1. Current Cooking Classes
ALL THINGS SICILIAN AND MORE
Cooking classes
I have written two cookbooks: Sicilian Seafood Cooking and Small Fishy Bites and have contributed
recipes to other publications,the last being Earth Hour: Planet to Plate.
I also have experience in teaching hands-on cooking classes and cooking demonstrations in South
Australia and Victoria.

2. Most of my cooking classes feature a Sicilian theme. Over the years I have travelled to Italy and Sicily
many times adding to the store of first-hand experience with every visit. As a child and as an adult I
found Sicily to be a fascinating place and I enjoyed spending time with my Sicilian relatives who are
such warm and friendly people and passionate about food.
Sicily has a rich history and because of its strategic position between Europe and North Africa it has
been a crossroad of some great civilizations. In ancient times it was conquered and colonized by
Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans. In the middle ages were the Arabs,Normans and Byzantines and
later the Catalans, French, Spaniards and Bourbons.The origins of Sicily’s complex gastronomic
culture reflect this layering of civilizations.
I was born in Ragusa in Sicily in my paternal grandmother’s bed and raised in the northern Italian city
of Trieste where my Sicilian parents met and lived – I believe that experiencing the differences
between Northern and Southern Italy has given me a great opportunity to appreciate regional Italian
cooking. I came to Australia with my family in the late 1950s and settled in Adelaide, moving to
Melbourne in 2002.
My classes include recipes, background stories and information collected during my many visits to
Italy and to Sicily, from my family recipes, my sustained research into the background for recipes,
observations and memories. Classes provide a great opportunity to learn more about traditional and
contemporary Italian and Sicilian cuisine. The classes aim to promote an understanding of Sicilian
cuisine and culture of food, distinctive flavours and tastes,ingredients and traditional cooking methods.
Use these classes to improve yourknowledge and cooking repertoire.
The food of Sicily is very different from the other regional cuisines of Italy that will appeal to cooks,
potential travelers and lovers of food. Those who have already visited Sicily will wish to reproduce the
food they have enjoyed.
I am interested in the cultural, environmental and economic values of food production and as much as
possible I want to eat safe, in season,local and sustainable produce.Seasonal produce will feature in all
recipes.
These are only some of the seasonal vegetables that you are likelyto encounter:
Winter Seasonal produce: leafy greens,chicory, brassicas (cauliflowers, kohlrabi, mustard greens like
cime di rape, fennel, artichokes, pumpkin, pulses,root vegetables,celeriac, citrus fruit including blood
oranges.
Spring Seasonal produce: artichokes, asparagus,broad beans,peas,green beans, citrus fruit, radishes.
Summer Seasonal produce: tomatoes, eggplants,peppers,zucchini, zucchini flowers, cucumbers and
stone fruits.
Practicalities about the Cooking Classes
My apartment is adjacent to the Queen Victoria Market so some of the cooking sessions held during
market hours could also include a visit to the market to select fresh, seasonalingredients that we can
use in the class.
I have a very active association with market stallholders and food producers,which I find stimulating
and rewarding. I know where to source fresh in-season ingredients to inspire menus and celebrate good
food. I will be able to introduce you to the local traders and give you ideas of where I find the best
produce.

