One of the most popular regions in Italy with tourists, the gorgeous region of Toscana boasts a simple, peasant like cuisine that exalts the use of fresh local ingredients, from emmer wheat and pulses to olive oil and fresh herbs. Soups are popular here, with offerings like pureed chick peas or emmer wheat and porcini soup. Local pasta includes pici and pappardelle, but perhaps it’s the quality of Tuscan meat that stands out most. It’s famous Fiorentina – huge slabs of grilled T-bone steak, is a true joy, but pork, game and chicken are also excellent. Coastal towns offer good fish soups and inland areas produce some of Italy’s best pecorino cheeses. All of which taste even better if washed down with one of Tuscany’s fine red wines.
Traditional dishes:
Crostini
Ingredients
- 50 ml extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 500 g chicken liver
- 1 small glass of dry white wine
- 3 salted anchovies, rinsed and minced
- 1 tablespoon capers, rinsed and minced
- 25 g butter
- 6 slices Tuscan bread (country style)
- Salt
- Pepper
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and add the onion.
- Cook until onion is soft and transparent.
- Add the chicken livers and sauté for 10 minutes, adding a splash of white wine every so often.
- Remove livers and finely chop then place them back in the frying pan.
- Toss in the minced anchovies and capers and cook for about 10 minutes stirring often.
- Season with salt and pepper and stir in the butter.
- Toast the bread on both sides and top with the warm liver pâté.
- Serve immediately.
Number of servings (yield): 6
Ribollita: Hearty Tuscan Bean Soup
Ingredients
- 1 carrot, roughly chopped
- 1 onion, roughly chopped
- 1 celery rib, roughly chopped
- Tuscan extra-virgin olive oil
- 3 ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
- Small bunch of fresh thyme
- 2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
- 750 g cavolo nero, rinsed and cut into strips
- 250 g fresh beans (or 150 g dried beans, soaked overnight)
- 2 liters boiling water
- Salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 4 slices stale Tuscan bread, toasted and rubbed with garlic
Instructions
- Heat a good drizzling of olive oil in a terracotta pot and add the chopped carrot, onion and celery.
- After sautéing for about 10 minutes add the tomatoes, the thyme and the chopped potatoes.
- Allow to cook for another 10 minutes.
- Add the cavolo nero and the beans, cover with the boiling water, season with salt and pepper and leave to cook over a low heat for 2 hours or until beans are cooked.
- Using a potato masher, reduce part of the soup to a purée leaving some of the beans and vegetables whole. (You could also whiz half the soup in a food processor then return to the pot.)
- Arrange the toasted bread in the bottom of 4 soup dishes and ladle soup on top.
- Season with more pepper, finish with a generous drizzling of olive oil and serve.
Number of servings (yield): 6
Pappardelle con la Lepre: Pappardelle with Hare sauce
Ingredients
- 700 g hare (or rabbit) meat
- 50 g butter
- 50 g pancetta, minced
- ½ onion, minced
- ½ celery rib, minced
- 1 clove of garlic, minced
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 1 glass of dry white wine
- 400 g pappardelle pasta
Instructions
- Cut the hare into very small pieces, almost mincing it.
- Heat the butter in a terracotta pot and add the pancetta, onion, celery and garlic and cook over a low heat until onion is soft and transparent.
- Add the meat, stirring well and season with salt and pepper.
- When meat has browned, sprinkle in the flour and cook for a couple of minutes before pouring in the white wine.
- Continue to simmer over a low heat until meat is cooked and sauce has reduced somewhat and adding a little water if necessary.
- Adjust seasoning.
- Cook the pappardelle in abundant salted boiling water until al dente.
- Drain pasta, add to the sauce and toss well.
- Serve immediately.
Number of servings (yield): 4
Arista: Roast Loin of Pork
Ingredients
- 1 pork loin approx. 1.25 kg
- 2 cloves of garlic
- Few sprigs of fresh rosemary
- Few fresh sage leaves
- Few sprigs of parsley
- Extra-virgin olive oil
- Salt
- Pepper
Instructions
- Mince the garlic and herbs together with a good pinch of salt and pepper and mix with a little olive oil to create a paste.
- With a sharp knife, cut a few slits in the pork loin and insert a little of the herb mixture into the slits.
- Rub the remaining herbs all over the outside of the meat and place in a roasting tin.
- Drizzle generously with extra-virgin olive oil and place in an oven preheated to 400ºF.
- After 10 minutes, lower heat to 350 ºF and continue to cook for a further 50 minutes.
- Remove from oven and allow to sit for 10 minutes before slicing and serving.
Number of servings (yield): 4
Panforte: Spiced Christmas Cake
Ingredients
- 200 g almonds
- 100 g walnuts
- 100 g hazelnuts
- 150 g candied orange and lemon peel, chopped
- 100 g dried figs, chopped
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- ½ tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- Pinch white pepper
- Generous pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
- 50 g cocoa powder
- 75 g type 00 flour
- 175 g honey
- 100 g sugar
- 25 g icing sugar plus 1 tsp cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F, and line a buttered 24cm round cake tin with rice paper.
- (Otherwise, buttered, floured baking parchment will do.)
- Toast the three types of nuts under a hot grill, being careful not to burn them, then chop or whiz briefly in a food processor.
- Place nuts into a bowl and add the candied peel, the figs and all the spices.
- Sieve in the cocoa powder and the flour and mix well.
- In a small, thick-bottomed pan (or in the microwave), gently heat the honey then add the sugar stirring continuously until the honey is hot and the sugar is perfectly incorporated.
- Pour honey mixture immediately over the fruits and nuts and stir gently until well mixed.
- Spoon mixture into the prepared cake tin, smoothing the top with the spoon.
- Bake for 40 minutes until dry.
- Allow to cool slightly then remove cake from tin and place on a wire rack.
- Once completely cool, dust the top of the cake with the icing sugar mixed with the cinnamon.
- Alternatively, cake can also be covered with melted dark chocolate.
- Wrapped well in foil, this cake will keep for up to a couple of months.
Number of servings (yield): 1 cake
Cantucci: Tuscan Almond Cookies
Ingredients
- 300 g whole almonds with skin
- 3 eggs, beaten
- 150 g butter
- 500 g sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- Juice and grated zest of 1 orange
- 500 g all purpose flour
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- Pinch of salt
- Butter
Instructions
- Beat the eggs with the butter and sugar and the vanilla essence until they become light and frothy.
- Add the grated orange zest.
- Toast the almonds under a hot grill taking care not to let them burn and crush them roughly, leaving some larger pieces.
- Sieve the flour, baking powder and the salt into a large bowl and mix well.
- Stir in the egg mixture until all the ingredients are well combined then incorporate the crushed toasted almonds.
- Line a baking sheet with oven paper and form logs of cake mixture about 6 – 7 cm wide and 2 cm high.
- (You might find this easier to do if you dip your hands into a bowl of cold water while working.)
- Bake for 15 minutes in an oven preheated to 350°F then remove from oven. (Leave oven on.)
- Let them sit for about 5 minutes then, using a serrated knife, cut logs on the diagonal into 1 cm thick slices.
- Place the cantucci on the baking sheet, cut side down, and bake for a further 15 – 20 minutes, turning once during baking.
- Cool on a baking rack and store in an airtight tin.
- Accompany with a glass of vin santo.