Italian blogger visits Siena restaurant in Mashpee to trade cooking tips

MASHPEE — If the weekend specials at Mashpee restaurant Siena have been tasting even more authentically Italian than usual for the past month, it is likely because Vittoria Tassoni has been working part-time in the kitchen.

This weekend, starting Friday is the last chance to taste her food at the Mashpee Commons eatery.

The food blogger and chef from Tarquinia, “an ancient Etruscan city not far from Rome," Tassoni, returns to Italy Wednesday (Feb. 21) after a month of cooking a couple of days a week at the restaurant, studying English, and teaching home cooking classes at a friend’s house, where she is staying in Cotuit.

“Me and her, although we can’t communicate well, not a lot is lost in translation with the food,” said Nicholas Jankowski, Siena’s executive chef for 19 years.

Chicken parmesan is 'not an Italian thing'

But when Italian cooking and Italian-American cooking simmer side-by-side on the stove, some differences can make them feel an ocean apart.

“They don’t have chicken parmesan, it’s not an Italian thing. But it’s so popular here that if I took it off the menu, I would have to close the doors,” Jankowski said of Siena’s 250-seat space.

With the Google translator queued on Tassoni's phone, a little conversation is possible. But she lit up in agreement when I suggested emailing questions to her.

“I have worked in medium-sized restaurants before, where the line is prepared every morning," Tassoni wrote in an email, "but in Italy, the pasta is cooked at the moment it’s needed, the boiling water always ready, and the pasta is thrown in with the order.”

In Italy, she said, the seasonality of ingredients is more evident. Summer produce won't be available in winter, for example. The variety of rice comes into play, with different risottos calling for different types of rice.

Jankowski said many Cape customers found the risotto a little crunchy for their American palates.

“But we made it work and just cooked it a little longer,” he said.

Siena’s chef said the Italian guest wanted to use a lot more anchovies, but Americans tend to shy away from the pungent, oily fish that is a big part of Italy’s mostly Mediterranean diet.

Collecting Italian recipes from elders in Tassoni's village

Tassoni was gracious about hosting visitors in Siena’s narrow prep kitchen, where she was preparing a slightly sweetened pasta dough from scratch, pressing it so thin you could nearly see through it and then frying it in ribbons for Roman carnival frappe. Hot and liberally doused with powdered sugar, the dessert nearly melts in your mouth.

Tassoni, 62, learned to cook, beginning with an omelet, while visiting her grandmother on weekends when she was 10.

“Then she passed away, and because she couldn't read and write, she didn't leave me the written recipes, so I collected recipes from the elders of the village, together with a friend, for seven years. Out of this work came a recipe book we published in honor of our grandparents titled: ‘Il Mirandò.’”

Tassoni spent most of her career as an operating room nurse in her town’s hospital and was head nurse of the department.

“While I was still working as a nurse, I completed a Master's degree in Gastronomic Culture, and two years before retirement, I took my second degree in hotel school to become a chef. I became a Food Blogger with the Italian Association of Food Bloggers (AIFB) and Lady Chef of the Italian Federation of Chefs (FIC). I also run my own home-based cooking school called “Il Prezzemolino.”

Tassoni came to study English after one of her students, who has houses in Tarquinia and Cotuit, invited her and set up the restaurant experience, as well as asking Tassoni to teach a few home classes for her friends. Tassoni said she learned to speak some French during a similar adventure in France.

Tassoni shares her experiences on social media, with a blog and website at https://www.vittoriaincucina.it/ and online at https://www.instagram.com/vittoria.tassoni/.

Gwenn Friss is the editor of CapeWeek and covers entertainment, restaurants and the arts. Contact her at gfriss@capecodonline.com. Follow her or X, formerly Twitter: @dailyrecipeCCT

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Food, advice, is authentic as Italian cook visits Siena in Mashpee