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The traveller who arrives and sits at the table of one of the many trattorias in the hills of the Chianti discovers the most tasty examples of Tuscan cuisine. Simple, but flavourful dishes, in the typical cuisine which is traditional in Florence and in the surroundings hills, and in some cases, even in all of Tuscany.
Simple dishes arise from the meticulously cared for vegetable gardens in each of the seasons.
Here we have, for example, bread soup with special winter cabbage, which, when put back on the flame, turns into
"ribollita". This is the farmer's soup in autumn and in winter, during the season of the special winter cabbage and of kale, which are brought to a boil with a nice "soffritto" (a sautéed mixture of finely chopped onions, bacon, vegetables, etc), tomatoes, beans and potatoes. What is the secret of "ribollita"? The soup is best eaten the day after cooking it. When it is cold, it is put back on to cook over low heat, with some good Chianti olive oil and it is left to heat up again very slowly.
A wonderful dish to give you back your energy, is the "cibreo". This dish is born of the recycling of the less noble parts of the poultry: the interior, the giblets, the liver and the cockscomb of young roosters, which must be well-floured before being covered with egg and left to cook. This is a dish from the Renaissance, whose name comes from the Latin and means "king's food". When she was young, Catherine of the Medicis, was said to be so gluttonous as to once have had such bad indigestion that she almost lost her life. It gets more and more difficult to find this dish, because today's health standards prevent the sale of animals with giblets, etc. On the other hand, it is not difficult at all to find
Florentine tripe. Tripe can be found in just about every butcher shop or in special stands in the markets. Tripe comes in an infinite number of variations and versions to be cooked. The most characteristic is called "alla fiorentina" (Florentine style).
"Fagioli all'uccelletto" is an ideal side dish. It is made with the "cannellino": the "king of beans" in Tuscany. |
Chianti wine can present itself beneath two very different aspects: somewhat vivacious and light-hearted, or old and austere. As a consequence, one finds a wide range of food.
A young Chianti, medium in body, goes well with white, savoury meat which has been cooked for a long time in a rich sauce. It goes even better with red meats cooked on the grill, like, for example,
bistecca alla fiorentina (Florentine steak).
This dish is served "al sangue" (very rare inside), leaving the inside very red, so that is remains soft and juicy. As a consequence, the concentration of flavours provoked by the way in which it is cooked, is only present in the outer layer. The wine must therefore be a very full-bodied red wine.
The Chianti wine responds very well to these characteristics since the power of red wine is necessary to accompany red meat, and at the same time, it has very gentle and delicate characteristics which do not overpower the flavour that the brief and light cooking time and preparation brings out. |
