Christmas and New Year’s in the picturesque boroughs of the Tuscany coast

There are many small boroughs in the near inlands of the coast of Tuscany spread out among the Provinces of Massa Carrara, Lucca, Pisa, Leghorn and Grosseto and they are there waiting to be discovered in their most picturesque period: the Christmas holidays.

Original Tortellini Emiliani ... my father old recype from Modena!!

Today famous Italian actor Christian De Sica and his son Brando came to my restaurant !

Today famous Italian actor Christian De Sica and his son Brando came to my restaurant !
It was a unique experience because he's really the same as we see in his movies : Funny and nice,but at the same time a simple and modest person.

Thank you for coming.

Roselline Romagnole

 
This is a very cheerful dish to make,and you can change the stuffing to your choice,for example you can just add "fontina" cheese and vegetables to make a vegetarian dish that sometimes might be handy.
You can also prepare them the day before you are planning to serve them,and just put some plastic wrap on it and keep in the fridge.
Also,if you want,you can serve them in individuals terrine to make them looks even more cute.

Panettone Milanese "Third and last day"

Third and last day. h. 8/9 am

Panettone Milanese "Second Day"

Panettone Milanese "First Day"

Let's start !

"Original Panettone Milanese" stay tuned because next Monday 12/14 i will start the 3 days long recipe.

Panettone is Milan's traditional Christmas bread, an airy concoction made with raisins and candied fruit that every pastry shop proudly displays. They're also made by industry, in huge numbers, and consequently appear on almost every Christmas table throughout all italy.
This recipe will be a little different and harder to make than the ones i usually post here,so follow me in the next days to find out how’s going to be :) since it's going to need multiple steps each day,for a total of three days !!!

Roasted little "Cinta Senese" pork

Average preparation time : 20mins

Cooking time : about 4 hours

Ingredients:

Quarter of a little Cinta Senese Pork (should be about 3kg)

80gr. of salt

30gr. of pepper powder 

5 cloves of garlic

20gr. of fennel seeds

4 branches of rosemary

half a litre of extravirgin olive oil

The “Cinta senese”: Queen of the Italian pigs

There are 155 “Cinta senese” (Senese pig) farms in Tuscany (186 in Italy), mostly concentrated to the provinces of Siena (76), Arezzo (23), Grosseto (13), Florence (12) and Livorno (11). Most of them are very young companies with a low average age.

Baked Cannellini "Fagioli Cannellini al Forno"

Ingredients for 4
 3 cups dried beans, garlic, sage, rosemary, extra virgin
olive oil, salt and pepper, 6 slices of sweet bacon
“pancetta”

Stewed Rabbit "Coniglio in Umido"

If you go out into the country in the evening, you'll see people picking grasses and such in the fields -- they're gathering food for the rabbits in their rabbit hutch. The meat is tasty, lean, and healthful.

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 60 minutes

Ciao Sauro

Sauro Brunicardi has died, a dear friend,a colleague,a great if not the first of the restaurants of Lucca.
He was a true lover of the cooking,of the good taste,a gentleman who made you feel at ease in every situation.
He loved Lucca and his land,he lived with passion and affection.
Together with him,disappears one of the historic founders of the Lucca cooking and enogastrony linked to toursim.
So many years people have come miles from abroad and from Italy to taste the dishes of  "La Mora".
With his work and passion he brought his little trattoria to become one of the italian enogastronomy's cult.
We will miss his smile,his humor,his courtesy,his.."Mora"....
Goodbye Sauro......i would like to remember you like always,smiling and corteous,welcoming friends and clients.
You will always  be in our hearts,like always happens with Real Friends.

• In this photo,at the Oslo embassy in 2005,i would like to remember him,along with his joy and lightheartedness.