If you are by chance planning on being in Tuscany in July there is a must attend for the carnivore.  An annual celebration of all that is bovine, steaky goodness is put on every year not to far outside of Florence. A brief train ride will take you to the “week of happiness” as the subtitle of the festival tells you.

Red is the color of the day, or weekend, for my fellow gluttons.  Ample amounts of blood rare Chianina beef served with every available type of full, lush, bursting red wine.  From  every Chianti producer to Vino Nobile di Montepulciano to Brunello di Montelcino.

Your iron levels will soar to new heights as your tastebuds revel in the fantastic quality of Chianina.  I am a glutton for steak.  I have been known to down a one kilo steak myself on numerous occasions.  Much to the astonishment of both the restaurant staff and my dining partner.  If you are one to eat small amounts of food very daintily, then this is probably not the event for you.

On the other hand, if like yours truly, just the mention of a big, juice well-aged, thick sliced porterhouse style cut can send your mind into a state of permabliss then you should not miss this.

Chianina beef is a source of pride for Tuscans and is slowly becoming more popular and available in the United States as well.  It has a combination of leanness and tenderness that I have never found in another type of beef, and it is especially well represented in the Bistecca, which is the same cut as a porterhouse. And I have to say, I have never met a quality steak that I didn’t like.

Growth of the popularity of the breed and crossbreeding with with Angus cattle has led to increased availibility of the beef in the US, so if you do happen to fall in love with the meat when you are here, it is becoming easier to duplicate the experience back at home.

http://www.giraitalia.it/sagre/toscana/firenze/luglio.html

This is in Italian but all the relevant information is understandable.

Ahhhh summer, brilliant blue skies, summer thunderstorms that bathe the earth, and wine.  Wondefully chilled refreshing white wine.  What could be more perfect on a steamy summer evening than a light meal of fish, salad and fresh fruit with crispy, cool Italian white wine? Add in a bevy of friends to share the wine with, or a single special person, and life doesn’t get much better.

Italy is primarily known for its full, food friendly red wines.  But it should come as no surprise that a region that has produced wine for thousands of years has plenty of white wines as well.  The majority of Italy’s most popular whites are produced in the northernmost regions of Italy, but white wine is produced from Sicily to the foothills of the Alps.  The whites of Italy lean towards crisp, acidic and food friendly.

Some of the most popular:

• Arneis–from Piedmont.  A medium dry wine with hints of stone fruits and pear.  This is a great wine either for sipping solo on the patio before dinner or to pair with fruit, salads and soft cheeses.  I love this with sliced strawberries layered with goat cheese.
• Asti–poor Asti.  It has received an undeservedly nasty reputation from the import of lower quality spumantes.  Lighter and fruitier than Champagne and summer perfection when paired with peach juice in a bellini as an aperitivo.
• Chardonnay–what may the most commonly grown grape on the planet.  Italian Chardonnays are definitely more French in style than California.  They are almost always unoaked and not treated with malolactic fermentation.  This makes them leaner and crispier than a typically California Chardonnay and lets the fruit predominate.
• Gavi–another Piedmont favorite, and beginning to grow in popularity in the US.  A wine best enjoyed young and an ideal accompaniment to fish dishes.  It usually has a minerally quality and hints of grapefruit and has an acidity that cries for food.  Figs and Gavi are gorgeous together.
• Orvieto–made from Trebbiano and Grechetto grapes in Umbria, in central Italy souh of Tuscany.  It has a heft that many Italian whites do not have and is permitted to have a multitude of grapes blended into it, beyond the two primary.  A “white meat” wine for chicken and fish, it will overpower dishes that do not have a lot of protein or fat.
• Pinot Grigio–still the current “it” white from Italy.  Produced in Veneto and about as food friendly, and “solo drinkable” as a wine can be.  A great way to begin a summer evening and pair with virtually every kind of seafood, salad and fruit.

One pointer:  most people chill their whites too much and you miss a lot of the flavor and nuance this way.  You should aim for about 50 F for your whites, from room temperature about 30 minutes in the fridge should put it just about where it should be.

One thing that the geography of Italy contributes to is proximity to the sea.  The unique boot shape of the country means that no matter where in the country a person lives they are never more than about two hours from the sea.

What does this mean for Italian food, and Tuscan Food in particular?

It means that when you head from anywhere in Tuscany to the coast that you must sample some local seafood.  It’s a law.  I just wrote it.  The freshness of the seafood here never ceases to amaze me.  And of course, the Italians know just what to do with all it.

One of my favorites after a day at the beach is Cacciucco alla Livornese.  And restaurants up and down the Tuscan coast have their versions of the dish, which basically originated to use the leftovers fishermen didn’t sell at the end of the day.  This is a dish to make even the most jaded enjoy “leftovers.”

