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IndIndIndIndexexexex First courseFirst courseFirst courseFirst course:::: - Rich pasta p. 3 - Bean Soup P. 5 - Pasta with rabbit meat sauce P. 7

Second courseSecond courseSecond courseSecond course:::: - Pot roasted rabbit P. 9 - Stuffed zucchini P. 11 - Pork liver P. 13

DessertDessertDessertDessert:::: - Cantuccini (Prato cookies) P. 15 - Buckwheat cake with chocolate P. 17 - Grape schiacciata P. 19

A tiny selection of recipesA tiny selection of recipesA tiny selection of recipesA tiny selection of recipes ffffrom my first year of blogrom my first year of blogrom my first year of blogrom my first year of blog to thank you for your visitsto thank you for your visitsto thank you for your visitsto thank you for your visits

and friendship.and friendship.and friendship.and friendship.

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RRRRich Pastaich Pastaich Pastaich Pasta

IngredientsIngredientsIngredientsIngredients::::

• hazelnuts to shell, 3 handfuls • thinly ground almonds or almond flour, 3 full tablespoons • cow ricotta cheese, 100 gr • sage, 4 leaves • garlic, 1 clove • grated Parmesan cheese, 4 full tablespoons • extra virgin olive oil, 4 tablespoons • Salt & pepper • spaghetti

Cook spaghetti in a large pot with salted boiling water, according to packaging instructions. In the meantime, shell hazelnuts and smash them in a mortar, leaving some crunchy bits. heat olive oil in a large pan with a clove of garlic and some sage leaves. When the garlic has given all its flavour to the olive oil and sage leaves are getting brown and crunchy, remove the garlic clove and add hazelnuts and almond flour and leave to toast and brown for a few minutes At this point, add ricotta cheese. Add some spoonful of cooking water to mix ricotta cheese, season with salt and pepper and add spaghetti, once tossed. Add grated parmesan and serve wit some fresh black pepper. Tasting moment!Tasting moment!Tasting moment!Tasting moment! First of all, if you add cooking water instead of milk or cream is better, as the dish will result lighter, good thing both for your taste and your diet! Beside that, almond flour hugs and covers pasta, while hazelnuts chunks surprise at the bite and make a simple dish an interesting experience.

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Bean SoupBean SoupBean SoupBean Soup

IngredientsIngredientsIngredientsIngredients::::

• Beans • Extra virgin olive oil • Sage • Tomato sauce • Garlic • Salt and pepper

I won’t give you quantities, as you can make this recipe by sight. Puree boiled beans. You can use an electric blender or a classic vegetable mill: if you are making a soup for a child, it’s better if you use a vegetable mill as, doing so, you won’t incorporate air into the soup and you will avoid the risk to cause colics to this poor child. You can help yourself pureeing beans with some cooking water, according to the density you prefer. Heat a few tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil in a saucepan with some sage leaves and a clove of garlic. When the garlic is golden and has given its flavour to the olive oil, pour in pureed beans into the pan and add 2 tablespoons of tomato sauce: your beans will be pretty pink! Season with salt and pepper and bring to a simmer. Let cook until beans will be flavoured by olive oil and garlic and tomato will loose its raw taste. You can eat bean soup as it is, or you can boil short pasta in it, rice or spelt (I prefer spelt!). If you have leftover bean soup, fill up plastic bottles (not to their maximum capacity, otherwise they will explode into the freezer) and freeze them. When you’ll feel like bean soup, thaw it and it will be ready to warm you during next autumnal evenings.

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Pasta with rabbit meat saucePasta with rabbit meat saucePasta with rabbit meat saucePasta with rabbit meat sauce

IngredientIngredientIngredientIngredientssss:::: • rabbit, 1/2 • rabbit liver, about 100 gr • carrot, 1 medium • celery, 1 stalk • scallion, 1 • sage, about 10 leaves • rosmary, 1 sprig • extra virgin olive oil • white wine, about 100 ml • salt and pepper • organic lemon • lard

