Tuscany: eat with passion

Pici are thich handmade pasta, similar to strozzapreti (that you can find in Tuscany's bordering region Emilia Romagna). They are prepared following an ancient recipe that belongs to the territory of Siena, made with poor and simple ingredients. You just need flour and water, then you have to shape them like fat, long spaghetti. It's funny and easy, so you prepare them by yourself, boiled in hot water with a pinch of salt, and taste them with tomato sauce with garlic, wild boar sauce or with cheese and pepper, also called Pici cacio e pepe: dress your pasta with a tasty cream made of melted pecorino cheese together with ground black pepper, which gives a spicy flavour to the pasta. 

The Tuscan T-bone steak needs an entire chapter. Vegetarians wouldn't approve, but tasting a thick bistecca - well browned on the outside but barely cooked inside - means experiencing an important part of the Tuscan cooking culture. This steak is taken from the loin of the Chianina young steer (a specific vitellone) and has a “T” shaped bone with the fillet on one side and the sirloin on the other.

Ciaccini is a sort of crunchy bread served with salt as a starter or antipasto. Ciaccini are crust topped and are prepared with a few ingredients. The recipe is very easy and they are extremely good with cheese and cold cuts.

In Tuscany there's a lot of other dishes you should taste, such as crostini, lamb cutlets and steak slices with arugula and grana shavings in Italian tagliata. But there's much for vegetarians, too, like uccelletto beans and pappa al pomodoro. Tuscany's cuisine is so varied that an entire life wouldn't be enough to taste everything. So, start as soon as you can!

This guest post was written by Federica Piersimoni.