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Spain Cooking Itinerary
A TASTE OF ANDALUCIA!
Andalucian Cooking Vacations - 7 Day Culinary Holidays
Andalucian Cooking Vacations - 7 Day Culinary Holidays
Your itinerary for your Culinary Vacation in Spain allows you to acquire local knowledge and have hands-on experience yet also allows adequate time to relax and enjoy your holiday.
Torrox Spain is rich in culture and history and has much to offer any vacation however just 1.5 kilometers away is the sea, an easy walk from the village. While on holiday, relaxing and reading in the main square sipping a "Sol y Sombra" and observing the life in the central market can absorbs hours of your time.
Your Culinary Vacation Holiday concludes on the final evening where you will actually prepare a course based on the knowledge you have acquired and will serve and present to a group of locals. We honestly feel this offers you the the ability to experience "True" Spain while acquiring additional knowledge, skills and abilities.
One Week Class:
Cultural Experience Holiday: The “Mystique” Mystery And Marvels Of Cuisine In Andalucia
What makes a particular dish “Spanish” and in particular, Andalucian? Why are most Spanish dishes prepared a particular way? Why does Spanish cuisine often taste better in Spain? How can I tell the difference between Italian and Spanish olive oil? How can I alone create many different tapas? What is REAL Paella and how can I prepare it at home? How did Paella develop in Spain… or DID IT?
These are a few of the mysteries that will be solved during your culinary vacation. Learn some of the many secrets of traditional Andalucía cuisine. Create delectable and memorable dishes for your friends and family. Enjoy both “hands-on” cooking and class instruction and learn how to interpret and create recipes, handle cooking equipment, understand technical terms and produce delicious food. You will learn how to first see what is available and THEN develop a menu, as well as how to entertain at home confidently and efficiently using the freshest ingredients available.
You will learn how to prepare a host of versatile traditional dishes with confidence and gain a greater understanding of how to select and use basic ingredients, such as olive oil and spices, to make your Spanish meals successful. You will acquire skills that can be used at home to impress friends and family alike!
We use the very best organic, local, seasonal produce and promotes food that has been grown in a way that is sustainable, environmentally sensitive and supportive of local businesses. The class instructors will actually walk through the village stopping inside locals homes to buy produce freshly harvested that day!
The geography, climate, and numerous cultural historic influences that encompass Spain's extensive history have led to a unique cuisine with literally thousands of recipes and flavors. While a significant portion of Spanish cuisine derives from hundreds of years of Jewish and Moorish tradition, Spain's Christian ethnicity has also been a primary influence and a source of differentiation from other Mediterranean cuisines.
This holiday provides an in-depth adventure into Andalucian cuisine including field trips to the Olive Co-op, a visit to a local Cortijo, the opportunity for participants to purchase fresh produce from local vendors and prepare daily meals, a full wine tasting guided by Director of the Wine Education Institute and a market trip into the Alpujarras, and the finale is when the participants prepare a meal for six locals!
The one week Cooking School Culinary Class in English program includes hands-on cooking sessions as well as guided visits to markets, vineyards, shops, and local restaurants. All cooking programs take place in a manner to allow you free time to explore.
Each day’s program offers something different; the prepared menus shared while taking in views of the white village of Torrox and the sea. In the background you can hear the goats and sheep herders in the distance and the smell of fresh roasting local chilies.
You will be given an insider’s guide to the regional production of local olives and oil, cheese and wine as well as and tastings. Our Spanish Wine expert will show you how to select the best the region has to offer and how to locate these wines one you arrive back home. All instruction is in English. Recipes are geared for preparation at home once you return to showcase your new skills! Guests are supplied with supplies needed for the week.
Class and field trip on Serrano Jamon (ham) in the Alpujarra
Guests enjoy a unique culinary experience in the historic village of Torrox Pueblo, Spain where we open our kitchen and guest quarters for personalized culinary class to a small number of guests eager to share in the food, wine, and culture of one of Spain's most diverse and vibrant regions of Andalucia.
