Bon Appetit Magazine - Tuscany Issue
 

For those travelling to Tuscany - you may want to pick up this month's Bon Appetit magazine - it's a special Tuscany issue with lots of good restaurant suggestions, lovely pictures and recipes.

Elizabeth is right-----the pictures are glorious and the recipes sound delicious. Will make those of you who have been there want to return and those of you who haven't yet gone want to book your reservations today!!!

I have this issue!!!! I had a hard time keeping it dry (from all that salivating) while perusing through it. I am travelling to Italy this summer and though I am staying in Liguria I will make day trips to la bella Toscana. It is a definite must, I may even take it with me on that long flight! Now I want to move to Tuscany and live happily ever after.....

I just picked up this issue since I returned from Italy 5 days ago and was wishing I was still there. The article on Florence mentions the great hotel we stayed in (Lungarno) and a great restaurant we ate in (4 Leoni)...I just wish I had seen the magazine before we went to Florence because there are some other great recommendations...for the next trip perhaps. Now I can try to replicate some of the great food in my own kitchen.

Just wanted to add that we have relatives near Lucca and all the recipes I looked at are absolutely right on--even the definition of fettunta. Only difference I could see is that relatives put all the chicken organs in the crostini--including the lung. I try not to think about that very much! If you are going, please sample a rabbit dish (we American often pass this up) and do take a taste of cinghiale--too gamey for me, but my husband loves it in sausage. And, the Tuscan pecorino is, as it says in the article, unlike anything available in the U.S. Buon appetito!

Sitting here reading the magazine and dreaming of my trip last fall. I could absolutely kill for some Pecorino cheese, salt-free tuscan bread and a glass of homemade Chianti. We stayed on Lake Montepulciano and had a local farmer come by selling fresh pecorino out of his car. The next day, the local bread baker came by, followed by the local fishman. Plus, our neighbor had a wine cellar with over 1000 bottles of his own wine. I was in heaven. If anyone has found a source for good pecorino or for that matter, salt free bread, I would love to know about it.

Jennifer, Let us all know. I did hear that pecorino was available in the States, but I've not been able to find it. Add to your bread, pecorino and Chianti a little proscuitto, the Tuscan kind, and you've got a feast!

igourmet.com has pecorino toscana. I haven't tried it, but I did buy from them a soft cheese with white truffle (the name escapes me), and it turned out to be exactly the stuff we ate on the train from Rome to Venice. Delicious! So you might check out their site. <BR>(This is NOT an advertisement! I have no connection with igourmet.com, I just like their cheeses.)

Thanks for the igourmet.com recommendation; 3lbs of cheese are on their way to me! My husband is going to check out a shop in Cambridge Mass called the Formaggio Kitchen. No website but hopefully a catalog. I've seen this shop referenced in a number of magazine articles. Perhaps he will come home with just what I'm craving. Now all I need is the bread!

<BR>Jennifer, if you're willing to bake it yourself, this URL will take you to a recipe. Of course, iy won'y have Tuscan flour, yeast, or water... <BR>http://www.ichef.com/ichef-recipes/Breads/59881.html