Bone the rabbit. I’m not able to bone anything, but armed with patience, meat scissors and a sharp knife I removed al the meat from the bone. Pay attention not to leave untrustworthy little bones hides into the meat. I obtained about 400 gr of rabbit meat and diced it thinly. Keep the liver entire: if your rabbit is without liver, you can buy it separately. Chop carrot, scallion and celery thinly. Cover the bottom of a non stick pan with extra virgin olive oil and add the chopped vegetables, sage leaves and a sprig of rosemary. Rinse cut rabbit meat and liver under running water and put it into the pan, without draining it completely. You can turn on the fire just now. Season with salt and pepper. After about 25 minutes, when the rabbit meat will be white and almost cooked, add white wine

and let it evaporate, keeping on stirring and trying to crumble liver with a wooden spoon. After 10 more minutes – when the rabbit will be golden and the liver crumbled – the sauce is ready. Cook pasta in a largo pot with boiling salted water, according to packaging instructions. When it is cooked, drain well and season with rabbit sauce. Divide seasoned pasta into serving dishes, slice lard thinly and lay one slice over each dish, so that the heat of the pasta will melt it down. Grate lemon peel over the pasta and eat immediately: it will give a fresh, gentle and unusual hint to the dish. Give it a try!

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Pot roasted rabbitPot roasted rabbitPot roasted rabbitPot roasted rabbit IngredientsIngredientsIngredientsIngredients::::

• rabbit, 1 skinned and reduced into big pieces (ask to the butcher) • rosemary, 1 spring • sage, 5-10 leaves • garlic, 1 clove • extra virgin olive oil • white wine, half glass • salt & pepper to taste

The rabbit must be cut into serving pieces. Soak the pieces into cold water with half lemon. Pour the extra virgin olive oil in a large pan and add a clove of garlic (without peeling it). Remove the rabbit from the water and put it into the pan without draining it. Add sage and rosemary, thinly cut, and season with salt and pepper. Only at this point you can put the pan over the heat. Cook slow and let dry up all the liquid made by the rabbit, make it colour well, turning from time to time. Add a bit of water to finish the cooking if needed. When golden, add the white wine: simmer the white wine vigorously until the liquid has evaporated…. and the rabbit is ready!

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Stuffed zucchiniStuffed zucchiniStuffed zucchiniStuffed zucchini IngredientIngredientIngredientIngredientssss:::: • round zucchini (courgette), 4 • boiled potatoes, 2 medium • stoneless green olives, 2 tablespoons • stoneless black olives, 2 tablespoons • feta cheese, 100gr • egg yolk, 1 • red ripe tomatoes, 2 medium • thyme • garlic, 1 clove • salt&pepper • extra virgin olive oil

Empty 4 round zucchini and sautee the pulp in a non stick frying pan with extra virgin olive oil, a clove of garlic and a spring of thyme. When it gets soft, mash it with boiled potatoes, black and green olives cut into thin rounds, crumbled feta cheese and egg yolk. Season with salt and pepper and stuff the zucchini with the mixture. Put the zucchini in an oven-proof dish and pour some water (or vegetable broth) into it, adding some diced ripe tomatoes. Bake in preheated oven (180°C) for at least 30 minutes or until the zucchini shell is tender. Serve lookwarm and sprinkled with some cooking liquid.

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Pork liverPork liverPork liverPork liver

IngredientsIngredientsIngredientsIngredients:::: • pork liver • pork ‘net’ (*) • Tuscan bread slices • sage • salt&pepper • wild fennel • extra virgin olive oil

Cut pork liver into chunks of the same size, wrap each piece into the fat net and stick them into a skewer, alternating a piece of liver, a leaf of save and a slice of bread. Put the skewers into a large oven-proof dish and season them with salt, pepper and a few drops of extra virgin olive oil. If you like it – I love it, but mum doesn’t – add also wild fennel: it suits perfectly pork meat in general. Bake in preheated oven to 180°C for about 30 minutes, turning them once in a while. You can cook them in a pat as well, but you must cover it, otherwise your kitchen would be full of smoke! P.S. Have a look at my table!P.S. Have a look at my table!P.S. Have a look at my table!P.S. Have a look at my table! yes, that one in the first picture! It used to be my gran granddad working table, where he made bee houses, when we still used to produce honey. Then it became granddad Biagio working table, where every day he used to work and make his arts and crafts masterpieces. Notwithstanding the fact that he was working with glue, wood and iron, he used to wear every day a suite, with a neat shirt and a waistcoat. After my granddad Biagio, it became my dad working table, and it saw hifi systems, bow and arrows. Now it is in a small storeroom, waiting to be restored by dad’s expert and competent hands: it will be my future house kitchen table, as soon as I’ll have my own house! (*) We wrap pork liver pieces into the ratta, also known as net, that is a fat tissue that wraps pork intestines. Here in Tuscany you can find this ‘net’ together with pork liver at butcher’s counter. You wrap pork liver pieces into this fat net so that, while cooking, it will release its fat and make them softer and more tasteful.

