Pasta, Pesto, Prosecco OH MY

San Gregorio da Sassola, Italy

Have you ever taken a cooking class?

In your own castle Air BnB?

In Italy?

Yes, yes, yes we totally did!

The food was fresh, the recipes were simple, the wine local and the experience was simply fantastic!

This is Giovanni.

Giovanni has a very interesting life.

On this particular day we got to share the day with Giovanni.

Our air bnb host Ashley, introduced us to Giovanni as the perfect person to provide us with the Italian eating/ cooking experience we were in search of.

First thing was to hit the market in neighbouring town Tivoli – 1/2 hr away.

Giovanni provided us with some interesting insights to the area along the way.

Once we got to Tivoli we grabbed some fresh bread from the bakery, followed by some fish at the fish monger.

So affordable. Guess it helps to be living in close proximity to the sea.

Just look at the selection here.

The market we headed over to was set up outdoors in the town square and was very exciting for me.

Here we were surrounded with the freshest most beautiful vegetables and herbs possible. In Italy!

I could have stayed all day. The temptation to buy many many things was great but alas we were on a mission.

Back to the castle to start the food prep.

We popped a Prosecco or 3 and got right to it.

The blue fish were stuffed with a basil, bread crumb stuffing and fried up.

The pesto for the pasta was a basil, pistachio, parm, garlic, salt and olive oil combo.

Fun fact: the olive oil was purchased from our neighbour. A sweet older lady who put up a sign in an alleyway near our place offering her olive oil and jam for sale.

This olive oil is the greenest I’ve ever seen and tastes so delightful that I continue to bring it everywhere with us along the road trip!

Mix the pasta with the pesto and pass the wine please.

Don’t forget some fresh bread and a simple vinaigrette salad.

Now it’s mangia time!

Honourable mention to the behind the scenes player who transformed our kitchen into a one night bistro with lounge music, candles, and a tastefully set dining table complete with an olive branch centrepiece.

Yes, Ashley (our host) 💜 set everything up while we were at the market.

Might be the first time ever I didn’t pay close attention to the actual recipe part of the night. All this great content.

Pure gold for someone like me with a food blog and all. Or was it?

No, I’d say this was more about the experience of being fully present for this memory in the making.

Could also have been that Prosecco didn’t have me at my most attentive lol.

Let’s say it was a combination of both and a great way to end our visit here in San Gregorio da Sassola.

Goodbye model cat posing for the camera.