Venise en Provence Cookery School goes to Venice

Inside Venice and the Venitian Coutry

When people ask me if I miss Italy it always takes time to me to answer. I guess the reason is that I don’t really miss my Country but I feel homesick about Venice and the Veneto Region, I miss that culture in all its different ways and that’s why I started to dream about organizing something there. During my last visit I found a very special place just near Venice: located in the out-building ( barchessa), court and garden of a  magnificent 17^th century villa is one of the most beautiful and luxury Glampings of the world: it’s there that  I’m going to arrange  weekly workshops for discovering and experimenting Venice and Veneto like authentic residents.

Quand les gens me demandent si j’ai la nostalgie d'Italie il me prend toujours du temps pour répondre. Je suppose que la raison est que je ne manque pas vraiment de mon pays mais je me sens nostalgique de Venise et la Vénétie, il me manque de cette culture dans toutes ses manières et c’est pourquoi j'ai commencé à rêver d'organiser quelque chose là-bas. Lors de ma dernière visite, j'ai découvert un endroit extraordinaire, tout près de Venise : situé entre un bâtiment (barchessa), la Cour et le jardin d'une villa magnifique du 17ème siècle c’est l'un des plus beaux et luxueux Glampings du monde, c'est là que je vais organiser des ateliers de découverte de Venise et la Vénétie comme des authentiques résidents.

For Program & Fees click here

 

Dining room

 

Dining room

 

Eating outside

 

These are the common rooms were we'll spend time cooking, eating, tasting wine and having fun.

Glamping and surroundings

In the charming rural scenery that surrounds it, the Glamping Canonici di San Marco is set in the context of a seventeenth-century structure where native trees and orchards will make you feel nestled in nature without giving up modern comforts, allowing you to rediscover the secret harmony that only contact with nature can generate!

Bathroom

Sink in the bathroom

Bedroom in the lodge

Private terrace to chill out

Bathroom

Lodge

Chill out in the venitian Countryside

Mirano and Venice province

Mirano is an ancient city situated in the heart of the “terra del tiepolo” (www.terradeitiepolo.it), it is an extraordinary example of the most important and best preserved road system of the whole Roman Empire, the Roman grid, plotted more than 2000 years ago; Mirano is a small town rich of art works and inextricably linked to Venice. In the 17th century Mirano began to be populated by aristocratic villas with spectacular parks, which still grace the countryside today and are sought out by the most refined and discrete tourists.

 
And now some Historycal notes on Venitian Villas

The history of Venetian Villas began in April 1345 when the great Council of Venice Republic abolished the law that until then had forbidden Venetian citizens to buy land in the Mainland. The patrician’s riches moved into inland along the banks of the Brenta, had to be checked. This gave start to the proliferation of country residences  that were transformed to luxury  villas: almost  2000 famous Venetian Villas have been built in the region between the 15th and 18th century and this phenomenon  ended in 1797 with the fall of the Republic. From the 16th century onwards the canals and rivers to reach without any problems from Venice were lined with sumptuous summer residence and the Brenta Canal, which linked them, became an ideal extension of the Grand Canal of Venice. The noble departed from Venice with luxury boats moving from one villa another, from party to party. 

L'histoire des Villas Vénitiennes a commencé en avril 1345 lorsque le Grand Conseil de la République de Venise a aboli la loi qui, jusque-là, avait interdit les citoyens vénitiens à acheter des terres dans l’arrière-pays : la richesse emménagée dans l'intérieur des terres par le patricien  devait être vérifié.  Depuis, presque 2000 Villas Vénitiennes ont été construite dans la région entre le XVe et le XVIIIe siècle pour les vacances des nobles Vénitiens et s’étant terminé à la chute de la République en 1797.  Dès le XVIe siècle, des canaux et des rivières pour atteindre sans aucun problème le Canal de la Brenta furent aménagé et liés entre eux pour en faire une extension idéale du Grand Canal de Venise et ont été bordées de résidences somptueuses. Les nobles  quittaient  Venise avec des bateaux de luxe pour se déplacer d’une villa à l’autre, de fête en fête.

Villa Pisani in Stra, one of the most beautiful in the Brenta Riviera

Now....if you feel like ready to come click here and see what's up.

Uzes and a scallop's salad

Well, Uzès isn’t in Provence but it seems much alike: sunny, warm, with that sense of laziness that belongs to South. We went to see some friends for the week-end  so I could have a look at the market ( I can’t do without ….) 

Do you see that strange vegetable named christophines? It’s an ancient one, it travelled to Algeria from France and then it’s coming back. The vendor explained that it’s not much tasty “fade” as we say in France and gave me a recipe to cook it that I did not retained as it was the classic French way with lots of cream, butter and all the stuff. I found it not really interesting even if sometimes I like to cook in the classic French way.

After the market tour we were effectively hungry, so we found a place that seemed really good and in fact it was. The sun was really warm that day, even if at the end of January, but they added also some special lams to warm-up more so we could have lunch outside. That’s something I really appreciate of living here: we can eat outside the most of the year. That restaurant serves mainly main dishes, or tapas. We had a choice of various ones, that in the photo is foie-gras but  the salad with scallops and citrus was the best, so once we came home I tried to make it,  with some variations of mine. I guess that a big portion of this can make a meal, and a good one.

Before the recipe I’d like to show you some shots I picked in the afternoon, when we went for a little walk in the countryside. 

 Some roses in the garden….quite out of season but this year we are having a very mild winter, and a cock that’s completely blind: he lives with the family and stays in the house a big part of the day. Otherwise he has to be kept in a cage as there’s another cock in the garden and…you know…2 cocks don’t match together! 

And now the recipe: this is really a gorgeous salad, I had a chance to find many different Citrus at the organic shop but you can change them with whatever you find. The one we ate at the restaurant had grapefruit, lemon and oranges: I found tangerines,kumquats, which I adore and a bergamot.

Ingredients:

100 gr of soncino salad (otherwise called mache) or rocket
Fennel and rocket sprouts
1 orange
1 lemon
2 tangerines
2 kumquats
1 bergamot
1 avocado
4 scallops
Fresh ginger
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
a pinch of good salt ( Maldon or fleur de sel)
a pinch of Sichuan pepper

Put the scallops in the freezer so as to have them firmer.
Wash he salad and set apart. Peel the tangerines (or the grapefruit) and cut them in slices, cut  the kumquats too. Divide the avocado in two, remove the core and with the help of a spoon separate the pulp from the peel, overspread with lemon juice ( half of a lemon) and set apart.
Now you can start with the vinaigrette: squeeze the orange and the bergamot ( or  half lemon ) pour into a bowl, add a pinch of salt, a pinch of Sichuan pepper grounded, a teaspoon of fresh ginger grated, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, whisk together. Cut the avocado in slices, so do with scallops. Dress the plate with scallops and avocado, generously scatter with vinaigrette, add the salad, the sprouts and the tangerine’s slices. Pour on the top the remaining vinaigrette and serve. This salad is filled with vitamins, minerals and proteins and its colours bring a ray of light on your winter table, so enjoy: it's healthy and delicious!