Paula's Tour Talk

Authentic Tuscan Recipes

My friends Martha and Piero live in the Tuscan hills about an hour outside Florence. I was telling them about a new book I've been reading called A Culinary Traveller in Tuscany by Beth Elon and how it contains a section on their very small town, Stia, in the area known as the Casentino. The Casentino Valley of the Arno River is one of the most beautiful places in Tuscany.

Anyway, this gem of a book discusses the regional dishes of ten different geographic areas in Tuscany as well as a bit about each one's special history and traditions. It goes further and talks about 4 or 5 specific towns in each area and offers authentic recipes from local restaurants.

The recipe given for Stia from the trattoria Filetto is Tortelli di Patate (Potato Ravioli). Piero, who grew up in Stia and returned there as an adult a few years ago, assures me that it is indeed a very traditional dish. But he also offered one of his own for a Scottiglia (meat stew) that I want to share with you.

Piero writes: 

This recipe for Scottiglia is the most Casentinese of all and dates back centuries. It had been almost forgotten, but now is coming up again. It is a kind of a stew and not difficult to make.

I am going to give you the quantities for 6 people.

12 pieces of lean pork

12 pcs. between chicken, duck and squab

6 pcs. of rabbit

6 pcs. of lamb

1 onion - one carrot - one celery stalk - parsley, basil, finely chopped

A generous amount of good quality olive oil

Good strong red wine

One pound of canned tomatoes. (These have been added recently. Once upon the time we did not know tomatoes in Italy, therefore the Scottiglia was made without them.)

Chicken or vegetable broth 

Good home made bread, if possible Italian, the one with the crust all around it, one or two days old.

Salt and pepper

Put all the meat in a large pot and saute it for about 5 minutes (without olive oil).

Make the soffrito and add to the meat. (Note: An Italian soffrito is finely chopped onion, celery, and carrot sauteed gently in olive oil until all is soft . In this one, Piero adds some chopped fresh parsley and basil).

 When everything is nice and brown add 2 glasses of wine and simmer until the wine has evaporated. Add a couple of big ladles of broth and salt and pepper to taste, cover the pot and let it cook for at least 2-3 hours at medium low heat.

Every now and then add some broth because the stew must be juicy. If you want, add the tomatoes after the soffritto has cooked. In the end the meat must be very tender. It must come off the bones .

Slice the bread and toast it. Put a couple of slices in each plate while hot and put the meat with its juice on the top.

There are two different stories about the invention of this recipe. The first one is that groups of friends who liked to go hunting in the woods were meeting at the end of the hunt and cooking what they had.

The second one tells about young guys living in the country and when they decided to have a good dinner, they would go out to steal the night before whatever they could find in the surrounding farms, and make something delicious with their booty.

Anyway, buon appetito to everybody!

Thanks, Piero, it sounds delicious. But I have to say that I bet that recipe would easily feed 10-12 people here in the US. Also, rabbit is a specialty meat here and can be hard to find unless you have a butcher who can order it for you. Just use a little extra pork, chicken or lamb if you can't get rabbit.

As you can see, exact quantities are not important. It's the flavorful soffrito, the good red wine, and the long slow cooking that make this dish so luscious.  I'll have to ask him what kind of pasta would typically be served first. Follow the stew with a salad dressed with olive oil and vinegar.

We'll be tasting authentic Tuscan food this fall on our Tastes of Tuscany Tour, including cinghiale (wild boar), black truffles and plenty of lovely Chianti. 

We can also arrange a free-time excursion to Stia for a  mushroom hunting hike in the Tuscan hills with Piero--and lunch prepared by the talented Martha at their home (where I've eaten some of the best meals of my life) at a special price for our clients. Stia is a charming little town, complete with its own castle.

I can't wait to be in Italy again in October....

We still have spots available for the Tastes of Tuscany Tour (October 13-26), but time is running out. If you want to join us, don't delay!

 

 

The Most Beautiful Palazzo on the Grand Canal

The Ca' d'Oro (House of Gold) is truly a sight to see, and I am not alone in thinking it's the most beautiful on the Grand Canal--which is packed with gorgeous buildings.

