Cantuccini di Prato (or Prato Biscuits)

This is probably one of the most famous desserts from Florence. Simple but tasty! I will give you the recipe from the biscuits, however for a proper dessert serving a few biscuits are placed in a tray, alongside a small glass of Vin Santo, a liquorous wine. The trick is to dip the biscuits in the wine prior to eating them. I personally don’t like wine at all so I have never tried this. However I heard it is fantastic!

The recipe originates from the shop in Prato that first offered them. That’s why they are called Prato Biscuits. In Prato they are also called Biscotti del Mattonella, as Mr. Mattonella was the baker that “invented” them. However I really like their other name, cantucci as it means small bits and this is really how they are meant to be eaten: one after the other.

There are very easy to prepare , they look very Tuscan, and the result is guaranteed. I look forward to seeing your “Cantuccini” pictures posted in my blog alongside mine!

Here is the recipe:

500 g of white flour
150g of butter
200 g of sugar
4 eggs
300g of unpeeled almonds
1 dose of raising powder
A hint of lemon

Place the flour on the table forming a vulcano or fountain (as you prefer). Add the butter that has been cut to small pieces and left at room temperature, the raising powder, the lemon zest (just a hint) and beat 3 eggs in the flour producing a very soft dough. Work thoroughlly and add the almonds making sure that they are evenly scattered in the dough. Form tubes of the dough (slightly compressed on the top so that an oval shape results) and place in a oven tray making sure that you have enough distance between them. Beat the 4th egg and smear it thoroughlly on each tube. Place in a hot oven (200 Deg) for around 20 min and once cooked (you can check with a wooden toothpick if there is still moisture inside) let them cool down. Cut in slices around 1-2 cm wide and:

1st version: eat like that

2nd version: slightly toast them on both side making sure that they don’t get brownish at all.

Insalata di polpo (Octopus salad)

This is a very simple recipe for cooking octopus and should be part of a general seafood antipasto. So I will give you the amounts for a small portion per person, but consider that you will need double amounts in case you want to serve as a main course.

The result depends a lot on the octopus quality. Just consider that there are various kinds and the highest quality ones can be recognized as each tentacle has 2 lines of “suction cups”. These will be softer and tastier. Also the general rule is that the bigger the better….

You will need a pressure cooker for the best results.

For an appetizer for 4 persons:
1kg of fresh octopus
2 potatoes
1 handful of parsley
Extra virgin olive oil

Remove the skin and clean the “head” of the octopus. Remove the beak. In case you could not remove the skin thoroughly don’t worry. You will finish the job once it is cooked and you will get better results. Place the cleaned octopus in the pressure cooker and cook for 15 min. Remove from the heat and leave for other 15 min in the cooker to “soften” In the meanwhile boil 2 medium sized potatoes.

Cut the potatoes in small dices and put in a large bowl. Remove the skin from the octopus and cut in small bits (more or less the size of the potato dices). Add the octopus to the potatoes and season with salt, chopped parsely and extra virgin olive oil. At your wish a hint of lemon juice can also be added. Serve lukewarm with fresh bread.

Spaghetti alle cozze (spaghetti with mussels)

It is summer and definitively seaside time. I live now 600 km far away from nearest sea coast, and I really miss a nice walk on the beach. Therefore I tried to push away this “sea-sickness” (so to say) by cooking a nice recipe that I want to share with you. The trick for a good result of this dish is the pan. You need a large aluminum pan to sautee the spaghetti. When I mean large, consider that I have one measuring around 40 cm in diameter!

For 4 persons:

1 kg of mussels (fresh = alive)
450 g of Spaghetti (good quality pasta, i.e. De Cecco)
1 clove garlic
1 chilly pepper
1 handful of parsley
Extra virgin olive oil
1 glass of white wine.

To start with clean the mussels. With a knife scrape off all the “scale” that is attached to the shell and pull the rope that they have on one side in order to remove it. You should end up with perfect black shells!

