My job as a traveling Tuscan chef
I am a traveling Tuscan chef and this makes me very proud. I grew up with my grandmother who taught me to pick vegetables from the garden, to make fresh pasta and to cook chickens or rabbits as well. Well, all this wouldn’t have happened if I were not born in Tuscany.
Here it is not true that the 4 seasons no longer exist. Here you can feel the change from the smell of the air and the change of colors in the fields. Now Spring has finally arrived in all its joy.
Yes, I’m a traveling chef. This means I go shopping and come directly to your vacation home in Tuscany. And there I cook, I prepare everything from scratch, from appetizers to desserts. Yes, you heard right: we also make dessert directly on the spot.
Moreover, once our service is finished, we clean the kitchen well eh?
I am speaking in the plural because we are always in 2: the chef and the assistant.
Cooking and Culture
I lead cooking classes for foreign travelers or tourists who come from all over the world, that’s why cooking means meeting different cultures.
To tell the truth, even though I have been working as a private coach and chef for 10 years, I understood this only a couple of years ago, when one day I became fond of some cakes and desserts from American pastry.
I’m crazy about banana bread and lemon bars!
To be an itinerant chef means never give up to discover new places, villas where to go, people to meet, and different tastes.
This time, however, I want to write you a recipe for a sauce that comes from another part of the world, with precision from Latin America. Well, this is the dulce de leche!
I finally found out how to turn toffee into a spectacular sauce 😀
To me, who am a sweet tooth, likes to spread it on bread or biscuits, but it serves many purposes:
to stuff cakes, small pastries, ice creams, etc.
Well, the steps are all on this video and the recipe can be found below.
Watch the video to understand the colors and texture
Enjoy your meal!
- 2 tbs water
- 1 cup (200 gr) Caster Sugar
- 3 oz (80 gr) Salted Butter
- 1 cup (250ml) Heavy Fresh Cream
- Options:
- 1 tsp honey
- 3 drops vanilla natural extract
- Tool:
- High-sided saucepan
- 1 cleaned and dry glass jar
Instructions
- Leave the heavy cream at room temperature for about 10 minutes before cooking with it
- Melt the butter and set it apart
- Pour the sugar and the water in a high-sided saucepan and let it caramelize without stirring (low fire)
- You can only slightly move the saucepan (circular movements) to help the dissolution
- Once all dissolved the sugar starts boiling
- Now you can use a wooden spoon and stir
- Wait until golden-brown
- Pour in the butter and stir
- Pour in the heavy cream (eventually honey and vanilla) and stir
- Whisk with a whip or a wooden spoon until the mixture becomes thicker (about 5 minutes)
- Let it warm or cool, pour inside the glass jar and close with the lid
- If you like you can boil the jar in water for 25 minutes as for the jam in a jar
- Slurp!
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