I recently attended a Sardinian cookery course at The Bertinet Kitchen in Bath. Richard Bertinet is famed for his unconventional bread cookery techniques, which involve incorporating air into the dough, rather than whacking it out at every opportunity. The cookery school is based on two floors, and Richard runs a number of bread courses on one level, while a variety of guest chefs teach on the first floor.
Our course was led by Silvanna de Soissans, who’s a very cheerful and colourful Italian, with her own blog and catering business. Before we began the business of making lunch, like all good foodies, we started with coffee, and toast for those who wanted it. {Silvanna went on to set up the Foodie Bugle, one of my favourite sites, and I’ve since written an article for her – I adore her! I regularly buy the beautiful kitchenalia in her on-line shop…}
Silvanna had brought the most amazing array of herbs from her garden, which given the weather we’ve had to date was no mean feat – there were amazing bunches of parsley, basil and mint. After admiring her gardening prowess, we learnt briefly about the historical influences on Sardinian cookery… Where Sicily was invaded by many different cultures, and chose to embrace these culinary influences into their own cuisine – apparently Sardinian’s sought refuge inland, and kept their culinary history intact. I’m not entirely sure why they did – most of the books I have since acquired on Sardinian cookery reflect what Silvanna taught – that the food is born out of poverty, and uses ingredients generally considered ‘poor’ by other regions.