Flavor of Tuscany

Flavor of Tuscany Deluxe, small group, food focused tours in Italy. Live like a local and bring "la dolce vita" back t

You might have dreamed of being serenaded while floating down the canals in Venice, making a wish at the Trevi fountain, or taking in the beautiful panorama at the Cinque Terre. But, you might only get one chance to visit Italy in your lifetime. Let us help you make the experience as unique and enjoyable as you've imagined. We are a small team who have been fortunate (or, spoiled, rather) enough t

o live in Tuscany for the past several years. We've learned which places are great but only warrant half an afternoon (Leaning Tower) and which places deserve more than a cursory glance between tour bus stops (Siena). We've learned that the Uffizi is great, if you like art, but if you're not into it, then skip it, and that if you're looking for a handmade leather bag, the Florence markets are the worst place to go. We know where the best seafood, steak, pizza, pasta, and kid-friendly restaurants are. And if you're looking for romance on a budget, we've got you covered there too. Flavor of Tuscany is absolutely dedicated to making your trip to Italy a delight for all of your senses, starting with your tastebuds.

Sometimes you gotta change your perspective. 🇮🇹
14/01/2023

Sometimes you gotta change your perspective.

🇮🇹

This was one of my first photos that I took when I first moved to Viareggio. Being late April it was the perfect tempera...
08/01/2022

This was one of my first photos that I took when I first moved to Viareggio. Being late April it was the perfect temperature for a beach BBQ and Alessio and I, with some friends, took their boat to a small island just off the shore to enjoy an afternoon in the sun. I was literally fresh off the boat, didn’t understand hardly a word of Italian, understand or appreciate the culture, and I was a bit overwhelmed and terrified at the same time. Leaving the harbour you’ll see two different phrases writtten on the walls, one says “Viareggio, in you I was born, in you I hope to die”, and the other ways “Viareggio is a carnival”. This is the latter.

We went for a walk and lunch in Lucca today. After the last two years of lockdowns, pregnancy, newborn, Covid scares, ma...
02/01/2022

We went for a walk and lunch in Lucca today. After the last two years of lockdowns, pregnancy, newborn, Covid scares, masks, vaccines, and regular day to day busyness it was so refreshing to do something we used to do in a whim before.

If you’re feeling down; look up! 👀
31/03/2021

If you’re feeling down; look up! 👀

Ever had fennel? It’s low in calories and a good source of fiber and has a crunchy slightly licorice taste when raw. But...
11/02/2021

Ever had fennel?

It’s low in calories and a good source of fiber and has a crunchy slightly licorice taste when raw. But don’t worry if you don’t like the taste of licorice, we’re going to cook that right out. 😀

I picked up a case of fennel at the grocery store the other week because they were on sale and I knew that Ada liked them. She takes every chance she can to let me know that my cooking isn’t as good as Alessio’s mom so I wanted to wow her with my fennel skills.

Much to her chagrin this quick and delicious side dish was taught to me BY Alessio’s mom so I figured I couldn’t go wrong.

We paired this with grilled pork steaks for dinner and then had leftovers the next day with a little bit of chicken. It goes well with everything - even on its own!

If you’ve seen fennel at the grocery store but keep passing it by I urge you to give them a shot. They’re tasty (even raw) and it never hurts to get more veggies in your diet, right?

Here’s what you’ll need:

- fennel bulbs (I had 3)
- 3 tbsp EVOO
- 25 grams grated parmigiano (you can add more too if you want)
- 200 ml of milk
- 10g of corn starch
- pinch of salt
- couple dashes of pepper
- couple dashes of nutmeg

1. Cut the tops off the fennel bulbs and slice off the bottom part about half an inch up
2. Slice the fennel like you would an onion (check the pics!)
3. Take out a pan and put in the the 3 TBSP of EVOO and turn the heat on low.
4. Add in the fennel, a pinch of salt, and a couple dashes each of pepper and nutmeg then mix it all together.
5. Cool the fennel for a few minutes until it starts to soften up.
6. Once the fennel has softened (you want it to end up like caramelized onions) measure out 150ml of the milk and add that to the pan and stir.
7. Cover the pan and let cook on low heat, stirring occasionally for about 5 minutes.
8. If after 5 minutes you still want to let the fennel soften it’s ok to let it keep cooking, if, on the other hand it’s ok - take the remaining 50ml of milk and add the corn starch directly to it, mix to combine, then add to the fennel in the pan.
9. Cook for another 3-4 minutes until the sauce thickens up, stir occasionally.
10. Once everything is done, sprinkle the parmigiano on top, mix, and serve!

