Two recipes for an Italian aperitivo
Make a slow-roasted tomato and stracciatella crostone and a beetroot and walnut carpaccio and pair them with a cold rosé for an Italian inspired aperitivo.
As we announced in the previous newsletter, June will be dedicated to Italian recipes paired with the wines of our friends at Querceto di Castellina. We’ve visited their organic agriturismo and winery often during the past years, for candle-lit vineyard dinners, summer lunches, and Thanksgiving parties.
So we’re very honoured and happy to bring you four (well, five, as today I have a couple of interesting recipes for you) Italian recipes in partnership with Querceto di Castellina, paired with their wines.
Let’s start with Furtivo, a Igt Toscana Rosé. This is what they say about their wine:
Light and bright, the subtle color of peach skin, our Furtivo 2020, though ‘sneaky’ in its easy drinkability, has an innocence about it, the aromas have a jubilance that revives childhood memories of endless summers, perfectly ripe strawberries, cherry granitas and iced tea packed with citrus and mint.
The palate is light in body and dry, with invigorating and uplifting acidity. The flavors draw the drinkers thoughts towards dusk, late summer, autumnal fruit that heralds the winter, pink grapefruit, pomegranate and cranberry, refreshing and cleansing.
Drink with dishes rich in color and flavor, dressed with herbs and aromatic spices - beetroot and feta salads with cumin, asparagus with shavings of Parmigiano, salumi dotted with fennel seed and it will pair to perfection with burrata, basil and peaches.
I took them on their word, and these are the two recipes I prepared to pair with Furtivo, for an Italian aperitivo to celebrate the arrival of summer.
If you subscribe to the Querceto newsletter, you will receive a 10% discount on your first online order. You will also be kept in the loop on all of the news and offers coming from Querceto di Castellina.
They also created a special offer for you!
A 6 bottle box with: 1 Igt Toscana Rosé Furtivo 2020, 1 Igt Toscana Bianco Livia 2019, 2 Chianti Classico DOCG L’aura 2018, 2 Chianti Classico DOCG Gran Selezione Sei 2017. The cost is 135€ instead of 150€ (shipping non included) + you will have the chance to enjoy a special 45 minute zoom tasting with Mary and Jacopo from Il Querceto.
Contact Mary at wineorders@querceto.com to purchase this special box, requesting for the Juls’ Kitchen special box.
And now, to the recipes…
Stracciatella and roasted tomatoes crostoni
Milky cheese and slow-roasted tomatoes are a perfect summer match.
When you roast cherry tomatoes in the oven, they gain a sweet, almost caramelized flavour. For these crostoni—crostini’s larger and more generously-topped cousins—spoon the slow-roasted tomatoes on top of some lightly toasted country bread and top it stracciatella, for an appetizer to be enjoyed in the garden along with a cold bottle of rosé wine.
The roasted cherry tomatoes can also be made in advance and stored in the fridge for several days, covered in olive oil.
Read more about stracciatella here. If you cannot find stracciatella, use burrata, shredded fresh mozzarella, or fresh ricotta whipped with some olive oil and salt.
The same ingredients can be used to dress a bowl of linguine.
Serves 4
For the slow-roasted tomatoes
450 grams/1 pound cherry tomatoes
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dried oregano
Freshly ground black pepper
For the crostoni
4 slices country bread
250 grams/1 cup stracciatella
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Fresh herbs to decorate (wild fennel, basil, or oregano)
First, prepare the slow-roasted tomatoes. Preheat the oven to 190°C / 375 degrees F. Wash the tomatoes, place them on a baking sheet, and drizzle generously with extra virgin olive oil. Sprinkle with salt, freshly ground black pepper, and dried oregano.
Roast in the oven for about 30 minutes. Turn off the oven and let them cool down inside. Spoon the tomatoes, with their sauce, into a jar or other airtight container and store in the fridge until ready to use.
Slightly toast the bread slices, then spoon the slow-roasted tomatoes on top of the bread. Use the tomatoes at room temperature. Top with stracciatella, sprinkle some freshly ground black pepper and decorate with fresh herbs. Serve immediately.
Beetroot carpaccio
I’ve never been a beetroot devotee. Well, I wasn’t when the only beetroots I knew would come pre-cooked, packed, from a supermarket. I would agree with Jane Grigson.
It is not an inspiring vegetable, unless you have a medieval passion for highly coloured food. With all that purple juice bleeding out at the tiniest opportunity, a cook may reasonably feel that beetroot has taken over the kitchen and is far too bossy a vegetable. I have neve heard anyone claim it as the favourite. - Jane Grigson, Vegetable Book
When I encountered fresh beetroots, I first fell in love with their green leaves, which I love stir-fried with garlic and olive oil, just like I would do with spinach. Then I started reading and researching, and discovered their humble, rustic charm.
I owe my appreciation for beetroots to Niki Segnit - one of my favourite food writers, and the author of one of the most inspiring food-related books, The Flavour Thesaurus, a must-have for every passionate home cook and aspiring food writer. She showed me the light: the magic lies in the pairings.
An unlikely sort of vegetable: dense, bluntly sweet, needing two hours’ boiling, with more than a hint of the garden shed in its flavour and a habit of bleeding over everything. […] The secret of beetroot’s success is its strange combination of sweetness and earthiness, which sets off ingredients that are predominantly sour, salty, or both, like goats’ cheese. - Niki Segnit, The Flavour Thesaurus
My favourite recipes with beetroots? I either bake them, wrapped in foil, with olive oil and fresh herbs, and then toss the cubed beetroot, still warm, into a salad, or I make a carpaccio. This is my go-to recipe for the summer. I’ve made it often during my cooking classes: it is bright, colourful, unexpected, and you can easily turn this carpaccio into a meal crumbling some goat cheese on top. You see, the magic lies in the pairings.
In this case, beetroots are paired with Aceto Balsamico, Parmigiano Reggiano and walnuts. As for the walnuts, I must quote Niki Segnit again, as this is one of the most brilliant pieces of food writing ever, and a perfect example of how a simile can up your writing game.
Beetroots and walnuts, wrinkly and red-faced as a couple of weather-beaten peasant farmers.
Brilliant. Just brilliant.
Serves 4
2 small fresh beetroots
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon Aceto Balsamico
Fine sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Shaved Parmigiano Reggiano
a handful of walnuts, toasted
Rinse the beetroots to dislodge any earth, then peel them. Slice the raw beetroots with a mandoline into paper-thin slices, then collect them into a bowl.
Dress the beetroots with olive oil, Aceto Balsamico, salt and pepper, then massage them thoroughly to distribute the seasoning. Wearing gloves is a good idea.
Arrange the sliced beetroots on a platter. Scatter the toasted walnuts on top, then finish with shaved Parmigiano Reggiano. Drizzle some more olive oil and set aside to rest for at least 30 minutes, so that all the flavours can mix and mingle.
If you make these recipes, share them via email and send me a picture at juls@julskitchen.com, or on Social Media using the hashtags #myseasonaltable #julskitchen and #lettersfromtuscany, and tag @julskitchen
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Join our virtual cooking classes
We are missing the people we used to meet during our market tours and cooking classes. We had to figure out a new way to share our passion for food, to virtually meet all the food enthusiasts who gave us so much through the years. This is why we launched a virtual Tuscan cooking class on Udemy, an online learning platform.
We’ve been working on new courses and videos. Read more about the courses here on the blog to stay updated.
Virtual cooking courses currently available:
Each course includes:
step-by-step cooking demonstrations,
a PDF with ingredients, tools, and instructions of each recipe,
lifetime access,
free access to upcoming new recipes.