3. Classes are conducted in my home. My apartment features a compact, renovated kitchen so you will be
in a small, intimate group in a relaxed, homely and convivial environment where you will have greater
opportunity to engage; use these classes to improve your knowledge, skills, cooking repertoire or to
have a fun time.
All classes will be for 6 -10 people and include demonstration lessons with take-home printed recipes.
Where appropriate, some of the classes will be hands on.
Apart from sharing the food, you will be able to enjoy some beverages and Sicilian wine or Australian
wine made with Italian varietals.
Private classes can be available and can be tailored and conducted to suit your tastes and requests.I can
adapt classes according to your experiences and knowledge about Sicilian and Italian cuisine. They can
be held either during the day, with the option to include a visit to the market or be an evening event.
You could book a class with a group of friends, family or for team building with colleagues or this
could be an opportunity to meet others who share a similar love for Sicilian and Italian food.
You can choose a package that best meets your individual or group needs from the range of options I
am offering.
Classes and Schedule
Lunches and Dinners
The following classes will include cooking demonstrations and sharing of dishes for a three-course
meal consisting of:
 Stuzzichini (nibbles).
 Antipasto or a Primo (first course, either a pasta dish,soup or risotto)
 Secondo (main) with a Contorno (vegetable side dish)
 Dolce (dessert).
And of course,a drink or two.
Sicilian Seafood Cooking
Sicily is an island in the middle of the bountiful Mediterranean so Sicilians have always eaten fish.
This class explores the cuisine of Sicily using recipes from my first book, Sicilian Seafood Cooking,
focussing on Australian fish and seasonalvegetables to reproduce the exotic flavours, textures and
aromas of Sicilian cooking.
Sicilian Seafood Cooking was first published in Nov 2011 and reprinted in paperback, Dec 2014 (New
Holland Publishers).
Cost per class: $160
Late Autumn menu. See Winter produce for range of vegetables that will be in season.If we are lucky,
there may be quinces and persimmons still available.
Date: Friday, 22 May
Time: 6.00 pm to 9.30pm

4. Late Spring menu. See Spring produce for range of vegetables that will be in season.
Date: Saturday, 21 November
Time: 11.30.pm to 2.30pm
Classic Sicilian Dishes – Cooking traditional and regional dishes of Sicily
Learn to cook Sicilian regional specialties. These recipes reflect the quintessentialclassic and
traditional dishes of Sicily and include meat and/or fish and seasonalvegetables.You will also be
surprised how regional the cooking of this relatively small island can be.
Date: Sunday, 18 October
Time: 11.00 am – 2.00 pm
Cost: $160
Classes with a single focus that include a visit to the Queen Victoria
Market
These classes will begin with a Market Tour and will end in my kitchen.
The short tour will particularly suit Italophiles (those of you who appreciate Italian food, people and
culture); it will be a fantastic way to gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of produce and to
learn about unfamiliar ingredients.
You may wish to do yourown take home shopping so bring a shopping bag or a market trolley and be
prepared for the occasion.
Bring a notebookso that you can take notes about the names of the stalls we visit and the produce that
we experience if you wish.
These will be classes with a single focus and will include some hands-on involvement so please bring
an apron.
An Italian Bistro selection – Regional Italian and Sicilian Theme
Enjoy a shopping experience to select ingredients to prepare into an Italian bistro-type table when we
return from our shopping spree.We will enjoy these morsels together.
Our market tour purchases may include small goods,cheeses,fish, meat, seasonalvegetables and fruit.
These recipes recognise the popularity of serving small helpings with easy and varied dishes.The
produce will become a number of casual, simple and delicious dishes that can be prepared easily and
quickly.
These recipes appreciate the popularity of serving small helpings with easy and varied dishes.Use any
of the recipes as suitable for an antipasto,a buffet table, to pass around at gatherings,or spread over a
leisurely meal with friends.
Date: Friday, 19 June
Time: 10.30 am – 2.30 pm
Cost: $160
Artichokes – Cooking artichokes made easy

