| POMODORI
RIPIENI |
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Ingredients:
4 fairly ripe tomatoes
200G/7 oz arborio rice
100 G/ 4 oz mozzarella cheese
1 egg
1 sprig of basil
100G/4 oz butter
Grated Parmesan
Tuscan olive oil |
Choose four quite large tomatoes and slice them horizontally just slightly above the "equator", setting the "lid" aside. Carefully scoop out the insides, seeds and all. Meanwhile, boil the rice in salted water and drain off nearly all the liqid while the rice grains are still firm and al dente.
Place in bowl and leave to cool. Add the mozzarella, crumbling it ib youtìr hands, a sprig of chopped, scented basil, salt, a bare sprinkling of pepper and, finally a ligthtly-beaten egg. Also add the tomato lid, cut into pieces, and mix all the ingredients thoroughly. Carefully fill the tomato shells with thi mixture. Dust liberally with grated Parmesan.
Grease an oven-proof dish, arrange the tomatoes in it after drizzling a thin streram of oil over each one, together with a knob of butter.
Put into a hot oven for about twenty minutes. They are good eaten either cold or hot.
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| Panzanella
(Bread Salad) |
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Ingredients:
1 large loaf of white bread, stale 1 large red-skinned onion 2
large salad tomatoes abundant basil Tuscan olive oil
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Little else is needed beside some
stale white bread. Slice thickly and put to soak in a basin of water.
Finely slice the onion and 2 tomatoes into a dish and add 2 hand-fuls
of chopped basil. Squeeze the bread dry (therein lies the secret),
add to the vegetables, plus olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper.
Stir to combine all the ingredients thoroughly.
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| Tonno
con cipolla e fagioli |
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ingredients:
800G, 1 3/4 Lb fresh cannelini small haricot beans (300G, 11 OZ
if dried) 2 medium-sized red-skinned onions 200G, 7OZ tuna fish
in olive oil Tuscan olive oil Salt and pepper. |
Boil the beans for forty minutes if
they are fresh, or for 2 hours if they are dried and have previously
been soaked for half an hour. Gut the onion up finely and add to
the tuna fish ( that you will have flaked in your hands) in a bowl.
Add the cold, well-drained beans. Season with olive oil, salt and
freshly-ground pepper
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| FETTUNTA
(Garlic Toast) |
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Ingredients:
Slices of white, ITALIAN- STYLE BREAD Garlic cloves
Tuscan olive oil
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Cut four slices of firm, crusty
bread. Toast them over the fire (marvelous cooked over charcoal,
but of course the modern gas or electric grill will do fine), rub
a clove of pared garlic over both sides. Drench in a olive oil,
sprinkle over a pinch of salt and eat them while is hot.
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| Minestrone
con la salvia Vegetable Soup with Sage |
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ingredients:
250g / 9 oz fresh or dried barlotti beans
100g / 4 oz pappardelle a handful of dried boletus edulis mushrooms
abundant basil a clove of garlic a bunch of chopped sage 1 ripe
tomato Tuscan olive oil
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| In a large saucepan, brown the garlic,
sage and mushrooms (previously soaked in luke-warm water) in 3 tablespoon
of oil.Add tomato, the cooked beans (you will remember to soak them
first if they are dried, won't you?), mashed in a vegetable mill,
and their cooking water.Season with salt and pepper and add the
pappardelle. Cook gently until the soup is thick and tasty. This
should also be served with a trickle of crude olive oil as final
touch. |