Have you ever been in Tuscany? You haven't? What a shame but don't worry I'll give you the chance to visit the most famous region of Italy directly from your desk. Unfortunately I can't afford a plane ticket but I can drive you in a journey along the beautiful coastline and what's more important a taste of the real food you can find overhere or actually overthere. If you are ready for the ultimate virtual Tuscan experience, here you are......
Tuscan Recipes
No further than Livorno
The beauty of Tuscany is not just about its art. Tuscany is a proper paradise for gourmet of any sort. If you like meat, game and hearty food then Florence, Siena, Arezzo and all the surrounding are the place for you. But if you love fresh seafood and fish you don't have to look any further than Livorno.
- Cacciucco alla livornese (a fish stew)
- A fish stew with a meaning that goes far beyond the mere human sustanance. In Livorno is a real trademark. Born on board of the old slavery boat centuries ago, now a dish to welcome tourists coming from all over Italy.
In order to make the real Cacciucco you need 'a pound of fish for mouth' as a ducal recipe from the 16th century say. What's important is the variety the same ducal recipe require at least 13 different species but you can have good result even with less. Just make sure you have dogfish, scorpion fish, red gurnard and cuttlefish
Ingredients (makes 6):
500gr cuttlefish
500gr octopus
300gr dogfish
500gr mix no less than 5 types (red gurnard, scorpion fish, weevers, goby, moray eels or basically whathever little your fishmonger have that day for the making of fish stew.
500gr mantis shrimps or langoustines
1 spoon tomato puree
Olive oil, garlic, sage and chili pepper
12 slices of stale Tuscan bread (unsalted), (farmhouse loaf)
Method:
Take a casserole and put some olive oil, garlic sage leaves and chili pepper. Brown for a little then add octopus and cuttlefish roughly chopped, pour the white wine and also add the tomato puree. Cook for about 20 minutes. Stir occasionally. Add the fishes and the dogfish cut (the heads of the fishes should be cook aside in broth with herbs and then sieved. The result, quite thick, is going to gain a lot the quantity and the flavour). Keep cooking and when the octopus and the cuttlefish are tender and the mantis shrimps, cook other 5-6 minutes. Serve in terracotta bowl; place on the bottom the slices of roasted bread where you previously rubbed a clove of garlic and then make the portion using a ladle to draw both sauce and fish
Enjoy rigorously with young red wine!
Further reading at http://labronicus.blogspot.com Where everything began - Red mullet livorno style and anchovies marinated
- Who says that a good dish has to be elaborated can't be more wrong. Italian food is famous not only for the freshness of the ingredients but also for the simplicity of the dishes, the one than most of us can appreciate better.
Red mullet are very common off the shore of Livorno. For this recipe we want to use small specimen, about 100-150gr each, with a beautiful alight red color. This dish is extremely easy to prepare, so the result is mainly given from the freshness of the ingredients.
RED MULLET LIVORNO STYLE
Ingredients (makes 4):
12 red mullets of 100g each
500gr of ripe tomatoes
2 cloves of garlic
Handful of parsley
1 dl extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper
Method:
Take a pan add the oil and the garlic. Saute' the garlic until is golden brown. Add the tomatoes peeled, deseed and roughly chopped, 4 tbsp of water, salt and pepper. Cook for 20 minutes to allow the sauce to reduce. Lay down the fishes, scaled and cleaned, and cook for further 10 minutes. Because the red mullet gets really fragile when cooked, do not turn them, just shake gently the pan to move them. Before serving sprinkle over the fishes chopped parsley.
The fish merchant of Genoa are responsible of the diffusion of anchovies along the coast of Tuscany already in the 17th century; and in 1763 a fisher known as Biagio Marcioni, was charged by the Gheraldesca Counts to introduce the method to per tingere d'azzurro le reti, to dye the fishnets of azure that is. That's started the spread of anchovies in Tuscany; and they were so common that they were even accepted as payment of the taxes.
