La Daria

Listening to Daria’s stories before the fire, in the warmth of her kitchen is wonderful. Her house is an old cottage with a chicken coop and a lush vegetable garden in the summer.

Daria started working when she was 12. The eldest of three siblings, she had to go to work after her father’s death in order to provide for the family–first as a seamstress in a factory, then on her own, and finally at the Fattoria di Celle where she worked for many years and–as she makes very clear–learned how to cook on her own, testing and retesting, inventing recipes, and observing the chefs who, every so often, came to cook for special occasions. As for the crepes recipe…

How Daria learned the crepes recipe

Daria recounts that one day some cooks who had come to prepare a dinner asked her for eggs (from her hens), flour, milk, tomatoes, and basil. However, they would not tell her what they were going to cook.
So, as Daria was doing the dishes, she watched the cooks’ reflection in an aluminum panel in front of her and that is how she learned to make baked crepes with tomato. Since then, the cooks have no longer come and she has always made the crepes herself–and I would bet hers were far better.

Many artists from all over the world have come to the Fattoria di Celle, artists that have been looked after by Daria and her tidbits. They have been captivated by and intrigued by this lovely person who is good with her hands. Many drawings hang on the walls of her house, all for her and all referring to food.

In any case, today Daria is 77 years old and, unlike the chefs she has met throughout her life, she is going to teach me some of her cooking secrets in the coming months, which then will no longer be secret because, as she says, you know how to cook, everyone knows how to cook!!!

Daria’s Crepes

• 4 eggs,
• 400gr flour
• 1lt milk
• Good Tomato sauce with fresh basil, onion, carrot, celery and raw oil after cooking
• A springling of grated parmesan and dried oregano before folding up the crepes, buttering the pan and bake in the oven until crispy

If you want to see the recipe of Daria’s Italian Crepes step by step you can watch my friend Danny McCubbin’s video on his Foodtube channel Cooking for Good.