Flavor of Tuscany

Name: Flavor of Tuscany
Address: Lido di Camaiore, 55041, IT
Telephone: +393284199960
Price range: $
Rating: 5

Casa
Italia
Lido di Camaiore
Flavor of Tuscany

Deluxe, small group, food focused tours in Italy. Live like a local and bring "la dolce vita" back t
(2)

o live in Tuscany for the past several years. We've learned which places are great but only warrant half an afternoon (Leaning Tower) and which places deserve more than a cursory glance between tour bus stops (Siena). We've learned that the Uffizi is great, if you like art, but if you're not into it, then skip it, and that if you're looking for a handmade leather bag, the Florence markets are the worst place to go. We know where the best seafood, steak, pizza, pasta, and kid-friendly restaurants are. And if you're looking for romance on a budget, we've got you covered there too. Flavor of Tuscany is absolutely dedicated to making your trip to Italy a delight for all of your senses, starting with your tastebuds.

14/01/2023

Sometimes you gotta change your perspective.

🇮🇹

08/01/2022

This was one of my first photos that I took when I first moved to Viareggio. Being late April it was the perfect temperature for a beach BBQ and Alessio and I, with some friends, took their boat to a small island just off the shore to enjoy an afternoon in the sun. I was literally fresh off the boat, didn’t understand hardly a word of Italian, understand or appreciate the culture, and I was a bit overwhelmed and terrified at the same time. Leaving the harbour you’ll see two different phrases writtten on the walls, one says “Viareggio, in you I was born, in you I hope to die”, and the other ways “Viareggio is a carnival”. This is the latter.

02/01/2022

We went for a walk and lunch in Lucca today. After the last two years of lockdowns, pregnancy, newborn, Covid scares, masks, vaccines, and regular day to day busyness it was so refreshing to do something we used to do in a whim before.

31/03/2021

If you’re feeling down; look up! 👀

11/02/2021

Ever had fennel?

It’s low in calories and a good source of fiber and has a crunchy slightly licorice taste when raw. But don’t worry if you don’t like the taste of licorice, we’re going to cook that right out. 😀

I picked up a case of fennel at the grocery store the other week because they were on sale and I knew that Ada liked them. She takes every chance she can to let me know that my cooking isn’t as good as Alessio’s mom so I wanted to wow her with my fennel skills.

Much to her chagrin this quick and delicious side dish was taught to me BY Alessio’s mom so I figured I couldn’t go wrong.

We paired this with grilled pork steaks for dinner and then had leftovers the next day with a little bit of chicken. It goes well with everything - even on its own!

If you’ve seen fennel at the grocery store but keep passing it by I urge you to give them a shot. They’re tasty (even raw) and it never hurts to get more veggies in your diet, right?

Here’s what you’ll need:

- fennel bulbs (I had 3)
- 3 tbsp EVOO
- 25 grams grated parmigiano (you can add more too if you want)
- 200 ml of milk
- 10g of corn starch
- pinch of salt
- couple dashes of pepper
- couple dashes of nutmeg

1. Cut the tops off the fennel bulbs and slice off the bottom part about half an inch up
2. Slice the fennel like you would an onion (check the pics!)
3. Take out a pan and put in the the 3 TBSP of EVOO and turn the heat on low.
4. Add in the fennel, a pinch of salt, and a couple dashes each of pepper and nutmeg then mix it all together.
5. Cool the fennel for a few minutes until it starts to soften up.
6. Once the fennel has softened (you want it to end up like caramelized onions) measure out 150ml of the milk and add that to the pan and stir.
7. Cover the pan and let cook on low heat, stirring occasionally for about 5 minutes.
8. If after 5 minutes you still want to let the fennel soften it’s ok to let it keep cooking, if, on the other hand it’s ok - take the remaining 50ml of milk and add the corn starch directly to it, mix to combine, then add to the fennel in the pan.
9. Cook for another 3-4 minutes until the sauce thickens up, stir occasionally.
10. Once everything is done, sprinkle the parmigiano on top, mix, and serve!

Did I mention that fennel is linked to several health benefits like digestion and regularity, heart health, bone health, and blood pressure. Come on! What are you waiting for? 😋😋

11/02/2021

Adding milk to your veggies?? What?!!

New recipe coming up in a couple hours! Check back in if you’re looking for something tonight!

09/02/2021

This was our first course tonight. We had one of Alessio’s old co-workers over (who is now a good friend) as he was in Tuscany for work.

I’m not here to talk about the linguine with polpa di ricci (linguine with sea urchin sauce) though (which was delicious btw).

I want to share what happens when someone makes pasta in a huge pan with no eye for portion sizes. 😂😂

“Do you think 500g will be enough?”

“How many of us are there?”

“4”

“Yah - I think so.”

