Tuscany Interview: Stefania Fiorentini
Introduction
Can you tell us a bit about yourself? What town and region in Italy are you from?
Hello! We were born in a small town in Tuscany, Suvereto. We lived there until the age of 31, then we moved to Piombino, not a big city, but quite larger than Suvereto.
Regional Cuisine
What do the locals eat in your region? Are there specific dishes your region or town is known for?
Tuscan cuisine has a great variety of choices, every province and sometimes the comuni (towns), have their own traditional recipes. We guess Cacciucco (with 5 Cs) is the most representative of our area (province of Livorno). We can't talk about taste, because we don't eat seafood, but our family and friends love it, you'll have to trust them. Our favourite is tortelli maremmani with a rich, oily ragù.
Tortelli is a Tuscan name for Ravioli. The tortelli are filled with spinach and ricotta and served with a good Tuscan meat ragu.
Are there unique or traditional ingredients used in your region's cuisine that are not commonly found in other regions? We're not sure, but we use a particular herb called Nepitella… we used to look for it during our walks in the woods (macchia) with our Nonna when we were a child. It's used mainly to cook snails, but we love it with meat and even in the tortelli filling.
Italy is known for producing beautiful seasonal produce. How does the cuisine of your region change with the seasons? Can you give us examples of what's eaten in Spring and summer vs autumn and winter? What do you look forward to most?
During the winter it's easy to find the zuppa, a vegetable soup enriched with toasted bread, (garlic bread, if you are sure you're not kissing anyone) and raw onion, wild boar is also common, served as a second dish or on top of a slice or two of hot polenta.
Summer is easier, pasta salads are an easy solution for us, whatever is left in the fridge is good as dressing… mozzarella, eggs, sausage, salame, vegetables, tuna, wurstel… and the Pane Fregato con il Pomodoro… the simplest yet good thing you can taste during summer. Add a pinch of salt, a lot of olive oil and a leaf of fresh basil. It's good for the main meals or for a break, on the beach, at a party.
For someone visiting your region for the first time, what dishes or food experiences would you recommend they try?
No hesitation… charcuterie. Every kind of cold cuts you can put your hands on… pork, wild boar, cinta senese… everything!!
Oh… and cheese, don't forget the pecorino!
Daily Life and Eating Habits
Can you share what you eat on a typical day? Breakfast is mainly a coffee or a cappuccino with a croissant or, as for us, a mini sandwich or anything savoury, then we try to alternate a dish of pasta and a second course… if we eat pasta for lunch, we will have meat or cold cuts for dinner. We seldom treat ourselves with an aperitivo, but when we do, we do it as professionals focaccia (in Tuscany we call it schiaccia), plain or stuffed, pizzette, cold cuts, zuppa, pasta salad… most of time the aperitivo turns into a proper dinner.
If we don't skip it because of a rich aperitivo, we usually eat dinner around 8pm.
How often do you eat out?
More often during summer, but we'd say less than once a week. We love cooking, so we enjoy our kitchen when we can.
If you had to choose, what would be your solid meal from start to finish?
Starting with a selection of seasonal crudités, cold cuts, and some giardiniera, tortelli maremmani, roasted chicken breast with potatoes, crema di mascarpone with chocolate chips and cookies and an espresso macchiato freddo.
Family and Traditions
Can you share any fond memories or traditions related to food from your childhood or growing up? We have many… our Nonna cooking a sunday lunch for us all in her little kitchen, with her immaculate apron, trying to preserve the fried artichokes from being stolen, jokingly threatening us with a wooden spoon, the smell of ragù, “don't eat that bread, you'll spoil your stomach!”, “Eat some bread with that meat, you'll never be full otherwise!”
But the one that has a special place in our heart is Le Bracioline a Strisce… we're 48 and we still do it sometimes…once our brother and we refused to eat the slices of meat our Nonna cooked for us, so she cut them in strips and re-served them to us,saying that it was a speciality called Bracioline a strisce. No doubt we ate them, savagely swearing they were the best she had ever cooked. No braciola was eaten if not striped since that day.
What does Pranzo della Domenica (Sunday lunch) look like in your home?What dishes are typically served, and what time does it start and end?
Il pranzo della domenica is the no rule meal of the week, we usually start with some cheese and a glass of prosecco. We then have a Primo, which can be lasagne or cannelloni or pasta all'uovo with a classic ragù, some roasted meat with potatoes or salad and then, hopefully, ice cream… if it's not ice cream it might be one of our mum's infamous cakes… she doesn't use butter and almost no sugar… so her cakes are as hard as iron and flavour free…hence hopefully ice cream.
Times of start and end depend a lot on our job, but once we are seated, it can last a whole afternoon.
Festive Meals
What dishes or desserts are eaten during Christmas time in your region? We're not aware of any particular dish, but we're rich in desserts…we have Ricciarelli, Cantucci, Stinchi di morto, our beloved panforte.
We'd love to know all about your Christmas Day traditions—what does the meal include, and how is the day celebrated? We usually reach our mum mid-morning to help her set the table and do some cleaning. When all the guests have arrived, we exchange gifts, which is a messy 15 minutes where you shout “thank you!” a lot and try to put your gifts in a safe place. Then we have lunch with usually a starter, two first courses, a lot of roasted meat, 4 or 5 sides, some fruit, lots of Christmas desserts and cakes, some nuts and dried fruits and a coffee.
We like to leave the table set, we take some time to wash the dishes, but we leave the glasses, the fruits and the desserts there, so, while we talk, joke, tell stories, we can go on “snacking” and drinking all afternoon.
Our family strongly believe that “FOOD HAS NO CALORIES ON CHRISTMAS DAY
A Recipe to Remember
Our favourite winter snack, once again linked to our Nonna… she cut an orange (organic), Tarocco are the best, in slices, put it onto a plate, sprinkle it with sugar (the more the juicier) and some olive oil.
It's so simple it sounds stupid, we know, but once you try it you will totally agree
