FOOD, GLORIOUS FOOD! - 19 July 2011

19th July, 2011  

On Saturday morning, at Gianni's suggestion, we drove less than a mile up the road to the fattoria (farm) on the right. We've passed this fattoria so many times over the years, commenting on its rustic beauty and abundance of olive trees. Little did we know how much more was going behind the Cypress trees.

We drove into the old courtyard and found La Nonna (grandmother) sitting under a tree. We said we'd come to buy some produce. She cackled and rattled off a string of toothless sentences in ancient Etruscan which neither of us understood. What to do? Fortunately after a few minutes her son and his wife appeared carrying baskets of zucchini, eggplant and cucumbers. Oh, can we buy some of those? Certo. And onions? Si. Lettuce. Si. The wife disappears back into the garden returning with all of the above plus tomatoes. You need eggs, she asked. Si. She goes into the house. Meanwhile La Nonna is busy trying out all the outdoor chairs like an old Goldilocks until, with my help she finally comes to rest.

The wife returns with six eggs laid this morning and a huge box of ripe plums. We take the lot, baskets and boxes piled hight. Cost? 12 bucks.

We drop the goodies off at home and drive into the village for the Saturday market. We've been going to this market for 16 years and love its spirit of community: the women with their baskets, the men gathering in groups to comment on everything while doing nothing. And of course we had our favorite stalls: Lucciano, for the most divine rotisserie chickens and best of all, his fegatini - wild boar's liver wrapped in bacon. And then there was the pescatore and his son whose display of fish and crustacea glistened on their beds of ice, fresh from the sea that morning, made us want to buy it all. We once bought squid so fresh that when we opened them up to clean them we found whole sardines inside!

So imagine our disappointment to find these people gone. And so many others along with them. And the stalls that have taken their place are a further disappointment: cheap clothes in garish colors, shoes that have neither style nor craftsmanship. And what happened to all those wonderful waffle towels we used to buy? Replaced now with the kind of toweling that not only sheds but doesn't dry. Talk about dispiriting. I had a real pang suddenly for Provence, where the markets are still alive and generous and full of great produce. There have been a few moments like this since we arrived, where we've been saddened by the erosion of quality and tradition. Oh, the land itself is still magnificent and one hopes that there are enough young people like Silvia and Vincenzo here at Giuncheto where we're living who will carry it on. But it seems unlikely.

The contadini - the peasants who worked the land for centuries - like the people we bought our produce from earlier in the morning, are almost gone. And the political corruption that has always existed here now has nothing to balance it. Ironically, in the evening, we will go with Gianni and Luana, to a nearby hilltop village to attend one of the many festa's taking place all over Tuscany this month in tribute to the contadini. And yet at this festa, as sweet as it is in its own way, there will be no sign of that which it is supposedly honoring.

What I'm coming to understand is that the Tuscany of today, unlike Provence, doesn't have an aesthetic. Yes, of course, the Tuscan Landscape and hill towns are aesthetically beautiful, but that aesthetic came out of working the land and respecting the land. Now that the last generation of these workers is dying all that's left to take their place is corruption. And so it is that you see the ugliest of buildings going up, because it is the fastest route to money.

But what can one do? One must make the most of what one has. And so we go back to the house, look at the bounty of our table

and make:

ZUPPA DEI CONTADINI!

Chop celery, onion, garlic and carrots

Saute in a big pot for 15 minutes

Add zucchini, tomatoes, parsley, peperoncino,

salt to taste and water to cover.

Bring to a boil, cover and simmer 30 minutes

Favoloso!

The next day we eat all six eggs for breakfast with pancetta. For lunch we go to Gianni + Luana's. Gianni's brother, Roberto, and his wife, Leda, drive up from Grossetto on the Tuscan coast, with a feast of seafood. Joel starts the meal off with his wonderful guacamole:

Guacamole di Joely

3 huge avocados chopped

3 enormous tomatoes, chopped

1 gargantuan onion, chopped

Salt, peperoncino + lemon juice to taste.

He had to substitute parsley for cilantro as the latter is difficult to find here.

Then Leda brings to table an enormous dish of pasta with shrimp, lobster and crab, followed by octopus with chick peas. 

We are all moaning and groaning with pleasure and I bring up the caboose:

SUSINE E GELATO

I've taken 2 dozen plums (from this morning's haul)

pitted and quartered them.

In a skillet, melt about 3 tbs butter

add about 2 tbs Manuka Honey

stirring until it begins to caramelize.

Bung in the plums.

Turn up the flame

Stir for 1 or 2 minutes

Ladle onto the richest vanilla ice-cream you can find.

And listen to your Italian friends sing!