“Maybe I’ll make a bit more just to be on the safe side...”

Everyone: “nooooooooooo!!!!!!” 😂

If you listen closely you’ll hear two different accents and also a little light blasphemy near the end.

Benvenuti al “sud”!

09/02/2021

Calamari ripieni / Stuffed Calamari - the final product! 🦑🇮🇹🦑🇮🇹🦑🇮🇹

These are pretty much a staple any time we have people over for seafood dinner, they’re easy to make, delicious, and delicious. 😉

You can make them easily but, ok, I’m being super transparent here, I bought them pre-made from a nearby fish shop as I didn’t have time and then prepared them at home.

I don’t always have time or la voglia (the desire) to make things from scratch and this is one of those times when I can totally trust that the already-made dish I’m buying will be sure to impress.

Do you do that too? Or am I alone here? 😅

09/02/2021

Who’s making dinner tonight already? We are! 🇮🇹

Calamari ripieni / stuffed calamari with linguine con polpa da ricci / linguine with sea urchin sauce.

Want to see the full recipe? Let me know in the comments! 🌊🐙🦑

28/10/2020

I saw a recipe the other day on a well known food blog where they added in wine and tomato sauce all together WITH raw spaghetti as a “one pot dish” and after recovering from my initial shock, remembered that I had promised to share with you all a ragù recipe.

Want to make a super simple fail proof ragù? One that we actually eat over here?

Here’s the exact recipe that we follow to make delicious lasagna, baked pasta, spaghetti, and any other dish needing a meat sauce.

You’re going to need:
- diced small onion, celery, and carrot (nothing crazy, even a few TBSP of each is ok) 🥕🧅
- extra virgin olive oil (few TBSP)
- ground beef 🐮
- ground pork 🐷
- red wine (optional but recommended - I use about 250ml but you’re looking for enough to basically almost cover the meat)🍷
- tomato sauce (one jar of about 750ml)🥫
- salt
- k**b of butter (optional)

First a word about quantities since you probably notice I didn’t put any.

When we buy ground beef here it comes in the usual package sizes by weight usually hovering around a kg (about 2 lbs). I will buy one or two packages depending on how much ragù I am making. For the ground pork - you don’t need a 1:1 ratio. Just a little bit - maybe the amount you’d expect from 4-5 sausages. We have smaller packages here of a few hundred grams and I’ll get one or two of those depending on how much I’m making. Note that the ground beef is usually labeled as being for ragù because the fat content is higher, but this is entirely up to you. You can use lean ground beef if you like.

For everything else - the wine, the tomato sauce, etc you’ll adjust up or down depending on how thick you want your sauce or how much wine you might want to use.

Everything is done in stages so you can’t go wrong. Even if you add in a whole bottle of wine because that’s how you roll, you needn’t worry about how this will affect the taste because you’re going to boil it down until all the alcohol has evaporated and you’re left with tender, delicious (kinda since I wouldn’t really eat the ragù at this point without the tomato sauce). So feel free to add in just a glass, or an entire bottle if you prefer. The main difference will be in the amount of time you need to wait before moving on.

Also - note that I don’t have any herbs or spices in here either. This isn’t a mistake. Everyone has their own recipe for ragù and I’m sure people in Bologna are already shaking their heads at what I’m sharing with you, but if you look up “ragù di carne” in Google and check the first page of results I’d be willing to bet that all of them only have salt and maybe pepper as the only “spices” in their recipe.

That being said, I have talked to chefs before who have their own secret fresh herb blends that they put together in their ragù - often handpicked and tied together then removed later - but this is not the norm.

Fundamentally Italian cooking is simple and doesn’t have a lot of herbs and spices and mixtures of weird ingredients and cooking methods to prepare your favorite dish. Nine times out of ten it’s just a few ingredients, cooked simply, that will knock your socks off. The difference is that the ingredients are high quality and in season.

So, now that I’ve given my brief digression - let’s move into how to make this super simple fail proof ragù!

1. Get out a large pot and add enough olive oil to lightly cover the bottom. This is usually about 2-3 TBSP. Turn the heat in low-medium.
2. Add in the diced onion, carrot, and celery. This is your “soffritto” and serves to add flavor to the sauce. You don’t need to add in huge quantities. When we make ragù we usually add in about a 1/3C and that’s that. I’m not sure about where you’re from - but here I can buy it in the frozen food aisle in small boxes already diced and this is very convenient. Otherwise - depending on your knife skills - you could quickly dice a half a small onion, a small carrot and one celery stalk together, or add them to a food processor for a quick chop and that’s good.
3. Cook the soffritto and stir occasionally to ensure you’re not burning anything, checking for the onions to be translucent.
4. Turn up the heat to medium. Add in the ground beef and pork. Stir and break up into chunks if you need to. This is where you can add in a k**b of butter if you like. I haven’t decided yet whether this makes a huge difference to the overall product or not, but I like butter so I usually add in a little. Keep cooking until all if the juices have evaporated and you’re almost left with a dry pot.
5. Add in the wine and cook until you’re left with an almost dry pot. You can add in just a glass, or add in enough to almost cover the meat. We can buy small cartons of cooking wine here and I will usually use one if I’m using jus tone package of ground beef or two if I’m making more.
6. Add in the tomato sauce and slightly lower the heat as you’ll be simmering now. This is the last step and the time needed will depend on how thick you want your sauce.

