Leek soup

Ingredients for 4 people

6 leeks

1 l stock

50 gr butter

flour

parmesan cheese

salt and pepper

Cut leeks in thin slices (just the light part) and let them brown with butter, then add two spoons of flour and few spoons of stock, cook for a few minutes then add the rest of the stock and let it boil for 40 minutes. Serve the soup with parmigiano cheese and grilled bread.

In modern recipes we have many kinds of vegetable soups but this really comes from the Tuscan tradition. In Florence during the Renaissance period, in fact they used to serve the “Porrea” (means something made with leeks) in special celebrations , but it is not clear if it was this one or a leek tart. What we know that from here comes the word “purea” (smooth soup) and also the French version “purè”

                                                    

Crostini

Today “crostini” are considered as appetizers, but they have an old tradition. Looking at Renaissance paintings, feasts included lots of different kinds of food served without plates, so they used to pick food with hands or put it on a slice of bread. Bread used to soak all the sauce, becoming really tasty. Then they started to toast the bread and put some hot stock on it. We are not putting stock on bread anymore because the bread would become too soft.

In Tuscany we have different kinds of “Crostini”: the classic ones are prepared using chicken entrails including crests, other ones with chicken liver, or spleen. They all have in common the use of capers and anchovy and the way to prepare them.

Here is my recipe I got from an old aunt who lived in Valdarno area, between Arezzo and Florence.

                                              

ISOLINA’S CROSTINI

Ingredients for 6 people:

350 gr chicken liver

1 small onion

1 carrot

1 celery

1 spoon of capers

3 anchovys

White wine

Bit stock

2 spoons of meat ragù

bread

olive oil

salt and pepper

Mince the onion, carrot, celery and put them in a saucepan with 4 spoons of olive oil and let them brown. Add liver, when it dries pour the wine. Cook for half an hour then chop everything, put them back in the pan, add capers and anchovys and let it cook. If it dries add stock. 5 minutes before serving add meat ragù and mix. Spread on toasted bread.

In Siena area instead of meat ragù they use liver with spleen. It is up to you deciding which is the best, keep in mind that the result will be completely different.

Pork ribs with black cabbage

I started writing about winter vegetables so I can not avoid speaking about a couple of recipes that are used in winter time: leek soup and pork rib with black cabbage (cavolo nero)

PORK RIBS WITH BLACK CABBAGE

Ingredients for 4 people

12 cut pork ribs (but you can also use 4 pork steaks instead)

600gr black cabbage

2 cloves of garlic

Fennel seeds

Red wine

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

In a saucepan pour 8 spoons of olive oil, mashed garlic, a spoon of fennel seeds and pan fry. Add meat and after few minutes pour the wine, salt and pepper. When the wine is evaporated add boiled cabbage and let it cook for 5 minutes. If you like you can add more pepper.

                                                   

....and here is a nice picture of our black cabbage enjoying the sun in a winter day.

Gobbi

As I already mentioned, I love cooking season's vegetables. 
During the winter in Tuscany we have a large range of vegetables: “cavolo nero” (it  doesn't have a translation in English because it can be found only in our region, it is actually a kind of local cabbage) is the essential ingredient for example of ribollita, turnip tops which we serve with pork ribs, but the one I prefer is actually what we call “gobbi”. This vegetable looks like cardoon but the taste is very different! The color is lighter and it has a curved shape. Some months before picking farmers usually cover them to protect from the light. They can be served as a pie or pan-fried with tomato and parmigiano cheese.

I prefer the second one, it is simple, light and the cheese doesn’t cloak the vegetable’s taste.

PAN- FRIED GOBBI

4 people ingredients

800 gr “gobbi”
flour
some small tomatoes
olive oil, salt and pepper
garlic
parmigiano cheese

Wash “gobbi”, remove the core and hard parts: cut them in 7 cm long stripes and put it in water with lemon so that they don’t become dark. Pour water in a saucepan and let it boiled then put “gobbi” anche let them cook until soft. Drain them and let them cool. Take a large pan, put 5 spoons of olive oil and 5 gloves of garlic, cook for a few minutes then add “gobbi” covered in flour. Pan fry, add salt, pepper and half cut tomatoes.

Sprinkle with parmigiano cheese before serving.



                                             

                                  
                                        
                                                                                   

Meat Stock

Talking about organic food, we often need to cook involving something concentrated with the flavour of meat or of vegetable, in Italian we called it “dado” (stock cube). I have tried not to use it in my recipes until I managed to prepared it by myself at home using natural ingredients: the result is good and healthy!

Ingredients:

300 g. veal
300 g. salt
300 g. of different vegetables: celery, carrot, onion and garlic
sage and laurel

1 tomato
30 g. red wine
2 cloves

Veal has to be pass twice through the mincer.

Whip the vegetables, pour them in a saucepan adding the meat, wine, salt, tomato, laurel, sage and cloves. Let it cook covered for 30 minutes. Stir regularly until all the wine will be evaporated. Remove sage and laurel and mix everything.

Below you can see the result!

Your natural “Dado” is ready and can be preserved in the fridge for 3 months!

"Don Pancaldi's" Apples

With the growing of the global market we are used to having every kind of fruits and vegetables during the whole year: watermelons or strawberries in February, tomatoes in every season. Red and juicy apples are available from January to December. In the past it was all different… I remember the first holiday on my own, almost 50 years ago...It was July and I spent my holiday in a catholic “colonia” (something like a summer camp but not so comfortable as the ones our children are now used to!). It was a really cheap solution for my parents but the food was nevertheless very homely. Every day we received an apple at the end of the meal, and we used to call it “Don Pancaldi’s apple” . Don Pancaldi was a priest, the bursar of the campus who received as a donation a stock of apples he kept in a shady part of the garden. The apples weren’t so attractive: a bit withered with a brownie russet color. This was the reason why we used to be so ironic about those apples. I often think about that joyful period but I also remember those apples which would have nothing to envy to the  big, shiny, modern apples.

I believe today apples are reaped too early with respect to the right ripening time and too many preservatives are used to let them appear always attractive. Personally I try to use just fresh and in season ingredients and my recipes always follow the seasonality of fruit and vegetables.

                                                        

More crostini?

CROSTINI WITH CHEESE AND WALNUTS

Ingredients:

100g walnuts

150g Emmental cheese

50 g. ricotta cheese

Salt and pepper

Put walnuts and cheese in the mixer and chop them. Put them in a bowl and add ricotta cheese, salt and pepper (cream can be used instead ricotta cheese to have a smoother mixture).  Spread on toasted bread and serve them hot.

CROSTINI WITH RED “RADICCHIO”

Ingredients:

1 red “radicchio”

40 gr grated parmigiano cheese

garlic

vinegar

olive oil

salt and pepper

Slice the bread. Chop the radicchio, garlic and parmigiano cheese in the mixer. Whip 4 spoons of olive oil, 2 spoons of vinegar, salt and pepper. Flavor radicchio with this sauce and place on toasted bread.