Archive for 'Food and Wine'

Apple harvests are normally associated with autumn in many parts of the world. However, apples of all sorts are readily available throughout the year nowadays and can be purchased whenever you feel like it. Apples and apple-based desserts are also often associated with comfort eating and hearty, wholesome treats....exactly the sort of thing that so many of us find ourselves in need of at the moment given the current global health pandemic and unprecedented stress and uncertainty that we are all facing. If you're looking for a little slice of comfort and to bring a slice of Tuscany into your homes, then we might suggest trying out this recipe for one of Tuscany's most beloved traditional desserts, the “torta di mele,” or apple cake. Rich, dense, buttery, sweet, and tart, it is exactly what the doctor ordered. You know what they say, a Tuscan apple cake a day keeps the doctor away!

With a lot of our holiday rentals in Tuscany, there are special add-ons that the owners of our villas can offer to further enhance and to enrich your trip such as tours of vineyards, having private chefs sent to prepare dinner in the villa for you, and cookery lessons exploring the best of local Tuscan cuisine. For many, these cookery lessons, in particular, are a very special highlight of their whole holiday in Tuscany that helps them learn more about, and learn to better appreciate, Tuscan cuisine and learn how to prepare delicious and authentic local dishes that they can then go and reproduce at home.

But just because so many of us are stuck at home at the moment, and this is not an option in person for the time being, it does not mean that we have to miss out! We have found a way to bring the experience of learning to prepare excellent local dishes from Tuscany with an experienced Tuscan cook to you at home! Have an authentic Tuscan cookery class virtually by checking out this series of videos from Irene, a villa-owner based in Valdarno in Tuscany. Irene has carefully designed a series of virtual cooking classes that she streams live, allowing us all to have our very own Tuscan cuisine experience from the comfort and safety of our own homes!

We owe a lot of things to the Medici family – artistic masterpieces they commissioned, collections they established that became the basis of museums, architectural gems in which they lived and which they sponsored, practices key to modern banking, and much more besides – but did you know that one of Florence's most beloved desserts, a precursor to the ice-cream cake, can also be attributed to that most illustrious of Florentine families? Zuccotto is still a beloved classic and was one of the first Italian “semifreddi,” or semi-frozen, cakes. Made in Florence during the Renaissance for the party-loving hosts that were the Medici, it was one of many foodie innovations that they had made to impress their guests. Made using ricotta cheese, cocoa grains, citrus peel, and Alchermes liqueur, it manages to be both refreshing and moreish, a delightful combination!

While zuccotto is a little tricky to make, it is well worth the effort and many of us happen to have more time on our hands right now anyway so why not give it a go and bring the flavours of Florence home to you in your kitchen until visiting Tuscany is possible once more...

If you like spaghetti then you'll probably like pici, which are basically super-spaghetti: a thicker, flatter, hand-rolled, handmade spaghetti that comes from an enduring Tuscan country tradition of making your own pasta from scratch at home. As we all have a bit more time on our hands at the moment during this time of social-distancing and may be craving culinary outings and travelling, why not combine it all and travel and experience something new with your tastebuds from the safety of your very own kitchen?

Pici, sometimes referred to as, “pinci”, are a kind of pasta that originated in the Montalcino area of the province of Siena in Tuscany. Made from a simple dough, typically made from only flour and water, though egg is sometimes added, it is one of those Tuscan dishes that is made in an endless variety of methods and has endless variations as each family usually has their own secret and specific recipes that are passed down through the generations. From the ingredients, to the proportions of ingredients used, to the way that the dough is rolled out, there can be all sorts of variations in how Pici are made. For example, to make the distinct thick, tubular shape, the dough must be rolled out in a thick flat sheet and then cut into strips but while some people roll the dough between a palm and the table while the other hand is wrapped with the rest of the strip, others simply roll the strip between the two palms.

When one thinks of Italian cuisine, it is likely pizza and pasta that first come to mind but one of the main things to consider about authentic Italian dining is that it is generally done in courses and, while pizza is a snack usually eaten alone, pasta is traditionally consumed after a salad course and before a meat or fish course that is accompanied by vegetables and side-dishes. On an international scale, these other elements are often forgotten and forgone for a more pasta-heavy meal but if you're trying to recreate a Tuscan dining experience at home then they cannot be skipped!

One side-dish that is highly traditional and very Tuscan is Fagioli al Fiasco, or “Beans in a Flask”. Nicknamed "bean eaters" by other Italians, Tuscans are particularly fond of beans and bean-based dishes and this, like so many delicious Tuscan favourites, is a culinary delight that comes from peasant and farming traditions. First used by Tuscan farmers to cook their beans, this unique method saw them place a glass bottle with beans in it in a corner of the fireplace on hot ashy embers before going to bed so that they would have freshly cooked beans to wake up to in the morning.