In the pan place the chopped garlic and chilly in plenty of extra virgin olive oil and fry a few minutes (be careful that it does not burn!). Add the mussels, decrease the heat to medium power and cover. Let it cook this way for 5-10 min stirring continuously with a wooden spoon. You should see the shells opening and on the bottom the juices should be released. I don’t know where you are, but in Italy the mussels have been pre-purged prior to commercialization. If this is not your case (and you have just realized this) a sand layer will be covering the bottom of your pan. Don’t dispair! Once ready, remove all the shells in the pan and set aside. Filter the juices in order to remove all the sand. Prepare another chopped garlic and chilly, stir fry and then add the juices. The result will be the same. In case the sand is not hunting you, set aside the shells. In the meanwhile cook the spaghetti in plenty of salted water (be careful as the mussels will be very tasty, so put less salt than usual). Reduce the juices at high heat and add the glass of red wine. Make the wine vapourize and then put the spaghetti cooked “al dente”. Sautee for a few minutes adding finely chopped parsley and extra virgin olive oil to your taste. Put in the dishes and add on top the mussels prior to serving. Serve the dish with a small side dish for the shells. It is delicious!!!!

Panzanella

This is really the quintessence of Tuscan “cooking”, the most traditional dish that you will not find outside Tuscany and in a sense it really reflects our food philosophy. The word panzanella has not a clear origin. Some say that it means delicacy, however the word “panzana” means lie. And I want to think that this is also reflected in the dish, especially due to the fact that such a “poor” dish is offered at outrageous prices in restaurants in Florence nowadays!

In order to make a perfect panzanella you need (4 persons):

Sunshine and at least 27 Deg Celsius (you can appreaciate it only when it is hot).

500 g of 3-4 days old Tuscan bread

The results will not be good if the bread is fresh or if it is not Tuscan

4 ripen tomatoes

8-10 basil leaves

2 onions (better if Tropea or Certaldo)

1 cucumber

Salt, pepper, vinegar (standard one, not balsamic!) and lots of extravirgin olive oil.



Cut the bread in big chunks (3-4) and soak it in fresh water. In the meanwhile prepare the “condimento” (seasoning). Wash the tomatoes and cut in dices around 1 cm wide.

Finely chop the onion.

Peel the cucumber, cut lengthwise in quarters and (I like to do like that, but there are people that do not understand this) remove the seeds. Slice the cucumber quarters. Coarsely chop the basil leaves and mix everything together seasoning with salt, pepper, vinegar and oil as if you were doing a salad. Be careful as the bread has no salt, therefore a little bit more salt than usual should be added. The same can be said for oil.

By now the bread should have turned soft. Squeeze it with your hands and remove all the excess water. The bread has to be soft but not wet. You will see that the bread will break apart in small bits. This will happen if it is proper Tuscan bread, otherwise you will get a sticky ball of glueish stuff that you can throw away.

Mix the bread and the vegetables, and serve.

If you don’t have Tuscan bread you can try to use cous cous. The result is not exactly the same, but it gives you an idea.

Vegetarian BBQ or Verdure grigliate

Believe it or not, but BBQ is a tradition in Italy as well. I can cite several countries that state that they are the traditionalist of BBQ and I cannot say who originated this in reality.

Just to support the cause for the Italian origin of BBQ, I will tell you that the traditional dish of Florence is beef steak. We call it bistecca, which is a way of distorting the English word “Beef Steak” into Italian. It seems that this really comes from some English speaking guys visiting Florence. Again this goes back to the time when Florence was a real melting pot! Might be that the same guy imported BBQ in the UK and then to the US? Just joking, I don’t think you need a tradition for setting up an open fire and putting a grill on top of it to cook meat and vegetables….

I am currently collecting some research info and will write a post on bistecca soon. Here I would like to give you here some hints on Veggie BBQ. When I lived in the UK this meant cooking on the grill Vegetarian hamburgers and chicken legs….i.e. a sort of wood stick with some soya stuff that resembles a chicken leg. Why should a vegetarian be willing to eat something that resembles chicken?

I think that you can do excellent things on a grill without meat and fish and I will suggest you some here:

Fettunta: Slices of Tuscan bread grilled and seasoned with smeared garlic, salt, pepper and extra virgin olive oil. Jummy. One of the best things in life! Really!

Grilled peppers: Wash and cut the peppers in quarters. Remove the seeds and the whitish filaments and place on the grill. Remove when tender. The skin will be black by this time. Put the peppers in a Polyethylene bag (the one you get at the supermarket when buying vegetables) and leave a couple of minutes. You will see after this “treatment” how easy is to remove the skin. Place all the peppers in a tray and season with the “battuto” I will describe in a minute.

