“We certainly had lots of fun, and as you both are superb cooks we also "feasted" like kings.”
1) Testing our new recipes (icscis)
2) Or table in Italy (icscis)
3) The figue tree in front of the house (icscis)
4) A kitchen still-life (icscis)
5) The Aussie husbands testing wine for a meal (icscis)
6)Testing restaurants (icscis)
7) Chicken with olives (Monica Marquez)
"Gourmet meals", they said.
We never though about that.
“Every evening, around the supper table, usually dimly lit by four candles dripping on Chianti bottles, we would have length y discussions on various topics such as art marketing, the importance of linguistics in contemporary arts, sociology of the arts, and semantics. Yes, even semantics , since “everything means something”: every work of art needs to carry a conscious meaning or an intention.
Our suppers would start around eight in the evening and typically end some three hours later. And every night our guests were always amazed at the beauty and the scrumptiousness of our meals — we had learned how to cook by working out hundreds of times our recipes for our Studio Italia painters, as well as for family and friends, and by tasting authentic dishes and new flavours in so many ristoranti and trattorie in Tuscany and all over Italy. As the years passed we came to notice that, around the end of each Studio Italia workshop, the same
comment sneaked back at the table: “Your meals are so good! Why don’t you write down your recipes? Photocopy them into a little booklet and sell them as a souvenir of this wonderful workshop. We would be the first ones to buy this book.” We smiled politely, thinking everyone was being well mannered because of the group context, thinking that everyone was able to cook as well as we did. And our answer was always the same: “One day, when we will have some time between two articles or two classes or two flights or…” One year, a participant in the publishing business suggested that these recipes be “published,” and she was dead serious. So, maybe all our former participants were right. We finally came to accept the fact. Why not?” (from icscis’ future recipe book introduction; to be published soon.)
Before our groups arrive on location, we usually revise our recipes (photo 1) and try a few restaurants to see what’s “new” in Tuscan kitchens which are usually very “tipica”. One day we stopped at this ristorante perched in Montefolonico because of its interesting menu including "Pigeon in Vino Nobile" sauce and "Rabbit with fennel". Ah! something different we said, here Tuscany reaching Burgundy. We were all enthusiastic, but not for long. The boned rabbit or what was left of the rabbit was rolled with lots of sausage meat and thinly sliced. In fact it was sausage with a little bit of rabbit. As for the pigeon, the Vino Nobile was so reduced that it retained all its tartaric acid. The sauce was extremely bitter and the pigeon overcooked. Politely, we suggest the owner to change the title of the “rabbit” plate for "Sausage with rabbit" and to add a bit of chestnut honey to break the bitterness of the pigeon sauce. Nevertheless, the presentation was impeccable and the restaurant setting extremely inviting as you can see on this photograph. We learn from mistakes as say the old adage.
.
A recipe from Studio Italia
Chicken with olives or
Pollo Abbati (for the Macchiaioli Giuseppe Abbati)
For 4 people
Preparation: 20 minutes
Marinating time: 2 hours
Cooking time: around 1.5 hours
Colori
- 1 chicken cut into pieces
- Kosher salt
- Black ground pepper
- 1 cup of green olives
- half a cup of the olive brine
- juice of 2 lemons
- 1 cup of dry white wine
- 2 large twigs rosemary
- 3 leaves sage (finely chopped)
- 1 tbsp dry oregano
- olive oil (the necessary)
- 2 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
Maniera
1. Remove the excess fat and clean well.
2. Lightly season the chicken with salt and pepper.
3. Marinate for 2 hours with the lemon juice, the white wine and the herbs.
4. In a skillet, heat the olive oil and add the two cloves of garlic.
5. Golden the garlic in the olive oil stirring it constantly.
6. Brown the chicken in the olive oil in medium heat in order not to loose the meat juices.
7. Add the marinade, the olives and the brine; cover and simmer for around 1 hour.
8. At the end, the sauce should be at least half reduced.
You may send an e-mail for criticism.
Xchange rates | weather | Canada Flights | USA Flights | Tripadvisor | paying with Paypal | home icscis
Creating means not copying
(the French Chef, Jacques Maximin)
updated July 14, 2010