Published on Sep, 2024
This was one of the most authentic Apulian experiences my husband and I had. It was my husband’s birthday and I chose a cooking class at Juanita’s house. She was the most gracious host and with much patience she taught me and my husband how to make orecchiette pasta and foccacia. It felt so personal bc it was just the two of us in Juanita’s house: sitting at her table, sipping wine and eating Apulian delicacies. She served marinated zucchini with olive oil and mint, roasted peppers with garlic and oil, fresh mozzarella and tomatoes, and with much patience she taught us how to make the dough for the foccacia, the dough for the pasta and taught us how to roll the dough with a serrated knife to make the cute “little ears” that are the shape of the pasta. After we sat and ate the orecchiette with pesto (that’s what we chose) and focaccia which had chunks of tomatoes with the tomato juice poured over the foccacia. She added olive oil then baked in the oven. Everything was fresh and delicious and AMAZING!!! Juanita was fantastic! She was funny and had some great stories and history about her family. She was even kind and thoughtful and mad a tiramisu for my husband’s bday. It was a total surprise! I was taken aback by her sweetness. I didn’t want the day to end :’(