Potato Gnocchi
Potato Gnocchi are small dumpling made from potatoes, flour and eggs. Gnocchi were born in Northern Italy but nowadays they are common in other regions of Italy as well. The secret behind a perfectly textured gnocchi is not to over work the dough. Since the beginning of the Modern Age, the “baccanal del gnocco,” a festival celebrating the dish, has taken place every year during Carnival

Time for "Caldarroste" in Tuscany
It’s the time of the year to sit in front of the fire and eat a handful of hot caldarroste (roasted chestnuts) with a glass of Chianti wine. What else could you ask for? Large parts of central and northern Italy are covered with castagneti (chestnut woods) and for centuries chestnuts have been the main winter food source . This is reflected into the variety of chestnut dishes, both sweet and

Schiacciata all' Uva- Grapes Focaccia
Schiacciata refers to flatbread in Tuscany ,what everyone else in Italy calls focaccia. During the wine-grape harvest, in Tuscany we make a not-too-sweet dessert or snack of bread dough and grapes . It's a very old Tuscan recipe ,it is said to be Etruscan, as we seem to have depictions of it on pottery.. Many recipes use fresh grapes, others a mixture of grapes and raisins or grapes and nuts.

Panna Cotta in Tuscany
Answering to Jon's request , we add one of our dessert recipes : PANNA COTTA 600 g cream 250 g icing sugar 50 g milk 2½ sheets gelatine ½ vanilla bean Place the cream, icing sugar and vanilla over a low heat. Mix until the icing sugar melts (don’t let the mixture boil). Dissolve the isinglass in two spoonfuls of cold milk and then add it to the cream, which you have removed from the heat. Pour

Olive Harvest, Olive Oil & Cooking with a Family In The Chianti Hills
Have you always wanted to experience Tuscany’s olive harvest just like local people do- picking the olives in olive groves in the hills and take a bottle of your “Olio Nuovo” (new olive oil) home? Toscana Mia will make these daydreams a reality for you this November in a tiny hamlet in the Chianti hills. Monday November 2 Arrive in the afternoon in the Chianti country town, Greve by bus from