A friend told us about this almost ninety-year-old gentleman who made beautiful copper pots in his old-fashioned workshop near Pistoia, then life, by chance, put us in contact with his grandson, and here begins our story. First we met Francesco on line, then in his family shop, Bottega Donnini, in…
When our friends decide to take the country road to join us for dinner, my goal is to put together dishes, seasonality and personal preferences in a menu that makes everyone happy, that makes them feel welcomed and satisfied. I also try to leave room for something sweet, for a…
There is a very short time of the year when eggplants, still firm and purple, thrive in the garden and on the market stalls with the orange squashes. They are not only complementary in colour but also, and above all, in flavour. The smell of butternut squash baking in the oven is close to that of a cup…
Garlic is the peasant’s spice cupboard. Spices were essential to sophisticated cuisine from the middle ages until at least the seventeenth century. But the rural masses couldn’t afford them. Garlic, leek and onion, by contrast, stank of poverty. Which is not to imply the well-to-do refused to eat these pungent vegetables…
Up until last year, I would have waited anxiously for March to come around, the first of the glorious months for me, the spring revival. I would have chosen, without even thinking, lighter clothes, defying the cold mornings still covered in mist, just for the satisfaction of wearing something frilly and more…
I found myself making Christmas resolutions. No one has ever heard of somebody who is already thinking about the New Year so far in advance, but the lights, the branches of red berries and the joyous atmosphere got me thinking. Usually, when the New Year arrives, I sit quietly in…
I assumed that I would have loved lampredotto. I've always been pretty adventurous in eating: I can not say I tasted insects, snakes or weird fermented foods in my travels, but I ate my share of sweetbreads, tongue, stuffed hen neck, tripe and buristo. Tuscan cucina povera has a wide selection of recipes that…
The fireplace warms a room with its own unique warmth, the smell of burning wood is unmistakable. I don't know if you have ever tried to warm up your bed and blankets with a pot of coals and a bed wagon. Long before the hot water bottle and the electric…