Time for "Caldarroste" in Tuscany

It’s the time of the year to sit in front of the fire and eat a handful of hot caldarroste (roasted chestnuts) with a glass of Chianti wine. What else could you ask for?

Large parts of central and northern Italy are covered with castagneti (chestnut woods) and for centuries chestnuts have been the main winter food source . This is reflected into the variety of chestnut dishes, both sweet and savory, which are still popular today. During October and November, chestnut festivals are celebrated across Italy to welcome the chestnut harvest and signal the end of the harvesting season.

Chestnuts can be eaten raw, roasted , boiled or dried or candied or in chestnut flour.

Try the following recipe for

 Caldarroste (Roasted Chestnuts):

With a small, sharp knife make a cut in each chestnuts The cut allows the steam to escape while they are cooking Put the chestnuts in a chestnut pan.

Roast over the fire for 15 to 25 minutes or until the chestnuts are tender and the shells are beginning to open.

The tricky part is actually knowing when they are done. If you over-cook or under-cook them, they will get hard and the inner skin will be very difficult to remove.

Now the hard part: peeling them! You need to peel them while they are still hot. Let them cool just enough to touch them.

Be very careful not to burn your fingers!

Schiacciata all' Uva- Grapes Focaccia

Schiacciata refers to flatbread in Tuscany ,what everyone else in Italy calls focaccia. During the wine-grape harvest, in Tuscany we make a not-too-sweet dessert or snack of bread dough and grapes . It's a very old Tuscan recipe ,it is said to be Etruscan, as we seem to have depictions of it on pottery.. Many recipes use fresh grapes, others a mixture of grapes and raisins or grapes and nuts.

Here is our recipe for
Schiacciata all’ Uva

800g flour

100g sugar

20g yeast

1kg small black or white grapes

water

oil

Sift the flour,add 3 spoons of sugar and the crumbled yeast to warm water with 3 spoons of oil,mixing the dough well. Leave to rise for an hour. Then roll it out into a greased baking pan.The dough must be twice as big as the baking pan and therefore it overflows the sides. Spread on the base half of the grapes, a little sugar and baste with oil. Recover with the extra dough and spread over the remaining grapes, more sugar and oil. Place in the oven at 180° C for about 30 minutes.
Suggestions : Add 200 g walnuts

   

Panna Cotta in Tuscany

Answering to Jon's request , we add one of our dessert recipes :

PANNA COTTA

600 g cream

250 g icing sugar

50 g milk

2½ sheets gelatine

½ vanilla bean

Place the cream, icing sugar and vanilla over a low heat. Mix until the icing sugar melts (don’t let the mixture boil). Dissolve the isinglass in two spoonfuls of cold milk and then add it to the cream, which you have removed from the heat. Pour the cream in the little moulds .Leave to cool in the fridge for a few hours.

Suggestion: * Add zafferan to the cream

Serve with fruit sauce (strawberry, roseberry or grapes),chocolate, liquer (limoncello or nocino)

Olive Harvest, Olive Oil & Cooking with a Family In The Chianti Hills

Have you always wanted to experience Tuscany’s olive harvest just like local people do- picking the olives in olive groves in the hills and take a bottle of your “Olio Nuovo” (new olive oil) home?

Toscana Mia will make these daydreams a reality for you this November in a tiny hamlet in the Chianti hills.

Monday November 2

Arrive in the afternoon in the Chianti country town, Greve by bus from Florence. Transfer by private car to the family’s farmhouse. After you get settled, your cooking teacher guides you through an olive oil tasting of oils from several regions in Italy as you compare olive oils and chat about which ones you like and why. She gives you expert tips on how to choose a good olive oil when you shop in a store.

Enjoy your welcome dinner prepared by your friendly, hospitable family at home with good local wines and share stories and laughter around the table.

Tuesday November 3

After breakfast with the family, it’s time to experience the olive harvest with new Tuscan friends.

9 am to 12 noon: Pick olives with local people with time for taking pictures, talking with your companions and relaxing in a coffee break.

Join the olive pickers for lunch.

Free time to relax or explore.

4:00 p.m. Enjoy a full menu, hands-on cooking lesson at home focusing on dishes made with olives and olive oil.

Dine on your creations with good Tuscan wine as you celebrate your day’s accomplishments and adventures together.

Wednesday November 4

After breakfast with the family, visit to the olive oil mill where the olives you picked will turn into Tuscan olive oil.

Italians eagerly await the “Olio Nuovo”—the new oil which has a distinctive, fruity taste. At the end of your visit, you get a little bottle of new extra virgin olive oil!

With your family host, explore a picturesque Chianti town and enjoy shopping, especially for artisan household items made of olive tree wood.

Light lunch at an enoteca

4:00 p.m. learn more about cooking with olive oil and dishes with olives in your full menu, hands-on cooking lesson at home.

Thursday November 5

After your last breakfast here, reluctantly depart by private car to Greve and take the bus to Florence

Dates: November 2-5, 2009

Contact us for more information and prices

Tuscan Figs Jam

This year is so hot, so little water but so many figs. It’s wonderful to sit under one of our figs’ trees and eat its one by one but when your belly is definitely full you have to….make a jam.

Marmellata di Fichi

1 kg. figs

500gr. sugar

Remove the stems from the figs and cut the figs in pieces. Cook them stirring often . Once the figs are mushy, add the sugar and continue cooking until the jam is thick enough. Place in the jars while still hot, and let cool. Close them very well, and sterilize them in boiling water for 30 minutes.