Grilled eggplants (or aubergines): Wash and cut the aubergines in 1 cm thick slices lengthwise. With a cooking brush smear a fine layer of extra virgin olive oil on each side of the slice. Grill turning regularly until tender. Place the aubergines in a try and season with the battuto

Grilled zucchini or courgettes: Follow the description for the egglants but the slices should be ½ cm thick.

Battuto:. Finely cut Parsley, Garlic (2 cloves), Chilly Pepper (1) and smear on the vegetables. Add extra virgin olive oil to cover completely the vegetables.

Serve with bread. You can also serve as a complimentary dish mozzarella or burrata.



You will not miss meat at all!

Rice salad with bresaola, rucola salad and flakes of parmigiano reggiano

Summer is finally arriving and I am dying for a dish of refreshing Panzanella. In Basel it is impossible to find proper Tuscan bread to prepare one so I will try to make myself happy with a rice salad. Rice salad is an easy to prepare dish that does not require much effort, but for sure a lot of creativity. I will provide you here with one quite sophisticated version that you can prepare when you have guests for dinner. This recipe came into my repertoire originating from my father in-law. It reflects his strong know how of food.
You will need to boil the rice some time in advance as it is thoroughly cold when served. For 4 people calculate around 300g of paraboiled rice. It is fundamental to use this variety. In fact for a rice salad to be successful, the grains of the rice have to be well separated and have an al-dente taste. Follow the cooking instructions on the rice box and leave to cool down.
For the seasoning: 150 g of Bresaola, 75 g of rucola salad, 50 g of Parmigiano reggiano, pepper, lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil.
Cut the bresaola slices so to form small “droplets”around ½ cm wide and 1 cm long (this does not have to be perfect, I put down some numbers just to give you an idea.
Wash the rucola salad and dry it thoroughly. Coarsely chop it.
Coarsely grate the parmesan in order to form “flakes”
Mix the three ingredients, add salt and pepper and season with extra virgin olive oil and a hint of lemon juice.
Mix with the cold rice and keep refrigerated before serving.

It is delicious

Peppers Wendy Style

I would say that this is a Tuscan Recipe just because is part of my know-how and I am Tuscan. But this recipe was suggested to me by Wendy, a fellow student during my years at Durham who, unlike the majority of the other people I met, was a fantastic cook and I am positive that she has even improved her skills in these years that we have not met each other. I do not remember her original input and I am positive that I have changed the recipe during the years. I will provide you the latest and simplest version!

I post this recipe as I prepared it for my Indian friends last weekend and they were really positive! They call peppers capsicum, which sounds a little bit posh to me as this is the scientific name, but apparently this is quite common in India. And being strict vegetarian it is always a challenge for me to prepare something for them, as in Tuscany we do not consider a proper meal unless there is some blood on our dish!

For 4 persons:

4 peppers (mixed colors for a better effect!)

4 ripe tomatoes

2 cloves garlic

Parsley and

2 tablespoons of capers in salt.

1 chilly pepper



Cut the peppers in halves by the length trying to cut in two also the stem that is at the end! Remove the white stuff and the seeds from the inside (being careful not to cut the pepper) and wash with plenty of water. Place the peppers on a roasting pan with some olive oil on the bottom, so that the cavity faces you (and you can fill it!).

Cut the tomatoes in dices and fill the peppers with it. Finely chop the garlic, the parsley and the chilly pepper and distribute on top of the peppers. Season with salt and pepper and plenty of olive oil. Preheat the oven at 200 Deg and place the peppers at a medium height for 30-40 min (or until soft). Serve with ciabatta bread and enjoy!

For a better result you could place an anchovy fillet in each of the peppers, it will dissolve during the cooking and give plenty of flavor. However, in this way it would no longer be a fully vegetarian dish!

At home I have seldom eaten peppers. There was always the idea that they are heavy and difficult to digest! How can vegetables be heavy? The reason is that the way we prepare them in Italy are in the Peperonata, that is fried with onions and tomatoes. If you wish I will give you the recipe in a separate post. However this comes from the preparation and has nothing to do with the vegetable, which is fantastic!

Peppers look so Mediterranean and it is amazing to think that they are originally from America and were introduced in our gastronomy only recently (16th century… but if you have 3000 years of history as we have in Tuscany this is recent!).
Leonardo da Vinci or Dante never tried Peppers.