Guests cook with wild Mediterranean herbs gathered from the garden, venture down the streets into local household salons for fresh salad greens, fruits and vegetables from local markets, olives from the local groves, and prepare unique Mediterranean, Sephardic, and Moorish-Arabic dishes.
Spanish Wine lecture and tasting
Included in your culinary vacation Spain cooking holiday is a field trip to a local cortijo to watch the preparation of a meal from a local family. Your culinary vacation in Spain offers this grand finale: The cooking school students plan and prepare a meal for a group of six locals!
DAY 1:
MORNING: Day on your own to explore the village.
EVENING: Welcome Reception and Dinner as a "welcome" for the week. As we discuss the Arabic influence in the area you will dine with a Moroccan dinner.
Lecture History of Andalucian cuisine, characteristics and cultural influences and characteristics of ethnic cookery.
Presentation of syllabus and materials for the week.
DAY 2:
MORNING: Lecture: "A Path to Paella" Axarquia Basics and Sangria.
Field trip: Fresh Market
Field trip to Olive Coop
Field trip to Municipal Market
Return to prepare Paella, Sangria and Ensalada (salad). Enjoy the fruits of our labor!
EVENING: Free time
DAY 3:
MORNING: Lecture on historical development of local cuisine.
Coach to Trip to Cortijo for demonstration. Watch a group of local women prepare typical dishes from Andalucia. We will be up in the mountains in a typical Spanish farmhouse
Lunch at the Cortijo (farmhouse)
EVENING: Free time
DAY 4:
MORNING Lecture and demonstration of Tapas Preparation. We will discuss and prep tapas. Cooking and tasting of our tapas will take place along with the wine tasting.
AFTERNOON: Free time
EVENING: Wine tasting
Tapas cooking and presentation and tasting.
DAY 5:
MORNING: Trip to Alpujarras Coach trip up into the mountains to see the famous local hams cured (Jamon Serrano) as well as other cured meats and sample a variety of selections. Lunch will be a typical Alpujarran lunch for us to enjoy and then private coach trip back.
AFTERNOON: Planning the final dinner
EVENING: On your own.
DAY 6:
MORNING: Shopping and preparation for the evening meal.
AFTERNOON: Break
EVENING: Presentation and serving your meal to a group of locals.
DAY 7:
MORNING: Transport to airport. This is where we never say "Adios" only "Hasta luego" (Never say good-bye only see you later).
Please note that the above itinerary is subject to change.
2010 Dates
Months available: May-June & September-October
Duration 7 Days, 6 Nights
Location Torrox Pueblo, Costa del Sol, Spain
Rates
$1,000.00 USD per person
What's Included
* Transport From and To the Airport
* Six or 7 Nights Accommodation (depending upon either Saturday or Sunday arrival)
* Materials, Booklet and Supplies
* Market Visits
* All Tastings
* Transportation for Alpujarras
* Some meals as noted on the Itinerary
Your cooking holiday will be based in the typical white Andalucian pueblo of Torrox; situated inland between the Spanish cities of Malaga and Nerja, this beautiful mountain village offers stunning landscape scenery, unique architecture and a near perfect climate to give you a real taste of Spain for your cooking holiday.
Guests stay in charming, reformed Andalucian Moorish townhouses in the mountain village of Torrox Pueblo, situated 45 minutes east of Malaga, and enjoy all the comfort of modern conveniences in a pleasant traditional setting. These old Spanish houses have been beautifully restored. The houses are well equipped with all modern conveniences, including washing machine, fridge, iron, ironing board, hairdryers and showers. All the houses have terraces with wonderful views over the village, the mountains in the background or the sea. They are within a three-minute drive of the beach to which a regular bus service operates. The village also has a lovely square.
Bienvenidos!
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"Thank you for a super wonderful experience. Our day was a highlight of our Andalucian vacation." - Jim & Donna, March 2010
