Whilst staying with friends near Lucca we had wonderful meals a casa; home-made pizzas cooked in the outdoor pizza oven, home-grown yellow plums, a delicious antipasti supper etc., and some delicious (and interesting*) meals out.
A favourite starter was a variety of pecorino cheeses served either with honey and walnuts or a selection of chutneys such as chilli, onion and ginger. For il primo or il secondo I enjoyed pasta with sage butter, gnocchi with pesto and a walnut and corgette flower pasta. Not to mention wonderful gelati!
In Florence I feasted on pizza, pasta, melanzane parmigiana (an aubergine bake), tuscan tomato soup and salads. The two most interesting courses were at a new restaurant called La Menagere. For primo I had a kind of risotto made with rice, rosemary, coffee powder, raisins and roasted seeds. Unusual tasting but rather nice.
For secondo I had a poached egg on stewed red radicchio with melted pecorino cheese and red wine reduction served with a barley cracker - so pretty it looked like dessert! It was lovely to try different vegetarian food combinations.
My only downfall was agreeing to tagliata di manzo* (for 2 people) to share with my friend. Sadly we had only glanced at the menu and mistook tagliata for tagliatelle! The huge platter of sliced grilled beef served on a bed of rocket and tomato arrived with great aplomb and was promptly waved away. We re-ordered whilst the meaty dish was enjoyed by the men in our group!
Perhaps it's time to start learning Italian!
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