Tuscan Food Diary

[pim]

Veg. for tonights dinner. Cardoon, some grass stuff I have never seen before and a fractal cauliflower.

the grassy stuff is called Monk's Beard, I've actually had it at St.John in London, of all places.

[pim]

These photos are wonderful, Adam. Thanks.

[balex]

I have no idea what the grassy stuff is called. It is actually fleshy, a little like salicornia and raw it tastes like green beans.

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Agretti or barba di san giuseppe (beard -- becuase it hangs down your chin when you eat it). It is a sort of samphire.

(edited to add: thanks for the great pictures;)

Edited February 27, 2005 by balex (log)

[albiston]

Albiston...any idea how far of a drive is it to the Italian border from Munich?

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That's exactly what I'll be doing in a week's time . It takes between two and three hours, even less with no traffic and no snow, which hardly ever happens in my experience, especially the former. On the other hand you'll need to drive further south to find these prices, Trentino-Alto Adige is quite expensive in my experience.

(then again, maybe Hapag-Lloyd has some cheap offers. Must investigate...)

Never used Hapag Lloyd, because they mainly fly direct from Hannover and Hamburg. From München the only Italian destination is Palermo, which is not a bad pick. There's a few other options: AirBerlin, Easyjet maybe, flights from large German tourist agencies like TUI and Neckermann, and the occasional offer from Lufthansa and Alitalia. Quite a bit to choose from.

[Behemoth]

It takes between two and three hours, even less with no traffic and no snow, which hardly ever happens in my experience, especially the former. On the other hand you'll need to drive further south to find these prices, Trentino-Alto Adige is quite expensive in my experience.

Wow, I knew the border was close but I didn't realize it was that close. I need to look at a road map. In two hours I can be in Chicago or St. Louis, but I can't say my town is very Munich-like, by any stretch of the imagination. Something to look forward to

[docsconz]

An amazing blog, Adam! The photos bring back some wonderful memories of Tuscany and also many items I have not had the chance to experience. I am amazed at the availability of such apparently high quality produce at this time of year - especially the zucchini and tomatoes. Were they imported or grown locally?

When we rented a villa outside of Siena we cooked in one meal and ate out another each day. I too am a food market junkie.

[Priscilla]

Adam, what a treat this has been!

[Adam Balic]

Yes, it was terrific to be in Italy. One the flight back to Scotland, I read an article on how London was now the foodie destination of choice. I have also read a lot of discusson on how Italian food just doesn't make it as top flight cuisine. Well having lived in the UK for five years, I don't think that the Italians should be too concerned that their cuisine doesn't make it into the top 2% of world restaurants, I would prefer to have the other 98% to go to as a positive experince, rather then consistantly mediocre as in the UK. Or indeed have this excellent produce to cook with routinely at home.

Edited March 1, 2005 by Adam Balic (log)

[Adam Balic]

Showed this image to a co-worker. She said, "Oh, yeh Nutria. They make good salami". Apparently, in Eastern-Europe the familys that farm these for their pelts, also eat them.

A mammal biologist tells me they are really a type of giant vole.

[johnnyd]

It also reminds me of the Marmots I'd see in the Alps.

That fractal cauliflower is amazing!

[tanabutler]

Nice stuff, Adam. I love Siena! Where in Siena is Hostaria il Carroccio?

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Hosteria Il Carrocio is in the city center. Face the town hall at the Campanile, point your arm to one o'clock, and head in that direction, going not too far up Casata di Sotto. It is directly across from the automat (lavanderia).

Here is a report I wrote up for it at IgoUgo.com, with contact information, etcetera. (No photos of food: this was before I belonged to a food forum.)

It's where I had an Italian food epiphany—though if you've been to Italy many times, you probably have already had your own.

Glad to see you made it there, Adam. Anyone else who goes should not miss the Tuscan bread soup or the house dessert, a molten chocolate confection that is swoon-inducing.

Beautiful work on the photos, too.

[Pan]

I enjoyed reading that report, Tana. My epiphany in Siena was the time when I overslept and missed breakfast at the pieno pensione dormitory I was staying at in the summer of 1991 and ordered a mortadella, mozzarella, tomato, and basil sandwich at the local bar. That showed me just how good an inexpensive sandwich can be -- when you have ingredients locally available in Tuscany!

[tanabutler]

Pan, that is similar in nature to my epiphany, which is that some of the best food is the simplest. As Russ Parsons has said (I'm paraphrasing), there is little you can do to a perfect tomato to improve it.

Good ingredients speak for themselves.

As do Adam's sterling photographs. Such a treat, so uplifting!

[Dan Ryan]

Thought the grassy stuff was monk's beard. Also the fractal veg is a type of broccoli called romanesco, as opposed to calabrese. Agree, cardoons mostly seemed to be done as a flan at the moment. Taste good, mild artichoke flavour.

As a resident of Florence I'm sorry to have missed you and Ore last weekend. Really must post more often.

[BonfireCuisine]

I heard in Louisiana that Nutrias are every where and they remove then like rats because they ruin the dykes and water ways. I never thought of eating them - then again I've never had possum either and I've heard that they eat them there.

Jason

[markemorse]

Wowee, fantastic photos in general, but especially the Siena shots...I lived there for awhile several years back and am regularly haunted by ricciarelli dreams....

And, we were actually fortunate enough to live on Il Campo for a few months when we were there...Il Carroccio was a weekly visit for me, more if my GF was out of town.

So, thanks again for the "memories"....

mark

[Lori in PA]

Just saw this when it was bumped up -- read the whole thing -- now I'm running late, but WONDERFUL! Thank you!