The fifteenth century palazzo, with its flowery Gothic facade and echoes of Byzantium, was built by the Contarini family in the early 1400's. Although it's technically the Palazzo Santa Sofia, it quickly became known as the Ca' d'Oro because the facade was actually gilded in its early days and sparkled brilliantly against the water in the sunshine.  The facade was also once tinted in hues of ultramarine, black, white and gold by Flemish artist Jean Charlier. It must have been an amazing sight.

The palazzo passed through many hands--and suffered many indignities--until it was purchased by Giorgio Franchetti in 1894. Franchetti restored the damaged building and converted it to a gallery to showcase his extraordinary art collection. He bequeathed the palazzo and his art to the city of Venice at his death, and today it houses the Galleria Franchetti.

For a nominal admission fee, you can see his collections including Venetian sculpture, paintings, frecoes  by Titian and Giorgione, and porcelains, along with pieces from the Archaeological Museum, the Correr, and the Accademia Galleries. It's a fairly small museum with some lovely pieces, like this  Annnciation by Carpaccio. Of course, Venetian painters like Vivarini and Guardi are well-represented, and there's a famous St. Sebastian by Mantegna.

There are also gorgeous views of the Grand Canal out on the loggia, so be sure to bring your camera.

This is a great museum to visit if you only have a short time in Venice. It's much smaller and more intimate than the grand Accademia and yet you can see works that show the vivid colors and beauty of Venetian art.

It's easy to find, too. Just get off at the Ca' d'Oro vaporetto (water bus)stop on the #1 line and walk down the ramp. The museum entrance is on the left. Even though it no longer glows with gold, the Ca' d'Oro is a beauty worth seeing.

2008 Travelers' Choice Awards

It was no surprise to see that Florence, Siena, San Gimignano and Venice are all in the top 25 best European destinations in the Travelers' Choice Awards this year. All are included in Time of Your Life Tours' Artful Tour of Florence and Venice.

Each offers unique delights and we love to show our clients the out-of-the-way special places most tourists never see and hidden treasures like this mysterious statue that seems to be peering out of a window in Siena.

Or this view from the wall in San Gimignano, high above the Tuscan hills. When I took this shot last month, a lone harpist was playing the most haunting music, lending a real medieval touch.

Or this shop full of luscious hand-made chocolates on a tiny street in Florence's oldest neighborhood. It's one of the places we like to pick up a treat while we're strolling and browsing some of our favorite jewelry and leather shops.

Or this amazing staircase in a building known as the Bevolo (snail) tucked in a maze of by-ways in the heart of Venice. You can easily see it from San Marco Basilica's bell tower, but it's tricky to find even with a map. It's one of my favorite architectural fancies.

I just got home a couple of weeks ago, and already I am longing to return...

If you're longing for Italy, check out our Fall 2008 tours on our website: Time of Your Life Tours. It's not too late to join us before the July sign-up deadline.

A Classic Pasta Sauce

I came across this quote while browsing Waverly Root's The Food of Italy:

"French cooking is formalized, technical and scientific. Order Bearnaise sauce in 200 different French restaurants and you will get exactly the same sauce 200 times. But, ask for Bolognese sauce in 200 different Italian restaurants and you will get 200 different versions of ragu'. "

It's true too! There are hundreds of variations on the simple classic Bolognese sauce, a meat sauce. Every cook in Italy has a "true and authentic" recipe that she will assure you is quite unlike all the rest. I've never had a bad one in Italy and here is my favorite recipe for making this velvety sauce at home. It's based on one I found in the Italian 'joy of cooking': The Silver Spoon.

 

        Ragu' alla Bolognese

• 3 Tablespoons butter
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 celery stalk, peeled and chopped
• 1 carrot, peeled and chopped
• 3/4 pound ground steak
• 1 Tablespoon tomato paste
• salt & pepper

Heat the butter and oil in a saucepan and add the onion, celery, carrot, and ground steak. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Mix well and cook over low heat until the vegetables have softened and the meat starts to brown (about 5 minutes). Add the tomato paste with a  little water to dilute it. Cover and cook over very low heat for 90 minutes, stirring  occasionally and adding a little water if the sauce seems to be drying out.
Toss with cooked spaghetti and serve.

Some Variations: add in some chopped mushrooms or use a mixture of ground veal or pork and the ground steak.

Do you have another version you'd like to share? Post a comment and tell us about your Bolognese sauce.