energy. As the sun began to set we boarded the train for the short ride to Levanto for an evening of hands on cullinary delights.
Regina, was our instructor, she and her family have an olive oil and local specialty shop in the seaside village of Levanto. For Regina, pesto making is a family tradition of hundreds of years and through translated english from our group leader Giuseppe, she shared her recipe and technique for making pesto. We each got to try our hand at the recipe using local sweet tender basil, finely ground parmigiano from nearby area of Parma, fresh garlic,cold pressed olive oil, sea salt and pine nuts she had set out. The carrera marble bowl we used was handcrafted from the marble quarries in the area. (We had noticed these quarries along the mountains on the train ride coming into the Liguarian coast.)
Have to admit, Bert impressed both Regina and our leader Giueseppe with his pesto making skills and technique as they both assumed he was a trained chef! I am going to have a hard time living that one down now. As we prepared and tasted the pesto on bread, we also snacked on olives, hunks of parmigiano and local vino. First an unoaked and crisp white blended from local varietals and then an easy going light bodied red made with Rosesse, a local little known varietal grape widely used for in the region. Then to top the evening off, Limoncello! This fortified liquor is based from this area made from the abundant fragrant sweet lemons that grow on the terraces of the cinque terre and along the Liguarian coast.
After class, we strolled back to the train station, boarded and rattled our way back through all the 5 cinque terre villages in the dark to La Spezzia. Our group later, retraced the days adventures while sitting on the piazzo at our little hotel. We had picked up some pancetta, cheese and olives from the local market. Sore muscles, tired legs,sweaty clothes and all were put on hold til the day was completely done. Absolutely stellar.