ANCHOVIES MARINATED
Ingredients:
500gr of fresh anchovies
30cl white wine vinegar
1 red onion
Salt, pepper, extra virgin olive oil
Method:
Take off the head of the anchovies, cut them lenghtway and eliminate spine and bones. This is a really easy operation but if you don't feel confident you can ask your fishmonger to do that (perhaps you can keep one and trying yourself). Cut in half the fillets an lay down in a terrine. Dissolve a little salt in the vinegar and pour over the anchovies (the vinegar strenghtened from the salt will cook the fish). Marinated for 4 hours. Once marinated, drain the anchovies, lay down on a tray and toss with olive oil and red onion rings. Enjoy as a starter with bread and lots of white wine. (Literally translate it'd be anchovies poor style)
Further reading at http://labronicus.blogspot.com The simpler the better - Cuttlefish ink risotto
- When in Livorno, do as the Livornesi do. That is eat this amazing dish. I was upset, actually I still am, when I realized how difficult was to find cuttlefish and octopus in London. You need to order to the fishmonger, but you never know what you're going to get; even because apparently lots of Britons don't like these mollusk at all, they are actually a bit disgusted only think about it. So back in Italy I always make the most of it.
CUTTLEFISH INK RISOTTO
Ingredients (makes 6)
500gr of little local cuttlefish
1 small red onion
1 small white onion
2 garlic cloves
Pinch of ginger
Olive oil
Salt and Pepper
6 large spoon of pilaf rice
Method:
Clean the cuttlefishes e take away the ink bag paying attention no to break them. Chop the cuttlefish in bug chunk (they're going to get smaller when cooked) and cut the head in two. Chop roughly both the onion and add to the saucepan with a little oil, garlic and a pinch of ginger. when the onions start to turn golden brown, add a glug of white wine, leave to evaporate and then add salt and pepper. When the cuttlefishes start to turn red cover them with fish stock and add 500ml of water. Now take a strainer put over the saucepan and start to cut the ink bags with the scissors, and dip the strainer in the pan to make sure that all the ink has gone. Remove and discard the empty bag they're extremely bitter) and simmer the sauce for about 20 minutes. After that cook the rice in a pan and pour over the sauce. Despite all the pasta fish dishes don't require any Parmesan, this one does. And when you finish you can politely rub the restaurant's napkin over you teeth to clean them from the black.
Further reading at http://labronicus.blogspot.com Travel and eat - Picarel marinated
- The most popular dishes nowadays are the ones that long time ago were for the common people. Centuries ago this dish fed only the poor people who were expertize in the art to make shift.
Today are the main dishes in restaurants and tavern and they usually come expensive.
Picarels are small fish generally don't take into any consideration; but many years ago when the main concern for common people was to fed the family
PICAREL MARINATED (picarel scapece)
Ingredients (makes 4):
800gr of picarel
8 garlic cloves
3 small chilli pepper
flour for dusting
1l white vinegar
3dl extravirgin olive oil
salt
10gr black peppercorn
Method:
Open the fishes and take off the interior. Wash and dry them. Dust them with flour and fry in a frypan. Once fried lay down the fishes in a tray sprinkle over the garlic and chilli pepper finely chopped. Add the peppercorns and vinegar. Allow to rest for 12 hours and taste as starter.
Further reading at http://labronicus.blogspot.com The art to make shift (poverty, creativity and food) - A real Tuscan menu
- The agony of the choice! Lots of us who travel in another country may find some problem at the moment the order their food in a restaurant. Sometimes for the language, sometimes for the wide choice presented....but I'll try to rescue for your next travel in Tuscany. Most of this dishes are unlikely to be found in any of the place too much touristic. Try to find a tavern packed with lots of local and you're on a good path.
