Tag: Cooking Class

Tuscan recipes

Tuscan recipes: Zuppa Toscana

ZUPPA TOSCANA (NORTHERN TUSCANY)
This recipe was contributed by Michele Molinari, whose great-grandmother was from southern Reggio Emilia on the border with Northern Tuscany. She used to call it Zuppa Toscana because she said that was the way it was prepared in Tuscany; Michele has no precise details as to where it originated for sure.

INGREDIENTS
1 cup millet
1 cup borlotti beans
2 cups chickpeas
2 cups lentils
2 cups farro
water
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 white onion, sliced
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
5 sage leaves
10 plum tomatoes, chopped
2 bay leafs
1 cup green peas
salt and pepper
Soak the millet, borlotti beans, chickpeas, lentils and farro in water overnight, changing the water 2 or 3 times if possible. Rinse and drain.
Place them in a pot, cover with water, and bring to boil. Then simmer for about 2 hours, covered. Add salt towards the end of the cooking time.
Meanwhile, heat 1 cup extra virgin olive oil in a saucepan, add onion, garlic, celery, carrots and sage. Fry for a few minutes over a medium heat, stirring with a wooden spoon. When the onion and the garlic begin to darken, add the tomatoes. Simmer until the excess water from the tomatoes evaporates. Turn off and wait for legumes to be ready.
When legumes are cooked, take about 2 cups of the legumes and purée in a food processor or food mill. Return the purée to the pot.
Add the bay leaves, green peas and the olive oil mixture, simmer for 1 hour semi-covered. Add boiling water if needed to reach the preferred thickness.
For a perfect taste, serve the following day after preparing the soup. Serve hot with a swirl of extra virgin olive oil, ground pepper, and a couple slices of slightly toasted bread.

Buon appetito!

Leslie Halloran
Please check out my website at: www.lihdesigns.net

“A frog in the well does not know the sea.”- Japanese Proverb

Tuscan cooking

Tuscan cooking

From the beach to the kitchen
A gastronomic competition that can change your life. Aprons girded and utensils at the ready! For the 18th edition of “A tavola sulla spiaggia” the epic clash of fabulous dishes from ancient recipe books and others that valorize traditional on the beach picnic foods at the Roma di levante arena in late August.

Besides tasty tidbits, the event has proved its capability to “dish up” unexpected talents: many of the partecipants in past edition have transformed a hobby into a profession at which they excel. Take Toni Brancatisano, a Pietrasanta resident originally from Australia, the house-wife contender at the 2008 edition who recently took first place at the “La scuola-cucina di classe” gastronomic talent show and now hosts a program on Gambero Rosso Channel.

Or the Roman princess Orietta Boncompagni Ludovisi who in 2006 tickled Forte’s palates with the turquoise cabochon dessert she invented just for fun and went on to author the novel and very popular “Guida delle migliori pizzerie d’Italia”. Or Fabiana Giacomotti, a journalist and writer who delighted us in 2007 with her Mediterranean antipasto and has now launched Dolcelieve, the first-ever line of haute patisserie for gluten intolerants with a sweet tooth.

Web-site: www.atavolasullaspiaggia.it

Tuscan desserts

Strawberries

Candied strawberry “soup”

Ingredients (serves 6 )
. Six cups of fresh, excellent strawberries
. 3 tbsp butter
. 4 tbsp sugar
2. tbsp lemon juice
. Salt, white pepper

Method
In spite of its name, this recipe is really a dessert. At this time of the year it should be possible to buy wonderful, juicy strawberries – if possible, choose the organic ones.
Wash the strawberries under fresh running water, eliminate the green stems but do not cut the fruit. Heat the butter in a large pan, add the fruit and move the pan around to let them braise at quite a high heat. Add salt and pepper, and the sugar and keep cooking for 5 or 10 minutes until the fruit caramelises.
Finally, pour over the lemon juice, keeping the pan moving until a sauce is formed. Serve hot or lukewarm in a bowl just like real soup, topped wwith milk, ice cream or freshly whipped unsweetened cream.

Recipes from Tuscany

Tuscan recipe

Salted cake with fresh onions, zucchini and zucchini flowers. Camaiore style.
Camaiore is a lovely little town 24 km NW from Lu7cca on the SP1 road.
This excellent recipe is well know only in this area and is traditionally prepared at this time of year with the first harvest of local zucchini.

Ingredients (serves 6)
6 fresh onions
12 zucchini flowers
12 fresh young zucchini
2 eggs
4 tablespoonful flour
4 tablespoonful extra virgin olive oil
salt, pepper

Method
Slice the onions and cook them in olive oil, add the finely chopped zucchini flowers and the zucchini cut into small cubes of roughly 1 cm.
Heat the oven to 210/220° C.
Pour the zucchini/onion mixture into a bowl, add the flour and the grated pecorino cheese, spoonful by spoonful, and the eggs one by one.
Keep stirring, and add one tablespoon of olive oil, salt and pepper and luke warm water to obtain the thickness of a soup. Pour the mixture into an oiled baking tin, spread with olive oil and cook in the oven for 30 /40 minutes, until the top of the cake is dark gold.
Serve lukewarm or room temperature either as starter or as vegetarian main course with a salad dressed with vinaigrette.