As a child, Julia Busuttil Nishimura’s mum entertained her with stories of her travels through Italy – she was particularly entranced by her mother’s descriptions of tall cypress trees, delicate Florentine leather gloves and pici (thick spaghetti). So while studying Italian at university in Melbourne, she took the opportunity to further her studies in Florence and eventually landed a job in southern Tuscany.
“I lived in a huge Tuscan villa on a large property,” says the cook and food writer. “We grew a lot of our own produce and anything we couldn’t grow was sourced locally from the market or farms. Ricotta, still warm from being made; local pasta from a wheat farm; and fish bought directly from the fishermen’s daily catch.”
The experience “really shaped how I enjoy food, cook it, shop for it and cherish it”.
As a summer holiday destination, Tuscany is special for agriturismo, or agricultural tourism, Busuttil Nishimura says. “Recreating the vibe is about not overcomplicating things too much. Tuscan food really is so produce-driven; it is peasant food.”
A typical Tuscan spread
Bread is an important staple. Busuttil Nishimura says Tuscan bread is made without salt and has a spongy and dense interior.
Bread is integral to dishes like panzanella, ribollita and pappa al pomodoro. She calls the latter – a tomato-and-bread soup – a seasonal treat: “it really encapsulates the spirit of Tuscan cooking”.
And bread is often served with a traditional bean dishes such as fagioli all’uccelletto (white beans in tomato sauce). Historically, the region became so known for its bread-and-bean pairings, says Busuttil Nishimura, that “Tuscans became known as mangiafagioli – bean eaters.
“Traditionally cooked in fiasco or in a flask, now [beans] are cooked on the stovetop. The best beans only need to be cooked with some sage and garlic then drowned in good-quality olive oil.”
Though she says that there is room for more luxurious food like truffles and saffron Florentine steaks, Tuscan cooking remains “frugal and thrifty”. The key to eating like a local is to keep dishes “simple yet intentional”, such as fried baby artichokes; crostini of sausage and stracchino (a soft cow’s milk cheese); and sausage, some meat and fresh pasta.
“Making some fresh pasta is a great place to start – either pici or some giant tortelli maremmani, filled with sheep’s milk ricotta, and greens, usually foraged from the fields,” she says. At an agriturismo you might also get “some sort of meat, like grilled lamb, braised beef or wild boar”.
For summer, she might make a seafood soup such as caldaro dell’Argentario, a rich fish soup.
If you drink, a Tuscan wine such as vermentino would do nicely. To end the meal, she recommends cantucci (almond biscuits) for dipping in vin santo (a dessert wine), “but a summer fruit crostata is [also] a perfect finish”.
The essential ingredients
To cook at home, the Tuscan way, Busuttil Nishimura recommends using the best, freshest extra virgin olive oil you can find, as well as staples like good pasta, salami and quality sheep’s milk pecorino (you can find this at Italian delis and grocers).
“Whatever it is you’re cooking, make sure it’s in season and at its best,” she says. “Tuscan cooking is about paying particular care to the quality of the produce and using what is around you.”
And, most importantly, make it a meal worth sharing.
“Eating in Tuscany, and Italy in general, is a celebration of life and all that is good,” she says. “It is as much about the food as the company. Invite some friends over and feast, then you’re ready for your Tuscan summer.”
Julia Busuttil Nishimura’s pappa al pomodoro (tomato soup)
A classic Tuscan tomato and bread soup for the end of summer, pappa al pomodoro is one of my most favourite things to make with the season’s best produce. On my last trip to Italy I ate it in Orbetello, a town just near where I lived. The soup was delicate and light and tasted of summer.
There are many Tuscan dishes that use leftover bread and I have a particular soft spot for these kinds of meals. For me, they are the epitome of clever cooking and frugality and somehow make the meal even more delicious. At home I use day-old or two-day-old sourdough or ciabatta bread and, while it isn’t the traditional Tuscan bread, it is still wonderful.
Pappa al pomodoro combines such simple ingredients, and so, like most of these kinds of dishes, relies on everything being the best. I make this soup in February when tomatoes have been kissed by the sun for months and the basil is sweet.
Serves 4
1kg summer’s best very ripe tomatoes
Iced water
150ml extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra to serve
3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
Pinch of chilli flakes
4 slices of day-old crusty bread, crusts removed
Sea salt
Large handful of basil leaves, to serve
Using a sharp knife, score a cross in the base of each tomato. Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil and blanch the tomatoes for 1–2 minutes. Drain and immediately plunge the tomatoes into a bowl of iced water, then peel away the skins and discard.
Warm the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-low heat and add the garlic and chilli flakes. Cook for one to two minutes, until fragrant, taking care that the garlic doesn’t burn. Using your hands, crush the tomatoes into the pan and stir with a wooden spoon. Cook for six to seven minutes, until the tomato has broken down.
Meanwhile, soak the bread in cold water until soft. Squeeze out the excess water and crumble the bread into the pan. Add 300ml of hot water and season well.
Cook the soup, stirring frequently, for a further 10 minutes.
Season with salt, then remove the pan from the heat and allow the soup to sit for 15 minutes. Serve the soup warm with plenty of olive oil drizzled over the top, along with the basil leaves.
This is recipe is an edited extract from Around the Table, available now from Pan Macmillan. The pici with ricotta is from her cookbook A Year of Simple Family Food.
