week three: eating my way through Tuscany :)

26 September 2009
Okay, so for everyone who has been badgering me about food… I finally took some pictures :) actually… K and I went over to F&L’s apartment for a night of Tuscan cooking… We meet at the CONAD (local grocery store) and picked everything up for the pre-planned menu… it was funny, L had printed it out and everything… there was even a cute little drawing of the Tuscan countryside on the bottom :-p
F, being possibly one of the most painfully organized people I know, had to show us, by section in the store, where to get everything (checking off each item as we went, of course…) … it took far longer than either K or I had expected… and then we came to the wine section… madon’… if anything seemed long up until that point, we were sadly mistaken… I think it took 15min to choose the white alone (with the dishes we were preparing, white was more fitting… and we had to get an authentic Tuscan white, and it had to match the flavoring, and there was much debate as to the alcohol % - after 13% the flavor drastically changes with each .5%... oy) and then to the red… well, chianti was the standard, and expected, so we went to the chianti section, and looked – in awe – at all of the different types… we ended up settling on the chianti classico, a certified wine from the chianti region, less than 12%, full enough for the mushroom dish without being overpowering for the rest…
Finally, around 7 (we met around 6…) we walked into F&L’s apartment, and put everything on the table… and then came the debate what to prepare first… well let’s have a look-see at the menu:
Porcini mushrooms with garlic and olive oil (self explanatory… omg amazing!)
Kale and Onion Bruschetta (again, relatively self explanatory…)
Tonno e Fagioli (Tuscan White Bean, Tuna, and Red Onion Salad)
Strozzapreti alla Fiorentina aka Gnudi (literally, priest stranglers, or naked… ravioli sans dough)
Castagnaccio (chestnut ‘cake’… the term cake is used lightly… not the sweet dessert K or I expected!)
So, we spent the next hour or so prepping, cooking, and having a wonderful time in the kitchen :) (and anyone wanting the recipes, let me know… all are traditional Tuscan dishes that are wonderful!)
When it came time to eat, not only was I excited to try everything (thanks Mum, for teaching me the basics… I didn’t feel so silly when asked to mince, flay, braze, and sauté :-p) but I was starving!!!
Everything honestly was amazing… I love Tuscan food… it’s sooo much better than the Sicilian-American stuff you get back home… I mean, a whole dish based around this rich, nutty porcini mushroom?? Heaven. And the bruschetta reminded me of cabbage pierogis (don’t tell F&L!!!) which accomplished two things: making me homesick, and providing me with a strange Italian-ized polish comfort food :)
Overall? Success… I swear K and I rolled home!