On Sunday, we cooked together three recipes for an Italian Aperitivo:
Torta di ceci from Livorno, chickpea flour cake, with spring onions, a traditional street food from the Tuscan coast, naturally gluten free and vegan (paywalled);
a punchy sweet and sour tomato sauce with capers and anchovies from Garfagnana, to slather on bread or serve as a dip with raw vegetables (paywalled);
fava bean, pecorino and salami muffins, basically the staple ingredients of a Tuscan picnic studded in a muffin (open for everyone, make them for Easter!).
If the initial idea was to give you three recipes for an Italian aperitivo, something to make with ingredients you already have in your pantry (or if you don’t have them, you should definitely think about stocking your pantry with them!), I realized these three recipes are also great for the traditional Easter Monday picnic, as you can make them in advance and stash them in your basket.
Speaking of Easter Monday, read Domenica Marchetti’s latest post about Gite Fuori Porta, the tradition of the Easter Monday in Italy.
[MARK YOUR CALENDAR] The Next Cook Alongs will be:
Sunday, APRIL 21st at 9.00 pm CET - 3.00 pm EST - 12.00 pm PST
Sunday, MAY 19th at 9.00 pm CET - 3.00 pm EST - 12.00 pm PST
Sunday, JUNE 23rd at 9.00 pm CET - 3.00 pm EST - 12.00 pm PST
If you are new to Letters from Tuscany, our monthly cook-along is a very informal, fun, chatty moment when we cook together a recipe from scratch, but you can join just to have a chat, ask questions, share stories, or simply watch while having a good cup of tea (or wine, according to which time zone you are in!)
If you fancy the idea of learning new recipes every month to add to your cooking repertoire and build your confidence in the kitchen, give yourself and your loved ones a year brimming with joy and good food.
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And here you can find the recipes from the Cook Along:
A recipe for a Spring picnic: muffins with fava beans, salami, and pecorino
Fresh fava beans in their pods are the perfect picnic food, as they come with their natural packaging. You can simply shell and eat them as they are, or accompany them with a pinch of salt. In Spring, especially during the Easter Monday or May Day picnics, the fresh fava beans are usually enjoyed along with a thick slice of pecorino cheese: I prefer it f…
A punchy tomato sauce for your aperitivo
Just outside the town walls and near Castelnuovo di Garfagnana’s cathedral, you can find a quaint osteria, Il Vecchio Mulino. Part bar, part enoteca, and a bit of an old-fashioned food shop, this osteria doesn’t offer cooked dishes, but instead, an array of excellent products exemplifying the true food and wine traditions of Garfagnana.
A street food from the Tuscan coast
Livornese people would call this not just una torta (a cake) but la torta (the cake), as for them it’s unequaled. And don’t call it cecina, a dish that, though equal in shape, ingredients, cooking, and flavor, comes from Pisa. If you prefer, go ahead and call it