If you’re making lasagna - keep the sauce a bit “wetter” as you’ll need the sauce to have some liquid to it to cook your lasagna sfoglie (lasagna pasta “noodles”).

If you’re making spaghetti - make this as thick as you like!

7. Once you’ve gotten your sauce to about the thickness that you like - adjust the salt to your preference and you’re done.

Seriously - that’s it!

Let me know how this works out for you and if you have any questions - just ask!

Buon appetito! 🍝

19/10/2020

Quick poll - for a 6 person lunch do you think 2 8-portion lasagne, 1 8-portion artichoke lasagna, 2 pans of melanzane alla parmigiana, and friselle with tomatoes is enough?

Answer - JUST BARELY! 😂😂

Interested in any of the recipes here? Let me know which and I’ll post them ASAP.🇮🇹❤️🇮🇹❤️

15/10/2020

Assaggi (little tastes) of life in Italy #1

🇨🇦 “I’m going grocery shopping do we need anything in particular?”

🇮🇹 “Get pasta, we’re out.”

😂😂

02/07/2020

Want a quick make-ahead totally authentic Tuscan dish to use up your day-old bread?

I knew it! (You said, “yes”, right?)

Panzanella to the rescue! This is a typical dish made in the summer to use up older bread and was considered good homecookin’.

Ok so here’s what you need:

Day old (or older) bread - it needs to be dried out
Cucumbers 🥒
Tomatoes 🍅
Onion 🧅
Tuna (2 cans)
Extra virgin olive oil (optional)
Red or white wine vinegar
Salt
Pepper

So you’ll notice that I didn’t give you quantities. This was on purpose.

You’ll need everything here, but the quantities are up to you depending on how much you like one ingredient or another.

First things first, break your bread into larger pieces and put them in a pot or another large bowl. You’re going to put some water over it (but not a lot, maybe a small cup at a time) and let it soak. Once you’ve done this add about a 1/4 C of the wine vinegar and let the bread and water/vinegar soak while you prepare the rest. Don’t over do it with the vinegar though because if it’s too strong later on it’s hard to adjust for that. You can always add more, it’s hard to take it out once it’s soaked in.

The goal with the bread is to soften it and then to eventually crumble it and mix it with the other ingredients so it’s important that you don’t over saturate it. You know that disgusting soggy feeling when you buy Subway and the dressing soaks through? You need to get almost to that level but not quite.

So, while your bread is soaking take this opportunity to slice your cucumbers, tomatoes, and onion and out them into the bowl where the salad will be.

Add the tuna including the oil, and mix it together with the other salad ingredients.

About this time you should check your bread and see how it’s coming along. It might need to be rotated (depending on how much you’ve put in there). If you see some soft pieces pick them up, squeeze it to get the water out, and rub them between your hands to break off pieces into the other bowl with the rest of the salad ingredients.

Mix the salad and add in a little salt and pepper. Have a taste and see if the vinegar is too strong, or not strong enough. If it’s not strong enough add a little more and if it’s too strong you can try adding in more cucumber/tomato/onion to weaken it a bit. If you also need more oil feel free to drizzle in a little EVOO too.

Keep going with the bread and other ingredients until you get a quantity that you like. This is the beauty of the panzanella!

Once done, cover it and put it in the fridge for a few hours or overnight to let all the tastes intermingle, then take it out an hour or so before serving, give it a stir and you’re good to go!

I’ve added some pics for you to have a look - try it and let me know how it goes!

31/05/2020

Something delicious this way comes for lunch!

🦐🐟🦐🐟🦐🐟

05/05/2020

I never had eggplant until I moved to Italy. Most of the meals we had growing up were accompanied with the regular cast of vegetable standards - carrots, peas, green beans, broccoli, or cauliflower. The odd time Brussel sprouts would rear their disgusting ugly heads and I would dutifully choke back the bare minimum that my mom would put on my plate.

Eggplant is delicious and can be made in many different ways. Grilled and topped with a drizzle of olive oil, fresh parsley and garlic, or fried and layered between mozzarella cheese and tomato sauce, even stuffed with ground beef and spices I highly recommend trying eggplant if you haven’t before.