All these recipes are hundreds years old, so switch off the lights, light up some candles and the fire place and plunged yourself into an old Tuscany tavern's atmosphere
ANTIPASTI (starters):
Leek and ricotta cheese pie
Ingredients (makes 6):
4 leeks
A whorl of pennyroyal
A small bunch of other aromatic herbs
3 eggs
Breadcrumbs
200gr ricotta cheese
30g butter
1 dl extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper
Method:
Wash and clean the leeks, chop them finely and brown in oil with the herbs. Take off from the heat and add the ricotta cheese and the eggs beaten previously. Knead well the mixture. Spread the butter on the bottom of a pie tray and pour over a layer of breadcrumbs. Now you can pour in the tray the mixture and put in the oven for 30-40 minutes 180C
Tomatoes and bread soup
Ingredients (makes 6):
500gr stale good quality bread
500gr peeled, deseed and roughly chopped ripe tomatoes
8 tbsp extravirgin olive oil
1/s glass white wine
Garlic, fresh sage and basil
Salt and pepper
Method:
Soak the bread in cold water. Brown garlic and sage with the oil and then add the tomatoes. When the tomatoes are almost ready add the wine and the basil. At this point squash the bread to eliminate the water and crumble it in the pot with the other ingredients. Cook for further 10 minutes. If during this time the soup gets to thick you can add some vegetable stock or hot water with a stock cube. If you want the soup more «redish» add a little tomato paste. The final result should look like the above picture
Mushroom crostini
Ingredients (makes 6):
12 slices of farmhouse good quality bread
500gr mix mushrooms (porcini, royal agaric, field mushrooms)
1 garlic clove
A small bunch of parsley
50gr pine nuts
A small chilli pepper
Juice of 1 lemon
1dl extravirgin olive oil
Salt and pepper
Method:
Chopped together most of the mushrooms, parsley, pine nuts and chilli pepper and then add the rest of the mushrooms cut finely lenghtway. Toss the mix with olive oil and lemon juice. Spread on the bread
Primo (pasta dish):
Pappardelle with wild boar sauce
Ingredients (makes 6):
600gr home made pappardelle
500gr lean boar meat
1 red onion
1 celery stick
1 carrot
2 garlic cloves
4 sage leaves
Few sprigs of parsley
Rosemary
2 bay leaves
150gr peeled, deseed and chopped ripe tomatoes
250ml red wine
1dl extravirgin olive oil
salt and pepper
Method:
Take a pan and add all together the herbs chopped and the lean boar. Cook over medium heat and before the blood of the boar has evaporated, add the red wine e allow it to boil off. At this point add the tomatoes and finish to cook the meat. Cook the pasta and toss with the sauce
Secondo (second course):
Rabbit with aromatics
Ingredients (makes 4):
1 rabbit of about 1200gr
2 garlic cloves
2 rosemary sprigs
2dl dry white wine
300gr peeled, deseed chopped and ripe tomatoes
1dl extravirgin olive oil
Salt and pepper
Method:
Cut the rabbit in pieces (you can ask your butcher to do so). Put in a saucepan, enough big to contain all the meat, the oil and the garlic chopped together with the rosemary (but only the leaves). Add the rabbit and brown for few minutes. Pour the wine turn the heat up until the wine has evaporated; turn the heat to low and add the tomatoes. Cook until the rabbit is tender (about 35 minutes).
This way to cook in Italian is called in umido, and it can be used for other animal and also fishes
Further reading at http://labronicus.blogspot.com Italian restaurants
Your Last Supper
What to eat before you die
- Your Last Supper - Intro
- Everyone's favourite: what would you eat in your last supper? I always found really mean give as last a meal of few course, so I decided to have as long as I need to teach the Alien's how we eat down here. Ladies and gentlemen THE ALIEN'S LIST
to be continued.... - Alien's list #1: Broad beans and Baccellone Cheese
- The Alien's List that is what to eat before you die. Our first episode is a feast, a broad beans feast. The beans bring along happiness because their time in the year mark almost the end of the spring and the begin of the favourite season in Livorno: summer. If you are around across april and may take a couple of friend a flask of white and the cheese needed.
- Alien's list #2: eat youw own catch
- For the second episode of the series stuff to eat before you die, we have what probably is the ultimate food experience for fish lover. Eat the freshest fish ever: you own catch!
Food Digressions
Thoughts and opinions about food
- Health, organic and hygiene - Part 1
- Enjoy fat with moderation!! This particular post doesn't contain any recipe, but it's the first of three article about the main food issues which we are brainwashed at. It's a semi serious digression from a different point of view about those subjects. Comments and suggestions are welcome
Further reading at http://labronicus.blogspot.com Health, organic and hygiene - Health, organic and hygiene - Part 2
- Enjoy organic but boycott the supermarket! Eating organic is currently the only way not to be poisoned with food; but be careful and read beyond the label....especially in the supermarkets. People say organic or free range food is too expensive particularly if you have a family to look after. That is true but we may renounce something or saving money in bills and try to enjoy a better food.
Further reading at http://labronicus.blogspot.com Health, organic and hygiene
Light products
About fat and overpriced light product
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Blogs
Blogs about food
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- HOMO AS! :) HOMO AS! :) Oct 26, 2008 @ 8:38 pm
- this website is homo!
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- HOMO AS! :) HOMO AS! :) Oct 26, 2008 @ 8:38 pm
- this website is homo!
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- beeobrien beeobrien Apr 10, 2008 @ 9:07 am
- What great recipes and beautiful photos. Thanks.
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- rms rms Sep 19, 2007 @ 12:26 pm
- Thank you for some great recipes! Can't wait to try them.
by Labronicus
Hi everyone, I'm Marco from Livorno (Italy) but I've been living in London for 4 years and I want to show the world what's the real tuscan food should... (more)
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