HOTEL-DINO
The typical Florentine and Tuscan kitchen
Tuscan food is simple and abundant. It is based on local production, hot cheeses and grilled meats. The Tuscans are well-known for liking white beans, as we will see in the main courses of the Tuscan kitchen: white cooked beans with olive oil and sage. The Florentine cow beef, diverse ways of roasting or braising game with wine, like wild boar, deer or rabbit and dense and healthy soups make up the dishes of a typical Tuscan meal. Naturally, the house wine, or better, Chianti wine, is a must with the Tuscan meal.
In the heart of the Florentine kitchen, there are four fundamental ingredients: bread (flat, without salt, well baked with a crunchy crust and the inside soft), extra virgin olive oil, and without doubt the best for frying, grilled meat, cow beefsteak made in the Florentine way, roasted or braised game with wine like wild boar, deer and rabbit. Finally, wine.
TYPICAL FLORENTINE DISHES
Antipasti – hors-d’oeurvre
Affettati misti - Mixed sliced hams and various types of salami – This is one of the most traditional dishes served in the Florentine restaurants. The mixed sliced hams and salami are presented in a circle on a serving platter decorated with crunchy and tasty lettuce leaves. They are often served with thin slices of bread served in a basket. The best wine to drink with these mixed hams and salami is a young Chianti which is light, like the wine from the “Florentine Hills”.
Pinzimonio - Pinsimonio is an excellent hors-d’oeurvre that can vary according to the season and to the availability of the vegetables. The success of this simple and tasty dish dipends on two fundamental elements: fresh and young ingredients and above all, super olive oil that comes from the Tuscan hills. The raw vegetables are served along with a quite smail bowl containing oil, salt and pepper within which the raw vegetables are dipped.
Crostini di fegato - Thin slices of toasted bread covered with a sauce composed of rabbit liver, capers, anchovies, cut-up sage leaves and butter. Originally, this sauce was called peverada and it was made using saffron that grew in great quantities in the countryside surrounding the city.
Tonno e fagioli - White beans boiled in salted water with garlic and sage are served with tuna and bathed with olive oil. This dish is great as an hors-d’oeuvre or as a main course after a spaghetti or penne dish. This dish is also served at lunch. The best way to serve this dish is to accompany it with crunchy and mixed grains bread.
Fettunta - This dish is usually associated with the month of November because the olives are harvested and pressed. Oil has just been pressed and it is very special. Obviously, it is a dish eaten throughout the entire year; however, during the rest of the year one cannot taste the pungent flavor of the olive oil just crushed and pressed. In the summer, you can add another ingredient: tomatoes, fresh, cut-up tomatoes. In the winter this dish is the base of a traditional soup known as “zuppa lombarda".
Baccelli e pecorino - This is a simple salad of beans and cubes of soft and young pecorino cheese bathed with olive oil, salt and pepper. This can be an excellent second or main course especially if you have already eaten a substantial hors-d’oeurvre or first course.
Typical Florentine dishes
First Courses
Ravioli nudi (Gli gnudi) - The ravioli are filled or stuffed with spinach, ricotta, eggs,grated parmigiano cheese, flour and a bit of noce moscata. The best sauces for this dish are tomato sauce, or sage and butter, or meat sauce made from the Florentine beefsteak. This type of ravioli is known as Florentine gnudi , which is a variation in dialect of the renaissance term ignudi.
Zuppa di cipolle - Toasted slices of Tuscan bread dropped into a hot onion soup along with Groviera or Fontina grated or sliced cheese and then placed into the oven and baked until the cheese melts and becomes light brown and crispy.
Pappa al pomodoro - The precursor to this dish was called panunto o pancotto and did not contain any type of vegetable. In fact, the original recipe did not call for tomatoes because this recipe was created much earlier than the discovery of America and the arrival of tomatoes in Europe. The ingredients were simply bread, oil, garlic and salt. This flavorful and soft mix was often used for weaning little children. The soup should be served tepid with olive oil sprayed on top.
Pasta e fagioli - Dried cannelloni beans are boiled in water for two hours on a low flame. Then they are cooked with some pasta lightly over-cooked, a bit of pepper and red chili pepper and tomatoes. This is a hot meal for the cold winter days.
Ribollita - This bread soup is a typical Toscana dish. It is surely the dish that one associates the most to Florence. It is a classic vegetable soup of cabbage and white beans that gain body and substance from the addition of Tuscan bread (which bread must be a day old). So that the ribollita is authentic, it must contain the cabbage that has black leaves, almost purple-green leaves, which cabbage has a distinct bitter characteristic.
Panzanella - The success of this extremely simple dish depends on two things: the bread must contain no salt and must be old bread (at least one or two days old) and the rest of the ingredients must be fresh and of high quality. The many variations of this dish depend on the vegetables that are added. Choose the wine to accompany the Panzanella with lots of care, because vinegar will influence the flavor of the Panzanella.. In the past, the Panzanella was accompanied with a light watery wine called vinello o acquarell. This type of wine was made restiring the grapes that remained after the first crushing. A light and young red wine is indicated.
Typical Florentine Dishes
Second courses
Bistecca alla fiorentina - A Beefsteak in Florence means a piece of meat, cow meat, with the bone and grilled (over the fire) on embers, cooked very rare. For a Florentine a well-done beefsteak is not only bad, it is a real heresy. The interior part must be soft and juicy while the external part must be beautifully grilled. The height of the Florentine beefsteak must be approximately five centimeters, and it must be soft and of the highest quality.
Trippa alla fiorentna - Bartolomeo Sacchi obtained this recipe from Master Martino, “a second dish of tripe… once cooked and served, and then covered well with spices. Some add grated cheese”. The tripe goes well with boiled or mashed potatoes or, if one prefers, with cannelloni beans bathed in olive oil.
Typical Florentine Dishes
Dessert
Schiacciata all'uva - Grapes covered with sugar, placed between two layers of pasta-bread and sprayed with hot oil. On top, one usually put some rosemary, o “ramerino” as it is called in Florence.
Schiacciata alla fiorentina - This light cake is traditionally made during the time of Carnival in February. It is covered with powdered sugar and in the middle of the cake there is a design or drawing. By placing a cardboard cutout form on top in the middle of the cake before covering the cake with powdered sugar, the powdered sugar will cover the rest of the cake and leave the design visible. I you are lovers of sweets, you can cut the cake in two and fill it with whipped cream or with frosting, or with chocolate cream or with any other ingredient that will provoke a filling!.
Castagnaccio - For many centuries chestnuts have been part of the diet of the inhabitants of the mountain and hill zones, of the poorer class, especially due to the characteristic of being an economic fruit while also being very energetic. The Florentine version of castagnaccio is also known as migliaccio in some areas of Tuscany.
Cenci - Cenci are made of fried pasta covered with powdered sugar like the schiacciata alla Florentina. They both are traditional during the period of Carnival. They are typical in the northern and central zones of Italy and they have different names according to the various regions. In Bologna, for example, they are called frappole and in Milan, they are called chiacciere.
Frittelle di riso - In Florence these flavorful little “sweets” are made for the March 19th. This is a tradition that began in the 1800’s. This day is the holiday celebrating San Giuseppe (St. Joseph), that is, Father’s Day. They are excellent along with a good Vin Santo.