Chef Anna Maione Teaches Students More Than Just Cooking

Chef Anna Maione considers the kitchen to be one of her favorite rooms in the house. On July 7, Chef Maione showed American students living in Sorrento, Italy how to grocery shop and conducted a cooking lesson. 

Nonna Flora Sorrento Family Kitchen, is named after her grandmother Flora, allowing Maione to share her love for cooking, traditions and recipes. Maione always knew she wanted to own a cooking business and worked in marketing for 13 years prior. During the three-hour-long session, Maione’s mother Patrizia joined the group and demonstrated how to cook authentically. 

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An Italian grocery store is a place American students are lost in since the stores are incredibly different. Maione explained everything from ordering produce in Italian to checking the Protected Designation of Origin (DOP) of wine. 

As the students walked through the grocery store with locals, they noticed many differences in the pace of grocery shopping. The process of grocery shopping in Italy is part of making art since what follows is something more than just consumption. 

Maione taught the correct way to look for good pasta. The quality of pasta is best when the cooking time is high and is a pale yellow, almost white in color. Gargiulo olive oil, produced locally in Sant’Agnello, is one of the best products to buy since it is extra virgin olive oil. Mutti Passata, a tomato purée that is also found in the United States, is the best purée to purchase, according to Maione. Other products Maione bought for the meal included: cuor di pane, milk; salami Napoli negroni; parsley (parsley); miraglia round olives; parmigiano reggiano and pecorino romano.

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She showed the white wine that would be best paired with the meal and the quality and characteristics of the wine depend on the place where it is made (Protected Designation of Origin). 

When the students returned to the kitchen, they were put to work. New scents filled the apartment, and many memories were created. They munched on treccine cookies, made with almonds and fennel, which are cooked in a wood oven and prepared by hand. Students washed the tomatoes and basil and sliced ​​the mozzarella to create a Caprese salad. 

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They sliced ​​the bread and began making the sauce with the puree and crushed up tomatoes, garlic and lots of olive oil. The pasta was cooked al dente and the meatballs were rolled. 

For dessert, Maione showed the students how to prepare Affogato, vanilla gelato or ice cream drowned with a shot of hot espresso. 

By the end of lunch, the students were filled up with more than just food. They learned that cooking in Italy is a joyful process that shouldn’t be rushed. Here in Sorrento, we should rely on the quality of ingredients rather than the complexity of preparation. Most importantly, we should rely on the ones cooking around us. The students did this, thanks to Chef Maione. 

For more information, visit Nonna Flora Sorrento Family Kitchen’s website: https://www.nonnaflora.it/eng/about/ 

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