Tuscanycious

Forte, fine, franco è il tartufo di San Miniato

Andiamo a conoscerlo alla Mostra Mercato di San Miniato negli ultimi tre week-end di novembre quando la città del tartufo si apre a tutti i golosi di oro bianco.

…….tra i termini che si possono trovare nella trialcard per tartufi vi sono anche i seguenti: forza, finezza, franchezza e ricchezza. Espressioni atte a identificare le sensazioni olfattive che emergono dal tubero ma anche, a mio parere, caratteristiche della persona che va alla ricerca di questo prezioso gioiello ipogeo. Il tartufo come tutti i tesori è nascosto, bene, inglobato, dall’umida terra che lo culla ma tuttavia rintracciabile dal Tartufaio grazie all’indispensabile sinergia con il Suo compagno, poiché senza la collaborazione del lagotto, indotta ma voluta, non avremmo la possibilità di gustarlo su nobili tavole. Cosi nella schiera di delicatezze ed eccellenze gastronomiche rientra un’elemento contrastante rispetto ad altri prodotti. Citandone alcuni: la bottarga, il caviale, il fois gras è inevitabile notare come l’uomo debba agire contro la natura stessa dei legittimi proprietari, incidendo quasi con forza per soddisfare la propria volontà….

Tratto dalla mia degustazione del tartufo bianco di San Miniato, il Re della tavola.

Oriana

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programma:

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Arselle, telline o zighe

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 3 pounds of arselle (tiny clams)
• 5/6 mature tomatoes
• 2 garlic clove
• 1handful off flat leaves parsley
• ½ cup of extra virgin olive oil
• Salt and chilli

Purge the arselle (tiny clams) in a bowl full of clean sea water for about 4 hours.
Sauté finely minced garlic together with chilli in a large pan. Add sliced tomatoes. Let it go on medium  fire for about 10 minutes, stirring now and then.
Add the arselle, cover the pan with a lid. Wait till they are all open. Sprinkle with chopped parsley. Salt if needed. Serve hot on toasted Tuscan bread or use them as spaghetti sauce.
You’ll love them !

Thanks to walimai73: http://u.nu/9xpa and Salvatore Capuano http://u.nu/3ypa for the pictures

Tell me what you eat and I’ll tell you who you are!

We have turned Savarin’s quote into: Tell me what tuscan food you eat and I’ll tell you who you are! by Tuscanycious Send in your favorite tuscan recipe and we’ll give you other recipes you might like and some analysis on your traits!

Fiori fritti - Fried pumpkin flowers

Ingredients:

• 20 pumpkin flowers
• 1 and 1/2 cup of flour
• 1 and 1/2 cup of water
• 1 big pinch of salt
• frying oil

Clean the flowers taking away the pistil and stem.

Prepare a batter done with water, flour and salt. It should be quite liquid. Keep it very cold putting your bowl in a second bigger bowl full of water and ice cubes.

Rinse the flower well and when they are still wet, dip them in the batter. Then deep-fry them.

Serve hot

Crostini with red sauce from Garfagnana - Crostini garfagnini

Serves 4
Ingredients:

• 1 cup  of tomato paste
• 5 bay leaves
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 tea spoon of  anchovy paste
• 1 table spoon of capers
• 2 table spoons of vinegar
• salt, pepper
• 2 table spoons of extra virgin olive oil
• 8 Tuscan bread slices

Put laurel leafs into a little glass with vinegar the evening before.
Chop up finely laurel and mix in a blender with other ingredients to obtain a thick sauce. Let it rest in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
Spread red sauce on toasted bread slices.

Verdure ripiene - Stuffed vegetables

Serves 4
Ingredients

• 1 sweet pepper
• 2 onion
• 2-3 zucchini
• 1 pound of ground beef
• ¼ pound of Mortadella (Boloni)
• Parmesan cheese
• Bread
• Milk
• Thyme
• Bread crumbs
• Salt, pepper, olive oil

Rinse the vegetables. Cut peppers in 4 lengthwise. Now cut onions in 2 taking away the inner part. Cut in half zucchini and hollow them.
Sauté the inner part of onions and zucchini in extra virgin olive oil till they are soft.
In a bowl mix these together with meat, minced mortadella, 3-4 table spoons of parmesan cheese, 2/3 tea spoons of thyme, salt, pepper and soaked bread (in milk)  . Mix well and stuff the hollowed vegetables. Put them in a pan. Sprinkle with bread crumbs, pour some extra virgin olive oil on top of each piece and cook at 350°F for about 45/60 minutes. Serve hot (but cold just as good).

