{"id":6952,"date":"2019-08-04T07:56:49","date_gmt":"2019-08-04T13:56:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/villasentieri.com\/?p=6952"},"modified":"2019-08-05T08:27:36","modified_gmt":"2019-08-05T14:27:36","slug":"cooking-in-tuscany-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/villasentieri.com\/index.php\/2019\/08\/04\/cooking-in-tuscany-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Cooking in Tuscany #1: The Road"},"content":{"rendered":"

August 4, 2019<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I couldn\u2019t stay away from Italy for very long.<\/p>\n

\"\"
A tiny olive tree in Zia Fidalma’s garden. There’s a grove of larger ones in another garden.<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I got home on April 14th after a three-month sojourn at the Italian Culinary Institute<\/a> in Stalett\u00ec, Calabria.\u00a0 On July 31st I was on a plane heading back to Italy.\u00a0 [You can read about my time at the Italian Culinary Institute in Calabria starting HERE<\/a>.]<\/p>\n

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Zia Fidalma putting lunch on the table.<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I met up with my aunt (by marriage), Zia Ida, at the airport in Rome.\u00a0 We flew from there to Pisa.\u00a0 After a brief stop at the automobile rental counter I was motoring us in a Fiat 500, with a quirky automatic transmission, towards the town of Bagni di Lucca, north of Lucca.\u00a0 The apartment I rented is right in the center of town, overlooking the piazza on Viale Umberto I, the main street of Bagni di Lucca.<\/p>\n

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A late afternoon view of the piazza in Bagni di Lucca from the terrace of my apartment.<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I met Elsa and her husband, from whom I rented the apartment, got a brief introduction to the apartment and was handed the keys.\u00a0 After lugging my bags up a flight of stairs, Zia Ida and I were on a two-way road barely wider than a (small) car in some places to the village of Benabbio, about five kilometers from Bagni di Lucca up the side of a mountain.<\/p>\n

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Slicing zucchini for sformato with Zia Fidalma.<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The road to Benabbio is a place for faith or fatalism depending on one\u2019s outlook.\u00a0 It has scores of switchbacks and blind cures around which Italian drivers propel themselves at great speed with no apparent regard for the distinct probability that one is likely to encounter another driver coming the opposite way while occupying the center of the roadway just as is the first driver.<\/p>\n

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Pork loin tied with rosemary ready to be seasoned and roasted.<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Beyond the piazza of Benabbio is a stretch of road that I call the gauntlet.\u00a0 As it twists and turns up the mountain, it is hemmed in on both sides by stone buildings so close together that a full-size American car would not fit through.\u00a0 This stretch of road is also two-way with the obvious reality that if one were to meet a car coming in the opposite direction, someone would have to back up on an incline turning curves between menacing buildings.<\/p>\n

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A corner of Zia Fidalma’s garden.<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The whole reason for this trek, which I will likely make twice a day on average, is Zia Fidalma.\u00a0 Zia Fidalma is Zia Ida\u2019s aunt and my Great Aunt (prozia<\/em>, in Italian).\u00a0 She\u2019s a wonderful cook and I\u2019m here to learn Tuscan home cooking from her.\u00a0 Sure, I could try to learn it from books (and I likely will continue to expand my knowledge that way after leaving) but there\u2019s no substitute for cooking and tasting a cuisine on its home turf.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Vegetable soup, pureed and with a topping of Grana Padana.<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We had a late lunch at Zia Fidalma\u2019s that consisted of \u201cLa Zuppa\u201d (vegetable soup), Zucchini Ripieni (stuffed zucchini), Pane Integrale (whole-grain rustic bread) and Torta di Frutta (cake topped with raspberries, pears, and pineapple).\u00a0 Everything was homemade except the bread which was baked locally.<\/p>\n

