For someone who loves Italian food, there's no finer vacation than a cooking school in Italy, particularly one that focuses on authentic regional cuisine.

One that caught my eye was La Cucina del Castello (The Kitchen of the Castle) in Tuscany, which offers a number of programs including an unusual, week-long vegetarian exploration. I'm not a vegetarian, but I love vegetarian foods, and I often cook meals for my vegetarian daughter, Wendy and friends, so I thought it would be fun to learn more about the subject.

The course is taught in the old castle at Tocchi, a tiny restored medieval walled village a few miles south of Siena, but so small that it's not even on most maps. Largely abandoned by its 500 residents after World War II, it still seems stuck in the 14th century.

The course is run by Vittorio Cambria, a larger-than-life anthropologist, a fount of knowledge about the area with a hundred stories to tell of his life fighting bureaucrats and boar hunters after he fled the big city of Florence to a truly remote setting. There he raises horses while conducting various programs of horseback tours, hiking, bicycling and cooking.

His partner in the cooking school is chef Giancarlo Giannelli, who runs a renowned restaurant in the "modern" village of Tocchi nearby. After 30 years of experience preparing Tuscan food, he moved to the village after tiring of managing a famed, big restaurant near Florence. With a wry sense of humor that transcends a translator and facial expressions that speak without words, he was an entertaining as well as educational instructor.

Although the village of Tocchi looks medieval, Vittorio has created modern apartments inside the old buildings to house guests. Classes are small, typically a dozen people, who gather around a huge granite table in front of an open fire for lessons, then cluster around the professional stove to cook.

The heart of the course, however, is a 12th century wood-burning brick oven used to cook everything from bread and pizzas to vegetables, casseroles and even roast piglet. It was a vegetarian course, but chef Giancarlo also fixed some traditional meat courses, too. Giancarlo eschews modern mixers and food processors, preferring to do things by hand.

A cuisine of the poor

The traditional Tuscan food was a cuisine of the poor, and it was based on bread, plus cannellini beans, olive oil and seasonal vegetables.

Meat, especially pork and wild game, was used primarily for flavoring, with little bits of sausage and ham adding nuances, but rarely starring. A family might slaughter one pig a year, preserving what it could for the future and only consuming the highly perishable parts quickly.

Some aspects of Tuscan food are not what most of us expect from Italy. The most popular first or primo courses are not pastas but thick soups, many thickened with bread and most basically vegetarian. The only pastas that are traditional are wide pappardelle, inevitably served with hare or duck sauce.

The most popular seasonings are sage and rosemary, not the oregano and basil that mostly appear in "foreign," i.e., non-Tuscan, dishes.

Bread is part of every meal. Tuscan bread traditionally contains little or no salt, but is served with or in dishes that compensate to some extent.

Some of the most traditional recipes chef Giancarlo prepared were schiacciata, a flat-bread "pizza" baked without toppings other than salt and olive oil; pappa al pomodoro, a stale bread and tomato pudding or stew; zuppa di farro, made with an ancient grain and beans; and castagnaccio, a chestnut-flour cake best enjoyed from youth.

We also made some non-Tuscan food, like ravioli stuffed with fresh sheep's milk ricotta, Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and spinach, rolling the dough out by hand. He served it with sage butter sauce and campagna tomato sauce containing celery, onion and carrot well cooked in olive oil, a sofritto that underlies much Tuscan food. The other main tomato sauce, marinara, contains garlic and basil, sometimes oregano, and comes from Southern Italy.

One of my constant quests is vegetarian main and even party dishes to serve after the pasta or other first course, and Giancarlo offered those, too. One was the familiar southern-Italian eggplant parmesan, another a sformato or pudding of vegetables, but the star of the week was clearly the timballo, an impressive pie of asparagus risotto baked in a pastry crust. A simpler version of that made famous by the movie "Big Night," it and variations containing short pasta in sauce or multiple layers, would impress even the most carnivorous dinner guest.

Though desserts other than cheese or fruits are special occasion treats in most of Italy, Giancarlo did prepare the ubiquitous tiramisu, partly to puncture some myths. Pointing out that it's a relatively new recipe using mascarpone, a new ingredient that only appeared 25 years ago, the real tiramisu doesn't contain zabaglione or amaretto. Tiramisu means pick me up, a reference to the strong coffee it contains. Liqueur would take you down.

Visiting the area

Most days, we made field trips as well to Siena, Montalcino and San Gimignano, three exquisite towns little changed from medieval times. A special treat was visiting tiny Volpaia in the Chianti Classico region. The town, a perfectly restored medieval walled village, is owned by Giovannella Stianti Mascheroni and her husband. They've developed a renowned winery hidden inside old caves and buildings so that it's invisible from outside. The town contains a number of vacation villas and a fine restaurant and would be a fine place for a week-long exploration of Chianti.

