Where better to savor the flavors of old-world dishes that reflect the Tuscan tradition of forthright simplicity than in your kitchen on a chilly evening with friends?
A die-hard food purist would tell you that pasta is not truly Tuscan, although pasta in one form or another is on every menu in every restaurant of the region. Needless to say, we ate pasta there most every day while visiting the villages and hilly environs of Tuscany; and since pasta teams so very well with the luscious fresh vegetables of the region, we're basing our Tuscan supper on a simple combination of capellini with a fabulous sauce of tomatoes, garlic, and lots of fresh basil. Be sure to buy the best tomatoes you can find for the sauce-it's worth the extra expense. In our market we can get small tomatoes that are still growing on their vine that have a marvelous, ripe tomato flavor.
The pasta portions are small, leaving plenty of room for a taste of several delicious vegetable side dishes--steamed cauliflower dusted with buttery bread crumbs (a dish that is quintessentially Tuscan), roasted peppers topped with white beans, and a fennel, celery, and parsley combination that's almost synonymous with the Tuscany region of Italy. You can purchase wonderful Italian breadsticks at an Italian market or many supermarkets. Since fresh peaches, plums, and grapes are now plentiful from Chile, we offer a bowl of the fruits on ice for dessert to enjoy with tiny cups of espresso or sugar-free cappuccino. If you have the time to make biscotti, there's a recipe for Lemon Biscotti in our December, 1997 recipes and Easy Biscotti in our March, 1999 recipes.
Since the meal is casual, we don't bother with fussy table linens, other than to offer a large napkin (ours are actually linen kitchen towels in disguise), pottery plates in lovely muted colors, pottery vases filled with fresh flowers and small pots of fresh herbs. Votive candles illuminate the table nicely. Put Italian CDs on your player-such as Crossing Over or Italian Guitar Music by Flavio Cucchi or something classical such as Great Italian Love Arias by Puccini, Mendelssohn: Symphony no 4, or one of Pavarotti's many works. buon appetito!
(for the recipes, click on The Recipes or click on the individual recipe above)