5. When fresh, globe artichokes are in season,I particularly enjoy cooking them for friends, especially if
they are not familiar artichokes. Those who have eaten them at my house ask to have them again.
The globe artichoke is the flower bud of a thistle like plant. These mysterious plants make an
impressive starter, a pasta sauce or risotto or with the addition of some other vegetables they are a
suitable for a one-course vegetarian meal.
Enjoy a shopping experience to the vegetable produce section of the market and learn about Italian
vegetables.
In this class you will learn how to be discerning when selecting artichokes and how to clean, prepare
and cook what used to be referred to as a ‘challenging vegetable’. If you haven’t yet had the pleasure of
eating a whole stuffed artichoke you will do so in this class and you will also have the opportunity to
prepare your own stuffed artichoke to take home with you.
This class will be suitable for vegetarians.
Date: Friday 14 August
Time: 11.00 am – 1.30 pm
Cost: $100
Pasta and some easy Sicilian sauces
Made with vegetables
Spring in Sicily is welcomed ‘big time’ and spring produce is embraced. Sicilians make a fuss about
the preparation and eating of seasonalspring produce: asparagus,artichokes, broad beans,fennel and
ricotta.
Enjoy a shopping experience to the vegetable produce section of the market and learn about Italian
vegetables.Seasonal, fresh vegetables will form the basis for four pasta dishes that we will prepare
when we return to my apartment.
These simple but nevertheless impressive healthy sauces will enable you to extend the boundaries of
pasta you can confidently prepare for your every day life, family and friends. These will be dishes
suitable for vegetarians.
This class will be suitable for vegetarians.
Gluten free pasta can be arranged.
Date: Friday, 25 September
Time: 11.00 am – 2.00 pm
Cost: $150
Pasta and some easy Sicilian sauces
Made with fish and vegetables
Using fish in pasta sauces makes the dish rather special. Sicilians eat the pasta course as a first course
but in Australia it is often eaten as a main course. Having protein and vegetables in the one dish makes
it a more balanced meal.
Enjoy a shopping experience to the vegetable produce section of the market and learn about Italian
vegetables.I will also take you through the fish section of the market.

6. These will be attention-grabbing dishes.In this class you will learn to prepare delicious, interesting and
perhaps untried Sicilian pasta sauces,the type of sauces that will allow you to show off. You’ll delight
in discovering recipes that boasts an amazing depth of flavour.
Gluten free pasta can be arranged.
Date: Friday, 13 November
Time: 11.00 am – 2.00 pm
Cost: $160
Making a Sicilian Cassata
Many believe that this popular Sicilian dessert is an ice cream cake, but the unrivalled Sicilian cassata
is made with ricotta,
mixed with sugar,small bits of dark chocolate,pistachio, citrus peel and the Sicilian cedro (candied
citron). Cassata is encased in layers of sponge cake laced with liqueur and covered with almond
marzipan. How can you not be tempted?
This class will include a visit to Dolcetti, a delightful small pastry shop in Victoria Street and not far
from the market. On the way back to my apartment we will walk back through the market – we can
admire and discuss produce along the way.
When we come back to my apartment watch me demonstrate how to make a cassata and you make the
marzipan. We eat some (and enjoy it with a little glass of something) and there will be some cassata
left to take some home with you.
This classic and traditional dessert was once enjoyed at Easter; it is Spring in the northern hemisphere
and the ricotta is at its best.However, over time it has become a classic dessert eaten at any festive
occasion.
Date: Friday, 4 December
Time: 10.30 am – 1.00 pm
Cost: $100
Classes with a single focus that do not include a visit to the Queen
Victoria Market
These classes will include some hands-on involvement so please bring an apron.
Artichokes – Cooking artichokes made easy
See the description above for details about this class,but there will not be a market shopping
experience – in this class I would have already selected the artichokes for you.
Date: Sunday, 22 August
Time: 11.00 am – 1.00 pm
Cost: $70
Making a Sicilian Cassata
See the description above for details, but in this class we will meet and remain in my apartment.
It’s not a bad way to enjoy a late afternoon.

7. Date: Sunday, 6 December
Time: 4.00 – 5.30 pm
Cost: $70
Registration and Payment for ALL THINGS
SICILIAN AND MORE Cooking Classes
Please telephone or email me to see if there are vacancies.
Once I have confirmed that you are able to attend I will email you a registration form which you
can complete and email back to me.
Because I am dealing with small numbers in my classes payment is required at the time of
registration. I will send you my bank details.
My contact details:
E-Mail: marisa@internode.on.net
Phone: 03 9642 0091
Mob: 0407 661 296