Perhaps a highlight of the week, however, was a visit to a sheep dairy. It's run by a family of Sardinians; most of Tuscany's famed pecorino sheep's milk cheese is produced by Sardinians from the big island only 125 miles off the Tuscan coast. In addition to seeing the dairy, we observed the cheese-making process and the family also fixed a typical Sardinian meal: The appetizers were fried "ravioli" stuffed with sharp, unsalted cheese and parsley plus doughnuts of ricotta and flour. The pasta course was boiled ravioli stuffed with fresh ricotta served with tomato sauce. Then brick-oven-roasted piglet and lamb, a salad, and for dessert, fried dough strips with honey, fried ravioli with fresh sheep ricotta and raisins, plus aged cheese. It was all served with their homemade wine and bread.

For more information about La Cucina del Castello call (619) 989-9416 or got to www.Tuscany-adventures.com.

Timbale of Asparagus Risotto

La Cucina del Castello Cooking School

This impressive dish consists of asparagus risotto baked in a pastry crust. Alternative fillings include short cooked pasta in tomato, cheese or bechamel sauce with cooked vegetables, and alternate layers of vegetables, cheese and rice or pasta. You need some pasta or rice to soak up liquid and make sure it doesn't collapse.

Ingredients:

Short pastry crust:

3 cups white flour

5 ounces unsalted butter

1 egg yolk

1 whole egg

1 teaspoon sugar

1 tablespoon salt

Directions:

Blend ingredients just until they come together. Add a little cold water if needed. Chill in refrigerator.

Ingredients:

Risotto filling:

2 pounds asparagus

Four ounces unsalted butter

1/2 cup finely chopped onion (rice size)

2 finely chopped garlic gloves (rice size)

2 cups arborio or other risotto rice

1/2 cup dry white wine (preferably Italian, of course)

5 cups (or more) hot vegetable broth.

3/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese

Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

Break off tough parts of asparagus spears, then boil for a few minutes in salted water, drain and cool in cold water. Chop spears, reserving the complete tips.

Sauté onion in butter until translucent, then add garlic. Don't let either brown. Add pieces of asparagus (reserving tips) and rice and sauté until rice is completely coated with oil, then add wine. Stir until it is absorbed and the alcohol evaporates, then add broth 1/2 cup at a time, stirring until the rice is dry before adding more. After 18 minutes, the rice should be barely done. Then add a little more broth so it's moist and add the cheese and asparagus tips.

To assemble and bake:

One egg yolk, beaten

Heat oven to 400 degrees

Butter and flour pan. Divide dough in half, form into balls and roll out to diameter to fit your springform pan. Press one sheet in pan with at least an inch hanging over the sides. Fill with risotto. Place other pastry round on top and carefully crimp together and trim. Poke a few holes in the top crust and brush top with beaten egg yolk. Bake for about 30 minutes until browned , then let cool a few minutes, remove from pan and serve. Cut in sections like a pie.

Farro Soup

La Cucina del Castello Cooking School

Only recently has farro grain become fairly available. In a pinch, you can use whole wheat berries or other similar grains but they may require less cooking.

Ingredients:

2 pounds dried cannellini beans

A few leaves of sage (grows all over Napa Valley)

2 cloves garlic, smashed

Directions:

Simmer beans with sage and garlic until tender, one to two hours. Drain, reserving liquid.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup olive oil

2 stalks celery, chopped

1 large red onion, chopped

1 or 2 large cloves garlic, chopped

1 large can Italian tomatoes (preferably from San Marzano)

Rosemary and sage, fresh

1 cup farro (available at gourmet supermarkets)

Directions:

Sauté celery, onion and garlic in olive oil until soft, then add chopped rosemary and sage to taste (Try one 4 inch spring rosemary and four sage leaves). Cook a few minutes more, then add tomatoes and beans, adding broth when the mixture gets dry. Add salt to taste. When very tender, put through food mill, or puree and strain. Add whole farro grain and simmer until soft, about an hour, adding bean water if it starts to dry out. (If you want to save time, you can partially cook the farro in a different pot while you're cooking the beans.) Serve with crusty bread (preferably in the bowl) with black pepper and drizzled with extra virgin olive oil.

Tiramisu

La Cucina del Castello Cooking School

This is the real stuff. See below for tasty variations, but you have to call them something else. By the way, mascarpone isn't really cheese; it's closer to butter or cream cheese. This is not a dieter's dish.

Ingredients:

1 pound mascarpone cheese

1/4 cup sugar

5 large eggs, separated

1 package of ladyfingers

Hot strong coffee

Powdered chocolate

Directions:

Add sugar and egg yolks to mascarpone and mix thoroughly. Yes, it contains raw eggs. If that bothers you, see below. Separately, beat egg whites and gently fold into mascarpone mixture. It should have texture of thick cream. Pour a little into rectangular glass dish and spread around. Dip ladyfingers into coffee, then place in dish but not touching. Cover layer with mascarpone mixture, then add another layer of ladyfingers dipped in coffee. Top with mascarpone mixture and sprinkle with powdered chocolate. Chill for two hours, then serve.

Chef Giancarlo wouldn't approve, but you can use a ricotta or a mixture of ricotta and cream instead of the mascarpone and eggs (still needs sugar) for a much lighter and still tasty version. And I don't mind if you dip the ladyfingers in Kahlua instead of coffee.