My Italian food
Last novembre, on a cold sunny day, we drove from Lucca into the Garfagnana region, to catch the woods in their autumnal splendour, before winter settled in.
Sillico was our destination: a minuscule, picture-perfect village, perched 700 meters above sea level on the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines, surrounded by chestnut woodland.
It is Carnevale right now and most Italians would not pass the opportunity to munch on the delectable seasonal deep fried pastries called chiacchiere (pronounced kiah-kihe-reh). They are crisp, not overly sweet, feather light and shatter as soon as you pop one in your mouth. They are insubstantial and irresistible, at any time of the day. Continue reading “Chiacchiere di carnevale – Carnival pastries”
A few days ago, I helped a friend to clear his garden after the previous day’s severe pollarding that followed a storm which had toppled one of the trees. At first, I did not pay much attention to those thick branches that carpeted the grounds; then I picked up one of them, scrunched a couple of leaves and my nostrils were hit by the unmistakable, wonderful perfume of bay: lemony and with hints of nutmeg and pine.
Continue reading “Sugo di pomodoro con alloro e cannella (tomato sauce with bay leaves and cinnamon)”
An unusual recipe where toasted hazelnuts replace minced meat. I discovered this idea online, but there is not much information about it – I suspect this is a relatively modern recipe.
The chopped hazelnuts lose their crunchiness, and, with the support of tomatoes, dried ceps, spices and red wine, become a deeply flavoured sauce, as satisfying as a conventional meat ragu’.
This really is a sumptuous condiment for pasta and polenta, which happens to be vegan.
Lunigiana is the austere mountainous area where three regions meet: Toscana, Liguria and Emilia Romagna. From the administrative point of view, it is now part of Tuscany, but historically and culturally it has always been a terra di confine, a border land, where the identities of those three regions, and of its people and food cultures, meet and seep into each other.
The tosco-emiliano Apennine runs through it, with its majestic woodland of chestnut trees, but one is also never too far from the sea. In Lunigiana, the butter of Emilia Romagna food culture meets the extra virgin olive oil of Liguria and Tuscany.
Mountains and sea, butter and oil.
Italian home cooking 