Did I mention that fennel is linked to several health benefits like digestion and regularity, heart health, bone health, and blood pressure. Come on! What are you waiting for? 😋😋

11/02/2021

Adding milk to your veggies?? What?!!

New recipe coming up in a couple hours! Check back in if you’re looking for something tonight!

09/02/2021

This was our first course tonight. We had one of Alessio’s old co-workers over (who is now a good friend) as he was in Tuscany for work.

I’m not here to talk about the linguine with polpa di ricci (linguine with sea urchin sauce) though (which was delicious btw).

I want to share what happens when someone makes pasta in a huge pan with no eye for portion sizes. 😂😂

“Do you think 500g will be enough?”

“How many of us are there?”

“4”

“Yah - I think so.”

“Maybe I’ll make a bit more just to be on the safe side...”

Everyone: “nooooooooooo!!!!!!” 😂

If you listen closely you’ll hear two different accents and also a little light blasphemy near the end.

Benvenuti al “sud”!

Calamari ripieni / Stuffed Calamari - the final product! 🦑🇮🇹🦑🇮🇹🦑🇮🇹These are pretty much a staple any time we have people...
09/02/2021

Calamari ripieni / Stuffed Calamari - the final product! 🦑🇮🇹🦑🇮🇹🦑🇮🇹

These are pretty much a staple any time we have people over for seafood dinner, they’re easy to make, delicious, and delicious. 😉

You can make them easily but, ok, I’m being super transparent here, I bought them pre-made from a nearby fish shop as I didn’t have time and then prepared them at home.

I don’t always have time or la voglia (the desire) to make things from scratch and this is one of those times when I can totally trust that the already-made dish I’m buying will be sure to impress.

Do you do that too? Or am I alone here? 😅

09/02/2021

Who’s making dinner tonight already? We are! 🇮🇹

Calamari ripieni / stuffed calamari with linguine con polpa da ricci / linguine with sea urchin sauce.

Want to see the full recipe? Let me know in the comments! 🌊🐙🦑

I saw a recipe the other day on a well known food blog where they added in wine and tomato sauce all together WITH raw s...
28/10/2020

I saw a recipe the other day on a well known food blog where they added in wine and tomato sauce all together WITH raw spaghetti as a “one pot dish” and after recovering from my initial shock, remembered that I had promised to share with you all a ragù recipe.

Want to make a super simple fail proof ragù? One that we actually eat over here?

Here’s the exact recipe that we follow to make delicious lasagna, baked pasta, spaghetti, and any other dish needing a meat sauce.

You’re going to need:
- diced small onion, celery, and carrot (nothing crazy, even a few TBSP of each is ok) 🥕🧅
- extra virgin olive oil (few TBSP)
- ground beef 🐮
- ground pork 🐷
- red wine (optional but recommended - I use about 250ml but you’re looking for enough to basically almost cover the meat)🍷
- tomato sauce (one jar of about 750ml)🥫
- salt
- k**b of butter (optional)

First a word about quantities since you probably notice I didn’t put any.

When we buy ground beef here it comes in the usual package sizes by weight usually hovering around a kg (about 2 lbs). I will buy one or two packages depending on how much ragù I am making. For the ground pork - you don’t need a 1:1 ratio. Just a little bit - maybe the amount you’d expect from 4-5 sausages. We have smaller packages here of a few hundred grams and I’ll get one or two of those depending on how much I’m making. Note that the ground beef is usually labeled as being for ragù because the fat content is higher, but this is entirely up to you. You can use lean ground beef if you like.

For everything else - the wine, the tomato sauce, etc you’ll adjust up or down depending on how thick you want your sauce or how much wine you might want to use.

Everything is done in stages so you can’t go wrong. Even if you add in a whole bottle of wine because that’s how you roll, you needn’t worry about how this will affect the taste because you’re going to boil it down until all the alcohol has evaporated and you’re left with tender, delicious (kinda since I wouldn’t really eat the ragù at this point without the tomato sauce). So feel free to add in just a glass, or an entire bottle if you prefer. The main difference will be in the amount of time you need to wait before moving on.

