Let's cook together three recipes for an Italian Aperitivo
Meet me on Sunday for our exclusive subscribers-only March Cook Along. I bring the food, you bring the drinks!
Welcome Spring!
In October, Livia and I spent a morning sowing fava beans and sugar snap peas in two bunk beds in the garden. We put our hopes in those little seeds and covered them with soil. We shared the same destiny: we had to face a long winter.
Imagine the surprise when we spotted the first seedlings, sprouting from the frosty soil. And look at them now: tall and proud, the first tangible sign of Spring. We all made it through winter.
I’m not a gardener, and I am sad to admit that, at the moment, I do not have enough time and energy to grow my own vegetables, even though the few moments I spend with my hands in the soil are pure bliss.
The growing fava beans and sugar snap peas gave me a new hope and purpose, though. And here on Substack
, , and are a great inspiration, too.So next on the list are radishes and dahlias: today, as soon as Livia is back from pre-school, I’ll welcome her with her yellow boots and a green trowel to begin a new adventure. A sachet of tiny seeds, a handful of tubers, simple gestures, and lots of hope. I’ll keep you posted!
Before jumping to the March Cook Along, three things:
Last year I had the pleasure to meet Julius Fiedler, known as @hermann on Instagram, to introduce him to the Tuscan cucina povera. We went to Volterra where we had chickpea flour cake and panzanella, we drank an orzo at the local café, then we moved to our studio where I cooked pappa al pomodoro and castagnaccio. You can watch here the video he filmed while in Tuscany for Slow Food International and Meatless Monday.
I had to postpone our Italian Cookbook Club, so Oliva Cavalli’s Stagioni: Modern Italian cookery to capture the seasons, published by Pavilion Books, will be our April pick.
You can find the first pick of our Cookbook Club here, Viola Buitoni’s Italy by Ingredient. Watch the replay of our conversation here.
March Cook Along: an Italian Aperitivo
We will meet SUNDAY, March 24th at 8.00 pm CET - 3.00 pm EST - 12.00 pm PST
We will be making together three easy recipes for an Italian aperitivo that rely on pantry staples: a chickpea flour cake—the typical street food from the Tuscan coast—with spring onions, for a sweeter note, a punchy tomato sauce with capers, anchovies, and bay leaves—to use as a spread on bread or as a dip for vegetables—, and a tray of mini muffins studded with the ingredients of a Tuscan Spring picnic: fava beans, salami, and pecorino.
We will recreate together an Italian Aperitivo. I’ll share all my tips on how to make a perfect chickpea cake even in a domestic oven, and you’ll be able to add three more recipes to your Italian cooking repertoire. I make the food, you bring the drinks!
We moved our Cook Along to Zoom, so a recording of the class will be available for all paid subscribers after the event, and it will be easier to attend the Cook Along even if you live Down Under.
This is an event designed for those who subscribed to Letters from Tuscany: we’re slowly building friendships and shared memories and having lots of fun!
PLEASE LET ME KNOW IN THE COMMENTS IF YOU WILL BE THERE, SO I’LL BE WAITING FOR YOU!
At the end of the Cook Along we’ll decide together the theme for the next cook along, so don’t miss it! Also, use the comments for any questions regarding ingredients, tools, and methods before our Cook Along.
(If you are a paid subscriber, you can find the recipes, the ingredient lists, the Cook-Along Working Sheet, and the link to join the Cook Along and Live Talk behind the paywall.)
More recipes for an Italian Aperitivo
If we had time, I would have loved to make more recipes together, but here you can find some other ideas for an Italian aperitivo from the newsletter archive. Just let me know if you have any questions on ingredients and method, should you make them!
