Tastes of Tuscany

Rooftops in Siena

Having just returned from a gorgeous trip to Italy, I thought I would share with you some of the flavours, thoughts and photos from our week in Tuscany.

The first thing I noticed about Italian cooking was that it relies, even more so than french cuisine, on a simple combination of excellent ingredients. And that it almost always involves copious amounts of top quality olive oil. Although I love french cuisine I often find it to be fussy and heavy on complicated technique and tricky ingredients. I find Italian cooking to be refreshingly simple, easy to understand and replicate at home, often relying on just three great ingredients. Pasta, Mushrooms, cream.

Tomatoes, Bread, Oil.

Or in one case when we went out for the famous "Bistecca Fiorentina" Steak, steak and more steak! 

We seriously underestimated the size of this beast, a must eat apparently when you visit this region. Despite the warnings of our waiter we went ahead and ordered (one between two). It must have been about half a cow, but it was delicious, brilliantly blue and a perfect accompaniment to a glass of Chianti Classico and the view of the Tuscan hills. 

one of the most simple foods was the one we both enjoyed the most, a bruscetta with fresh tomatoes and beautiful viscous olive oil.  So simple but some fantastic, and a wonderful showcase of how italian cuisine really sings with simplicity and great produce. 

Aperitivo

One thing we loved was the Italian tradition of aperitivo, somewhat similar to the french tradition but more focussed on the food. While the french tend to nibble on saucisson, nuts and and cubes of comte. Italians lay on a full on buffet, often bursting with panini, mini sandwiches topped with cheese, meat and aromatic truffle paste. Meaning that whilst out walking in the early evening you are often greeted with the delightful aroma of truffle on the air. 

I love to visit a supermarket everytime I go to a different country, just wandering around the aisles marvelling at the differences is always and interesting experience. (To be honest I even enjoy going to Waitrose!) We managed to pick up some Tallegio in Florence from a small supermarket and my love of this fabulous cheese has now been elevated to one of my faves. This soft, stinky bloomy rinded cheese has found a firm place in my cheese filled heart.