Posted in Featured, Food Events, Tuscan Spotting

Best food spots in Florence – certified by T...

Taste and Fuori di Taste are officialy over! Our taste buds are re-settling to normality, although here in Tuscany normality is hard to define.

More than 100 events around Florence and a show with 200 food companies that offered their products to whoever walked into the friendly-chic Stazione Leopolda. This 5th year of Taste organised by Pitti-Immagine, one of italy’s most important fashion event companies and Foundations for developing initiatives, in cooperation with Italy’s one and only food guru David Paolini aka gastronaut and his staff has been another success.

Posted in Featured, Tuscan Recipes

Cardoon Gratin Recipe

Serves 6-8

Ingredients

1 kg (2 lb 4 oz) cardoons, washed with tough outer stem and fibres stripped away
juice of 1/2 a lemon
3 or 4 eggs
about 125 ml (1/2 cup) flour for dusting
about 125 ml (1/2 cup) olive oil for frying
about 30 g (1 oz) butter
500 ml (2cups)
fresh tomato sauce 500 ml (2 cups)
about 60 g (2/3 cup) freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Preparation

After having prepared the cardoons, preheat the oven to 280°C ( 350°F).

Lightly whip the eggs in a bowl.  Then put some flour onto a flat plate and dust the cardoons in flour on all four sides and dip them into the beaten eggs.

Heat enough olive oil in a pan to come about 2 cm (3/4 in) up he sides. Fry the pieces in batches until golden all over.  Transfer to a plate lined with paper towels to absorb the excess oil.

Butter an oven dish and arrange the fried cardoons in a single layer. Cover with the tomato sauce and sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese. Bake in the hot oven for 10-15 minutes untill well gratinéed at the top.

Posted in Featured, Tuscan Recipes, Tuscany in season

Cardoons preparation

Are cardoons hunchbacks – are hunchbacks cardoons?

The cardoon is a member of the artichoke family and can be cooked in a variety of ways. Around Tuscany this vegetable is loved by everyone but especially by artichoke lovers that can get that same taste during the winter when this lonk stalked vegetable can substitute the bitter-sweet flavor of the artichoke. The stalks of cardoons are really long, so that when they grow they tend to hunch down, this is why in Tuscany cardoons are called “gobbi” or hunchbacks.  There’s a particular area known as Val di Cornia where this vegetable grows and thrives and is widely used in local culinary traditions. This variety of cardoon—otherwise known as the ‘Gobbo’ of Val di Cornia—is one of the most typical vegetables that grows in the valley. Its edible part is bright white and has a rather bitter taste. The cardoon is usually planted at the beginning of August, in fields that have been previously worked. During its harvest, farmers carry out careful visual inspections to detect the presence of mold or other problems. In regards to its cultivation, we can mention that this variety has seeds that tend to self-produce. This factor allows farmers to preserve this species organic qualities.

Preparing the Cardoons

Divide each thistle stalk lengthways into 6 cm (2.5 in) pieces. As you finish cutting them, soak the stalks in water mixed with the juice of half a lemon to avoid discolouration. Leave aside until you are ready to cook them.

Drain put them into a saucepan and cover with cold water. Add a little salt and bring to the boil. You can cover the surface of the cardoons in the saucepan with a cloth to make sure they are all covered by the water and do not discolour. Boil for about 20 minutes to soften, then drain well and discard the water. Leave them to cool slightly.

Tomorrow I will post the recipe……

Posted in Featured, Food dictionary, Tuscan Recipes

What is “in zimino” ?

Baccalà, stockfish, eel, carp, cuttlefish, squid can be made “in zimino” bacause in zimino is a style of preparation that uses tomatoes, chards or spinach.  The word zimino is typically tuscan but has very uncertain origins. According to some it derives from the the word “cimino” or “cumino” meaning cumin. According to others it comes from the word “samin” that means oily, fatty and from the verb samana, to cover something in fat or oil, possibly to pour melted butter over something.

Posted in Featured, Food Events, Tuscany in season

Marzuolo Truffle Event in March

Posted in Featured, Food Events

Taste n.5 – THE Food Event in Florence!

Taste n.5 is a v.i.food event that has fascinated the international foodie crowd for the past four years bringing this passionate community to Florence for three days in March.  Three days to explore and buy both traditional and modern eno-gastronomical specialties and not only -  Taste will be held from in March From the 13th to the 15th at the Stazione Leopolda in Florence thanks to Pitti Immagine and their refined taste (organisation and venue) and its collaboration with  Davide Paolini also known as the “Gastronaut”.

Posted in Food dictionary

Italian DOCG Wine List – in Tuscany we have ...

In Italy there are only 36 wines that are corked and later appreciated as DOCG labels- keep in mind there are 20 regions! In this post after a brief explanation on what a DOCG label is I wanted to underline the fact that of the 36 prestigious bottles boasting this label 17 are tuscan, if you want to know which ones they are so that during your stay you can be sure you’re spending the right amount of money for a great wine in a restaurant, keep this list handy!