I’ve mentioned the wonderful Giulia of Juls’ Kitchen a few times – she’s one of my favourite food writers and her site is absolutely gorgeous. A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of actually spending a few hours in Juls’ Kitchen in the Tuscan countryside, when my friend Jenia and I had a cooking class with her. All the photos accompanying this entry were taken by Jenia, although I took the liberty of cropping/resizing them a bit to fit on here all in one big post.

It’s amazing what a sensory experience cooking can be. We can read recipe after recipe, get detailed instructions and see step by step photos on countless blogs, but being taught in a real kitchen is something else entirely. When we made pasta, I could rub the semolina between my fingertips so now I know what texture I’m looking for when I buy it, and I could feel the elasticity of the dough and see the slow spring back when I touched it so now I know how much it needs to be kneaded.

I could hear things sizzling, smell the herbs, vegetables and cheeses, taste things as we made them under the watchful eye of an expert.

In just a few hours we took the freshest ingredients, learned about their origins and variations, got busy and made a meal fit for a king.

Delicious crisp radishes and carrots with a simple olive oil, salt and pepper dip. Roasted vegetables under a topping of capers, olives, breadcrumbs and herbs.

Fresh and flavourful panzanella.

Crostini topped with zucchini. Tomato and mozzarella lasagne.

Peach pound cake.

I’m going to replicate as many of the dishes we made that day as I can and will share some recipes with you, but I also recommend checking out Juls’ cookbook, My Grandma’s recipes.

Thank you, Giulia, for a glorious day in Juls’ Kitchen.