INGREDIENTS

2 lbs of assorted fish (below)

1/2 onion, diced

1 bunch chopped parsley

3 Tbsp olive oil

3/4 lb tomatoes (fresh or Pomi style)

2 Tbsp red wine vinegar

3/4 cup water

salt, crushed red pepper to taste

Plenty of bread for dipping

DIRECTIONS

Fish-you can literally use almost anything, and you do not have to spring for expensive fish.  Sole, octopus, calamari, shellfish it all works. Cut the large fish into bite sized chunks and leave shrimp, etc. whole.

Saute the diced onion and parsley in the olive oil until the onion is translucent.  Add your tomatoes and season with the salt and red pepper.  This is one of the few Tuscan dishes that is spicy, so you don’t need to be gentle with the red pepper.  Stir in the water and vinegar and simmer for 10 minutes.  Add your fish and simmer for another 15 minutes.  A little more olive oil can be added towards the end.

Ladle over slices of bread and/or serve bread alongside.

Serves 4

For wine, I like anything from a Sauvignon Blanc, to Provencal Rose (my fave with this actually) to a full Chardonnay.

If you are at all familiar with Italy you know that there is a love of “calcio” what Americans call soccer that is so deeply ingrained that every man, woman and child bleeds the color[s] of their local team. Florence boasts the team Fiorentina, and for those that have been here and seen every shade of purple imaginable on every article of clothing imaginable you get a good feel for how deeply this love goes.

So, missy American, what does that have to do with some good, yummy Tuscany food?  To be honest, not much.  But the “Calcio Storico” that is played every June and July in Florence is played in front of Santa Croce, which is seasonally occupied by Christmas vendors selling every imaginable food and decoration, and some great restaurants flank the piazza.  That’s about as close as it gets.  But boy is this fun to watch.

Three times a year there are games, and the big day is June 24th.  There is a parade in full historical costume through the center of Florence.  Then dozens of players deshirt and take to the sand covered field that Piazza Santa Croce converts to.

Then they play “Calcio” not modern calcio but the historic version.  Which is much closer to rugby, but with 27 players on each side.  The delicate little fake falls and calls for penalty cards and the overly dramatic displays for the benefit of referees doesn’t happen here. This is serious.  This is for pride.

Four of the historical zones are represented and this is not a sport for the faint of heart.  It usually ends up being about 90F when they are playing too, so this gets pretty heated pretty fast.

Buy a gelato, stand in the shade offered by the buildings on the southern side of the piazza and enjoy the organized chaos that one of these games is.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calcio_Fiorentino

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsRqSNSjy3E

The video is in Italian, but you get the idea.

Is your thermometer busting out of the top and ready to boil over like mine?  Tuscan food is always very seasonal and because almost everything you eat here was developed before the marvelous inventions of refrigeration and air conditioning things are geared towards the weather as well.  It has been about 35C/90F for about a week here, and the idea of sparking up the stove for dinner when it is still over 80F at 9pm is more than this ex pat can handle.  If it can’t be baked at 9 Am when it is a pleasant 60F it’s not getting baked.  Ditto on a full pot of water boiling on the stove for pasta for almost 30 minutes.

Starving isn’t an option, so what is the harried, over heated food aficionado to do?  Go Tuscan style with a summer bread salad.  Not only do you get away from and devices radiating heat, but it is also a healthy, tasty and pretty low calories option as well.  Good thing, since I am sure that a lot of us are looking forward to some vacation time that will include more revealing clothing.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 pound (500 g) several-days-old Tuscan bread, sliced or cubed.  Or cheat with sourdough or ciabatta
• 8 basil leaves
• 4 tomatoes, sliced
• 1 small sweet red onion, sliced (optional)
• 1 cucumber, sliced (optional)
• 1/4 pound (100 g) canned tuna fish, crumbled (optional)
• 1 or 2 hard boiled eggs, cut into eighths (optional)
• 1 teaspoon vinegar or more, to taste
• 3 or more tablespoons good olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

To be honest this is a twist on the traditional recipe, which does not include the ingredients listed as optional.  But on days when throwing dinner together in 15 minutes with virtually no cleanup and no heat sounds good this is an entire meal.
Rinse the bread in cold water, then carefully pat it dry with a towel. Put the bread in a large salad bowl and stir in all the other ingredients. Let the salad (Panzanella) sit for 15 minutes to give the bread time to absorb the different flavors, and serve.  The larger the slices or cubes of bread the longer it needs to sit.  That is why I prefer cubing—the different flavors infuse the bread faster.

Could dinner get much easier, cooler or healthier?

Serves 4.

Light reds or crisp whites are perfect with this.