An Authentic Tuscan Meal

The other night, we had friends over for an authentic Tuscan dinner. While all of the recipes and wines were from Tuscany, I did not follow the normal protocol for what constitutes a "primo" (first) or "secondo" (second) course. Instead of a secondo, I had two "primi" (plural of "primo"). I was very happy with the results.

The Menu
Food
- Tomato bruschetta
- Carabaccia (Tuscan onion soup)
- Eggplant Custard with Tomato & Basil Sauce (Sformatino di Melanzane con Pomodoro e Basilico)
- Thin Spaghetti with Asparagus & Shrimp (Spaghettini con Asparagi e Gamberi)
- Strawberry Semifreddo (Semifreddo alla Fragola)

Wines
2010 Vecchia Cantina Rosso di Montepulciano
2007 Máté  Brunello di Montalcino

Three of the dishes were from the book, "A Culinary Traveller in Tuscany," by Beth Elon. The recipes are from restaurants she has found off the beaten path during her explorations of Tuscany. I highly recommend this book. The recipes I used from her book were the bruschetta, the eggplant custard, and the thin spaghetti. I loved the thin spaghetti dish. I also enjoyed both the bruschetta and eggplant custard, but would probably not make those two again. However, I think there are many people who would love either or both of those dishes.

The onion soup, which I mentioned in an earlier posting, is one of my favorite soups.

The semifreddo recipe was from Frances Mayes book, "The Tuscan Sun Cookbook" via an Internet posting. I loved this dish.

I will provide each of the recipes in separate postings so they will be easier to locate.

The wines were very nice. Vecchia Cantina is a large cooperative located near Montepulciano, Tuscany. They produce a wide variety of Tuscan wines. A tip for a very good every day wine from this winery is their Chianti, which retails for $6.99 at Total Wine.

The Máté winery of Candace and Ferenc Máté, which is just outside Montalcino, Tuscany produces terrific wine. Candace is a wonderful artist, and Ferenc is an excellent author, whose works include books on Tuscany and sailing. Their winery is worth a visit if you're ever in Montalcino (http://www.matewine.com/).