Also - note that I don’t have any herbs or spices in here either. This isn’t a mistake. Everyone has their own recipe for ragù and I’m sure people in Bologna are already shaking their heads at what I’m sharing with you, but if you look up “ragù di carne” in Google and check the first page of results I’d be willing to bet that all of them only have salt and maybe pepper as the only “spices” in their recipe.

That being said, I have talked to chefs before who have their own secret fresh herb blends that they put together in their ragù - often handpicked and tied together then removed later - but this is not the norm.

Fundamentally Italian cooking is simple and doesn’t have a lot of herbs and spices and mixtures of weird ingredients and cooking methods to prepare your favorite dish. Nine times out of ten it’s just a few ingredients, cooked simply, that will knock your socks off. The difference is that the ingredients are high quality and in season.

So, now that I’ve given my brief digression - let’s move into how to make this super simple fail proof ragù!

1. Get out a large pot and add enough olive oil to lightly cover the bottom. This is usually about 2-3 TBSP. Turn the heat in low-medium.
2. Add in the diced onion, carrot, and celery. This is your “soffritto” and serves to add flavor to the sauce. You don’t need to add in huge quantities. When we make ragù we usually add in about a 1/3C and that’s that. I’m not sure about where you’re from - but here I can buy it in the frozen food aisle in small boxes already diced and this is very convenient. Otherwise - depending on your knife skills - you could quickly dice a half a small onion, a small carrot and one celery stalk together, or add them to a food processor for a quick chop and that’s good.
3. Cook the soffritto and stir occasionally to ensure you’re not burning anything, checking for the onions to be translucent.
4. Turn up the heat to medium. Add in the ground beef and pork. Stir and break up into chunks if you need to. This is where you can add in a k**b of butter if you like. I haven’t decided yet whether this makes a huge difference to the overall product or not, but I like butter so I usually add in a little. Keep cooking until all if the juices have evaporated and you’re almost left with a dry pot.
5. Add in the wine and cook until you’re left with an almost dry pot. You can add in just a glass, or add in enough to almost cover the meat. We can buy small cartons of cooking wine here and I will usually use one if I’m using jus tone package of ground beef or two if I’m making more.
6. Add in the tomato sauce and slightly lower the heat as you’ll be simmering now. This is the last step and the time needed will depend on how thick you want your sauce.

If you’re making lasagna - keep the sauce a bit “wetter” as you’ll need the sauce to have some liquid to it to cook your lasagna sfoglie (lasagna pasta “noodles”).

If you’re making spaghetti - make this as thick as you like!

7. Once you’ve gotten your sauce to about the thickness that you like - adjust the salt to your preference and you’re done.

Seriously - that’s it!

Let me know how this works out for you and if you have any questions - just ask!

Buon appetito! 🍝

Quick poll - for a 6 person lunch do you think 2 8-portion lasagne, 1 8-portion artichoke lasagna, 2 pans of melanzane a...
19/10/2020

Quick poll - for a 6 person lunch do you think 2 8-portion lasagne, 1 8-portion artichoke lasagna, 2 pans of melanzane alla parmigiana, and friselle with tomatoes is enough?

Answer - JUST BARELY! 😂😂

Interested in any of the recipes here? Let me know which and I’ll post them ASAP.🇮🇹❤️🇮🇹❤️

Assaggi (little tastes) of life in Italy #1🇨🇦 “I’m going grocery shopping do we need anything in particular?”🇮🇹 “Get pa...
15/10/2020

Assaggi (little tastes) of life in Italy #1

🇨🇦 “I’m going grocery shopping do we need anything in particular?”

🇮🇹 “Get pasta, we’re out.”

😂😂

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You might have dreamed of being serenaded while floating down the canals in Venice, making a wish at the Trevi fountain, or taking in the beautiful panorama at the Cinque Terre. But, you might only get one chance to visit Italy in your lifetime. Let us help you make the experience as unique and enjoyable as you've imagined. We are a small team who have been fortunate (or, spoiled, rather) enough to live in Tuscany for the past several years. We've learned which places are great but only warrant half an afternoon (Leaning Tower) and which places deserve more than a cursory glance between tour bus stops (Siena). We've learned that the Uffizi is great, if you like art, but if you're not into it, then skip it, and that if you're looking for a handmade leather bag, the Florence markets are the worst place to go. We know where the best seafood, steak, pizza, pasta, and kid-friendly restaurants are. And if you're looking for romance on a budget, we've got you covered there too. Flavor of Tuscany is absolutely dedicated to making your trip to Italy a delight for all of your senses, starting with your tastebuds.