Fegatelli

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

• 1 pound of pork sirloin
• 1 pound of pork liver
• 1 pound of pork net
• bay leaves
• fennel seeds
• salt, pepper, extra virgin olive oil

Chop the meat and the liver, add salt and pepper, a pinch of fennel seeds and a minced bay leaf; wrap the mixture in the pork net making little bundles of about 3 oz. each. Stick the bundles with some skewers alternating with bread slices and bay leaves.
Put into medium high oven, in an roasting pan with some olive oil, some more salt and pepper and half a glass of good white wine. Fegatelli have to turn out quite brown.
Two or three bundles each are enough. Serve hot.

Image taken from “La mia vita tra la carne” - Thank you to Stefano http://u.nu/4vi6

Artichoke Omelette

Ingredients_Serves 1

• 1 medium sized globe artichoke
• flour for dusting the artichokes
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tablespoon chopped parsley
• a little lemon juice

Preparation

Prepare a bowl with cold water with a little lemon juice. Clean the artichoke, trimming away the tough outer leaves, leave the ones you will eventually eat. Chop off about a third of the top spear. Cut the artichoke in half vertically and scrape out the choke. Divide the artichoke into quarters and drop the pieces into the bowl of water to prevent them from discolouring until you are ready to use them. Pat the artichoke dry with paper towels and dust them with flour. Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a 15cm (6in) saucepan and add the artichoke pieces. Fry until golden on all sides and transfer them to a plate. Remove the pan from the heat and wipe out the artichokes with paper towels. Drizzle in the remaining tablespoon of olive oil and return to the heat. Lightly whip the eggs in a bowl season with salt and pepper and pour into a saucepan. Add the pieces of the artichoke to the centre of the pan. Cook the omelette for a couple of minutes on low heat loosening the sides and swirling the pan around too distribute the uncooked egg. When the omelette is slightly golden on the underside, and the top centre is only slightly runny remove from the heat and transfer to a serving plate. Sprinkle with the chopped parsley and a few drops of lemon juice and serve immediately.

Image taken from Flickr - Thank you to Caprilemon http://u.nu/8zf6

Toasted Tuscan bread with cream cheese (stracchino), sausage and fennel seeds

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 8 slices of Tuscan crusty bread
• 3 T of fennel seeds
• 1/2 pound of stracchino
• 2 Tuscan sausages

Peel the sausages, put all ingredients into a bowl and mix them well by hands.
Spread the mix on slices of Tuscan bread and grill in the oven  for 10/15 minutes.

Garmugia, spring Lucchese soup - Garmugia, la zuppa lucchese di primavera

Yesterday my neighbour  invited me for dinner. She served the most beautiful Garmugia, the typical Lucchese soup, done with late winter and early spring vegetables: fresh onions, broad beans, peas, asparagus and artichokes. An incredible flavour, a soup that taste of good old times!

4 servings

Ingredients:

• 4 white fresh onions
• 3 artichokes
• 1 cluster of asparagus
• 4 tablespoon of fresh broad bean
• 4 tablespoon of fresh peas
• 2 oz of ground veal
• 2 oz of pancetta (sweet bacon)
• 5 cups of broth
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Salt, pepper

Start preparing all vegetables. Slice finely artichokes and onions, shell peas and broad beans and chop asparagus;

In a deep casserole sauté onions and diced pancetta, when onion is translucent add  ground veal and brown it. Stir frequently. Now add in the following order: peas,  board beans, artichokes and at last asparagus. Let it flavour well, salt and pepper.

Now pour in 5 cups of broth. Cook for about 45/60 minutes on low fire. Serve with toasted bread.