Butchering, sausage making, truffles, mushroom hunt & wine tour in Italy

If you call yourself a "foodie," pig lover, wine-o, tartufaio, gourmet or gourmand this culinary holiday is for you! Vegetarians seek refuge elsewhere because for five nights in October it's a carnivore's delight in the foothills of the Apennine Mountains of Central Italy. This fall savor the slow food & experience Italian farm life first hand with this unique holiday at La Tavola Marche (Organic Farm, Inn & Cooking School) for mushroom hunting, pig butchering, sausage making, chicken slaughtering & butchering with hands-on cooking classes incorporating the fresh butchered meats and a fabulous wine tour & tasting. The first night you are welcomed to the 300 year old stone farmhouse with the rich smells of a slow roasting fire escaping through the kitchen door, a feast to be remembered with each of the five courses paired with local Marche wines and topped with truffles.

At La Tavola Marche you know where your food comes from; vegetables fresh picked from the garden, eggs from the hens, truffles foraged from the hills and fresh meat from our free-range chickens or the next door neighbor. Spend the morning with our local butcher in Urbania for a demonstration on butchering, follow the process, identifying and trimming different cuts of pork, learning the best cooking technique for each cut well as a range of basic butchery skills. Learn the basics of the aging process, how to make salami, cured meats and sausages.  Back at the farmhouse we will stuff our own sausages to grill over the open fire for dinner! After a day of meat, relax the following day by sampling the best family-run vineyards of Le Marche with a full day wine tour & tasting. Later in the week hike into the woods to forage for mushrooms then get down & dirty; slaughter & butcher our free range chickens incorporating it into cooking class for classic stock, stews & roasts.

5 Nights: 26 - 31 October 2011
885 Euro Total per person

Includes: Five nights accommodations, welcome five course feast, two full day cooking classes, wine tour & transportation, mushroom hunt, butchering class, breakfast daily, three lunches, four dinners, evening snack, wine with meals, heating, all taxes. Price based on double occupancy. Special discounted rate for group of 4 or more.

WINE TOUR:
Enjoy a half-day private guided wine tasting & tour with lunch by an Italian wine expert of the best family-run, most characteristic vineyards of Le Marche. You will have the chance to visit a cheese factory, honey producer, an oil mill, wineries and of course taste all those products.

SLOW FOOD:
The night of your arrival devour our five-course feast, prepared with fresh truffles and fresh ingredients from our garden, each course paired with wine from a local Marche vineyard.

FARM LIFE:
From collecting eggs from the hens to slaughtering the chickens for winter it is all part of life on the farm. Visit our local butcher for a morning lesson in chartucerie and butchering with lunch at a local Osteria after. Take a walk into the woods foraging for wild mushrooms.

COOKING CLASS:
Using the fresh butchered meats Chef Jason will teach you how to make the fundamentals from soups & stocks to slow roasting & braising.

 truffles

TRUFFLES
Visit one of the many local truffle festivals in the area from Sant'Angelo in Vado to Acqualagna and sample this rare mushroom.

Food & Wine Harvest Holiday:
Truffles, Mushroom Hunting, Butchering & Sausage Making Cooking Class and Wine Tour in Le Marche, Italy
26 - 31 October 2011
La Tavola Marche Agriturismo & Cooking School
Le Marche, Italy

Classes include: Custom made, hand pressed Pascucci apron and hand printed copy of The Little Recipe Book, meals & wine.

Includes: Five nights accommodations, welcome five course feast, two full day cooking classes, wine tour & transportation, mushroom hunt, butchering class, breakfast daily, three lunches, four dinners, evening snack, wine with meals, heating, all taxes. Price based on double occupancy. Special discounted rate for group of 4 or more.

For more information email: info[at]latavolamarche.com
www.latavolamarche.com

Ashley Bartner is the Living in Italy Editor for Wandering Educators