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Zia Fidalma seasoning the roast.<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the late afternoon I headed back down the mountain to Bagni di Lucca intent on staying awake till at least 9 PM.\u00a0 I managed this by unpacking, organizing the apartment, and doing some basic grocery shopping.\u00a0 Feeling too tired to safely drive up the mountain for dinner, I made a really nice toasted panino with provisions from the market:\u00a0 piadina (a flat bread from Emilia Romagna) and three Calabrian delicacies, schiachatta (a spicy salame) caciotto (a soft cheese) and peperoncino sott\u2019olio (hot peppers packed in oil), which I ate on the terrace overlooking the piazza of Bagni di Lucca.\u00a0 Why this little market in Bagni di Lucca had foods from Calabria I can\u2019t imagine but I\u2019ll gratefully accept the fact without question!<\/p>\n

\"\"
Sformato di Zucchini ready for the oven.<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After a good night\u2019s sleep, I motored back up the mountain to Zia Fidalma\u2019s where I met her and Zia Ida in the garden harvesting vegetables.<\/p>\n

\"\"
A morning harvest from Zia Fidalma’s garden.<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We promptly set about cooking.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Tomatoes and garlic ready to be turned into pomarola.<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

First up was Sformato di Zucchini, made with zucchini, zucchini flowers, and herbs from the garden, plus besciamella, Grana Padana and eggs.\u00a0 There\u2019s no precise translation for sformato.\u00a0 It\u2019s sort of a crustless savory tart that\u2019s not anywhere near as \u201ceggy\u201d as a quiche.\u00a0 Though the word is sometimes translated as quiche or flan, neither really fits.\u00a0 If not calling it sformato, I prefer to just refer to it as a casserole which is not as constraining a term as quiche.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Sformato di Zucchini right from the oven. It can be served warm or at room temperature.<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While the sformato baked, we made Arrosto di Maiale al Latte (pork roast cooked in milk).\u00a0 We also started Pomarola, a simple sauce of fresh tomatoes (from the garden), garlic, and basil (also from the garden) simmered together and passed through a food mill.\u00a0 Butter or olive oil is added afterwards.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Pork cooked in milk ready for serving.<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lunch was simple but delicious.\u00a0 We had vegetable soup (from the day before but pureed) topped with Grana Padana cheese and accompanied by bread, and a salad of arugula and radicchio from the garden.<\/p>\n

\"\"
A satisfying dinner of roast pork, sformato, tomato salad, rustic bread (and a hint of wine).<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At dinner we had the sformato, pork roast, tomato salad (from the garden) and bread.\u00a0 Torta di Frutta made another appearance, too!\u00a0 The pomarola is in the fridge waiting to sauce something or other in the coming days.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Keeping the piazza free of cars as karaoke night approaches.<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With a full belly, and not too much wine, I headed down the luge-ride of a mountain road to my apartment.\u00a0 Apparently, Friday night is karaoke night.\u00a0 Karaoke night happens in the piazza\u2026remember the piazza\u2026the one that my terrace overlooks?<\/p>\n

\"\"
Tomatoes, garlic and basil bubbling away, soon to be turned into pomarola.<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Karaoke turns into a dance party which causes the walls to vibrate and the strobe lights to flash through the wooden shutters.\u00a0 It ends just before 1 AM after which time sleep is possible.\u00a0 But not too much sleep, as you’ll discover next time!<\/p>\n

\"\"
Karaoke night in the piazza in Bagni di Lucca turns into a pulsing dance party.<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

August 4, 2019 I couldn\u2019t stay away from Italy for very long. I got home on April 14th after a three-month sojourn at the Italian Culinary Institute in Stalett\u00ec, Calabria.\u00a0 On July 31st I was on a plane heading back to Italy.\u00a0 [You can read about my time at the Italian Culinary Institute in Calabria … Continue reading Cooking in Tuscany #1: The Road<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6983,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","wpupg_custom_link":[],"wpupg_custom_link_behaviour":["default"],"wpupg_custom_link_nofollow":[],"wpupg_custom_image":[],"wpupg_custom_image_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[363],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people-and-places"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/villasentieri.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/villasentieri.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/villasentieri.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/villasentieri.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/villasentieri.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6952"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"http:\/\/villasentieri.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6952\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6987,"href":"http:\/\/villasentieri.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6952\/revisions\/6987"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/villasentieri.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/villasentieri.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/villasentieri.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/villasentieri.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}