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CantucciniCantucciniCantucciniCantuccini (Prato Cookies) (Prato Cookies) (Prato Cookies) (Prato Cookies)

IngredientsIngredientsIngredientsIngredients:::: • Plain flour, 500 gr • Caster sugar, 500 gr • Sweet almonds, 200 gr • Eggs, 4 • Salt

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Toast almonds in a baking-tin in the oven for some minutes or until they are fragrant and golden. Then set aside to cool, peel them and chop them up. Put flour on a flat surface and make a well in the middle, adding sugar, chopped almonds, a pinch of salt and eggs. Work the mixture until you have a smooth and soft dough. Divide the dough into equal parts, form flattened thin loafs, 10 cm wide. Place them on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper and bake them for about 25 minutes, until lightly browned. Remove from oven and set aside to cool for a few minutes. Slice slantwise into 1,5 – 2 cm slices and bake the cookies again, returning to the oven for a while, until they are toasted. Then remove from oven and let cool. Store at room temperature in an airtight tin.

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Buckwheat cake with cBuckwheat cake with cBuckwheat cake with cBuckwheat cake with chocolatehocolatehocolatehocolate Ingredients for the cake:Ingredients for the cake:Ingredients for the cake:Ingredients for the cake:

• plain flour, 100 gr • buckwheat flour, 150 gr • almond flour, 100 gr • finely chopped hazelnuts, 50 gr • eggs, 6 • sugar, 300 gr • baking powder, 1 sachet • melted butter, 100 gr • icing sugar to serve

Ingredients for the chocolate filling:Ingredients for the chocolate filling:Ingredients for the chocolate filling:Ingredients for the chocolate filling:

• plain flour, 2 tablespoons • unsweetened cocoa powder, 3 tablespoons • icing sugar, 2 tablespoons • milk, 330 gr • tonka bean, 1/2 grated

To make the cake, beat well eggs and caster sugar until you have a light and frothy mixture. Add sieved flours, chopped hazelnuts and baking powder and combine all the ingredients. At last, add melted butter and pour into a cake tin (24 cm wide) previously greased and dusted with flour. Bake in preheated oven to 180°C for about 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack. To make chocolate filling, I follow my best friend Laura’s recipe: it is perfect since the first time I made it, almost 10 years ago. I just added grated Tonka bean as recently I’m addicted to it and, after all, it is amazing with chocolate! To cut a long story short, sieve flour, cocoa powder and icing sugar and pour little by little hot milk over the mixture, stirring to avoid lumps. At this point, I added grated Tonka bean, but this filling is delicious even without it, or with vanilla. Put the mixture on low heat and keep on stirring until it is firm, it requires just a few minutes. Choose the sweetness you prefer adding more or less icing sugar: my filling was quite bitter, as the buckwheat cake is sweet on its own. Slice the cake into three layers and spread chocolate filling over two of them, then dust the surface with icing sugar. Et voila’! A very easy and quick cake, with a rustic and peculiar taste, I’ll make it again, and again, and again!

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Grape Grape Grape Grape schiacciataschiacciataschiacciataschiacciata Ingredienti:Ingredienti:Ingredienti:Ingredienti:

• flour tipo 0, 400 gr • brewer’s yeast, 20 gr • a bunch of black grapes for the wine • caster sugar, about 100 gr

First of all, you have to make bread dough for the schiacciata. Sift the flour on a flat surface and make a well in the centre of the flour. Dissolve yeast in a few warm water tablespoons and pour it with 2 – 3 olive oil tablespoons into the well. Start kneading with your hands, adding few tablespoons of water at time, until you have an elastic and not sticky dough. Set aside in a bowl and leave to rise for about one hour. It should double its size. After one hour, knead again the dough with 2 olive oil tablespoons, halve it and flatten a part into a rectangular baking-pan, with high edges, 15 cm wide and 30 cm long. Drizzle half of the grapes on it, press them and sprinkle generously with sugar. Cover with the remaining dough, flattening it and sealing all around the edges. Sprinkle with the remaining grapes and sugar, drizzle with some extra virgin olive oil to grease the surface and set aside to raise again for about one hour. Preheat oven to 180°C and bake the schiacciata for at least 30 minutes, until it is glossy and golden.