Palermo Cooking Class and Lunch

Our group of 6 (3 couples -NZers and UK) attended this wonderful Sicilian cooking class and market visit. We were met by Fabrizio (tour leader), Marco (chef), and Julia (translator) at 10am at the Capo market. The team are knowledgeable, friendly, and instantly made us feel part of the true Sicilian cooking experience! We wandered the market for about 40 minutes - Marco knew the right stalls to show us and explain what to look for when choosing the ingredients. Julia was very patient with all of our questions and translated everything Marco told us so that we could become true market shoppers! Once finished, we followed Marco and Julia back to Marco's gorgeous little apartment - about a 10-15 minute walk. Once there, Marco has a room off his kitchen, where he has a central table and he prepares all of the dishes. Marco will show you how to prepare something and then it's your turn at the table to copy! As an example for this review, our menu consisted of these authentic Sicilian dishes: 1. White wine infused with fresh peaches and home-grown mint. This chilled in the fridge for the first hour and then was shared around to drink whilst we continued with the other dishes. 2. Bread rolls opened out and layered with tomatoes, cheese, oil, oregano, pepper, ricotta, and then baked in the oven - a real Sicilian street food classic! 3. Super fresh market sardines stuffed with the most AMAZING breadcrumb mixture - with chillis, oil, paprika, garlic, salt/pepper, raisins, parsley. They are then baked in the oven with bay leaves. 4. The remaining sardines were simply panfried in oil and served with a squeeze of lemons (from Marco's farm garden). The best way to have them! 4. Linguine with a fresh tomato sauce, garlic, and green leaves from the zucchini plant. We spent 2 hours preparing the dishes and had a fun time chatting, watching, and making all of the food. Marco was always watching what we were doing and teaching us the best ways to achieve the best results! We alternated between the prep room and Marco's kitchen. The kitchen is quite small so I'd have to say that our group of 6 is perhaps the maximum. Once cooked, we all moved to Marco's dining area and enjoyed a fun hour eating and chatting. They provided a couple of bottles of white wine which helped make it a great lunch. I would recommend this cooking class! Perhaps a limoncello at the end would be nice, and maybe an option to buy an additional bottle of wine or 2? Great class.

Marco the chef is very charismatic and funny. He gave us great tips in the market and in the kitchen. We had a great translator, Julia who gave us insight not just about cooking but also about life in Palermo. By the time we sat down for lunch, it was more like eating and hanging out with friends. What a fun day! I will take any of Fabrizio Cavallaro’s tours.

Entspannte, angenehme, ruhige Atmosphäre, kein Zeitdruck, persönliche Empfehlungen/Kochtips, sehr zu empfehlen!