Tuscany tastes - includes recipes

Prepared Foods, Oct, 1996 by Nancy McCue

Ethnic foods in American restaurants have become more regional and more distinct. For example, in the Italian foods category, sub-ethnic cuisines such as Tuscan, Sicilian, Milanese, and Neapolitan are making headway in establishing themselves on menus, according to our sister publication, Restaurants & Institutions (R&I).

But what is Tuscan food?

The region of Tuscany stretches across central Italy from the Apennines Mountains to the Mediterranean Sea.

Wine, bread, olive oil, rosemary, and beans comprise characteristic elements of Tuscan cooking.

The Tuscan kitchen houses many herbs and spices, including rosemary, sage, parsley, bay leaves, tarragon, and neputa (for adding a musky depth). Tarragon also flavors many dishes.

Commonly used fruits and vegetables include artichokes, Brussels sprouts, broccoli raab, zucchini, fennel, olives, blood oranges, grapes, and porcini mushrooms--and anything that can be grown in a rocky turf.

Favored legumes would be cannellini, borlotti, fava, and garbonzo beans.

In terms of meat and poultry, rabbit, boar, veal, lamb, pork, game birds, pheasant, and chicken are key.

Seafood selections include monk-fish, mullet, mussels, clams, octopus, halibut, and trout.

"Tuscan cooking is very localized," says Umberto Menghi, author of The Flavors of Tuscany and owner of several Tuscan restaurants and cooking schools. The core of Tuscan cooking is simplicity and freshness, he says. People in Tuscany shop for food twice a day (lunch and dinner).

Soups are a staple. They are often served with 3- or 4-day-old bread.

Grilled vegetables, such as eggplant, zucchini, fresh fennel, yellow and red peppers are popular.

Other popular menu items: Steak, Florentine style, or a large porterhouse, grilled, with fresh lemon, and served with arugula salad. Wild boar is a national dish, flavored with sage and rosemary, and is served with onion and Chianti wine.

Potatoes are often cubed, roasted with garlic clove, sage and rosemary, and cooked in olive oil until they become dark with a crunchy skin.

A typical Tuscan dessert could be a cherry fruit tart. "Desserts are very herbal," Menghi says.

POLLA ALLA TOSCANA

(Tuscan chicken) Corporate Executive Chef Joel Pinkwas, Vinny Testa's, Newton, Mass.

Whole chickens, 2-3 lbs. each         10
Garlic, chopped                       1/2 cup
Fresh rosemary, chopped               1/4 cup
Olive oil                             3 cups
Kosher salt, black pepper             to taste
All-purpose flour                     as needed
Cornstarch                            as needed
Vegetable oil                         as needed
Tuscan white beans                    1-1/2 gal.
Fresh herbs, chopped                  garnish