There are different types but choosing the longer, deep purple, ones that look a bit pruny and wrinkly at the head are the best. Don’t make the mistake of just getting ones that are picture perfect - the best ones look aged, like they’ve had a full life but now need to get up in the middle of the night to relieve themselves.

For a super simple dish (and my favorite) try the following.

Wash the eggplants and then slice it in quarters lengthwise. Cut out a large part of the white innards and leave the purple skin with about 1cm or less of the white attached. Then take each slice and dice them. You want to have small to medium sized uniform pieces.

Get a pan, add in olive oil (about 3 tablespoons or so), a few peeled garlic cloves and a hot pepper if you want some spice.

Turn on the stovetop on low heat, and after you’ve let the garlic and pepper get familiar with the oil add in the eggplant.

The eggplant will take a while to cook so while you’re waiting you can grab some cherry tomatoes and cut those up to add in.

Once the tomatoes are cut up, add them in and let the waiting begin.

You’ll know the eggplant and tomato is done when the eggplants are soft and the inside is almost mushy and the tomatoes have been cooked and their sweet juices melted into the mix.

At this point you can add in a little fresh basil for taste and adjust with salt.

This makes a delicious side dish with almost any meat, or if you’re looking for a light lunch, add in fresh ricotta and eat them in a delicious bowl of healthy goodness.

You can also mix the eggplant and tomato with ricotta and use this as a sauce for pasta if you wish. This is also an exceptionally good dish and goes well with a little freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano.

I had eggplant and tomato with fresh ricotta for dinner last night and lunch today and if I hadn’t eaten it all I would have also had it tomorrow.

Try this dish, I know you’ll love it! 🍆 🍅🧄🌶

19/04/2020

Quarantine dinners have been a real treat here at MR Palace since Alessio has been stepping up his culinary game to stave off the boredom of the days.

Here we have oven roasted potatoes with onion and tomatoes, lightly breaded sea bass (spigola) cooked in the oven with a carpaccio of sea bass cooked in fresh lemon juice and seasoned with a little salt, olive oil, and fresh parsley.

The key elements here is fresh fish, especially if you plan to make a carpaccio with it or to cook it without heat.

Everything else is simple - some chopping, light breading (just sprinkled some bread crumbs over the fish, no need to dredge) and popped in the oven. Fish needs less time than potatoes so keep that in mind.

The carpaccio can easily be made be squeezing fresh lemon juice (or lime, or even vinegar if you want a strong taste) over the fish and then letting it sit for a few minutes. Sprinkle a little fresh parsley and sea salt, and a drizzle of EVOO and you’re done!

This is something easy you can do at home if you’ve got access to fresh fish and feels like an expensive dinner on the sea side.

Think you’ll give this a try? Let me know! 😋😋

17/12/2019

Want more food posts and pics? Check back and follow the page here! My pre-New Years resolution is to be more active and show you all some of the best dishes and places to eat around this neck of the woods....where "neck" = Italy. 😜😜🍷🍝🍷🍷

17/10/2019

I've been to Venice 5 times and have another two trips planned this year and the scenery never gets old. I could photograph the Ponte dei Sospiri 1000 times and always come back to admire it again. Venice is truly the only place of its kind in the world. If you haven't been, go.

16/10/2019

An evening walk along the port in Viareggio.

15/10/2019

Not gonna lie. I did a total double take on this one. Granted, I was sipping on a Mojito at the time, but even without it I could still barely see straight. 😜😜 👀

14/10/2019

Thinking back to the good old days of heat and sun in Lucca this summer. It's starting to get chilly here again!! 🇮🇹

13/10/2019

Waiting for the afternoon swimming sessions to begin in Massarosa, I realized that not a single ripple was marring the water.

24/09/2019

Beautiful corridors in Venice. 🇮🇹❤️🇮🇹❤️

22/09/2019

Murano is great for glass, but have you ever looked at the architectural lines against the sky? So much texture and vibrancy! 🇮🇹

22/09/2019

Cutting through the less trafficked side streets of to get back to our hotel in we stumbled across this beautifully colored pair of buildings. Had to wait 5 minutes to wait for it to be completely empty of people before I snapped this quickly with my phone. No matter how many people though are travelling through Venice I always love going.

11/09/2019

So my parents came to visit for two and a half weeks and we packed SO much into the trip. Beach time and walks on the passeggiata in Viareggio, late morning walk and lunch in Lucca, a trip to Verona and Venice and many other wonderful moments spent having dinner at home under the pergola. On the last night we went to the (one of my favorite places to have carbonara al mare) and got there a little earlier to have an aperitivo up on the terrace. The drinks were great and the aperitivo snacks were even better! Highly recommended! 🙌 Where's your favorite aperitivo place?

07/07/2019

Who loves spaghetti with cozze for dinner?

23/04/2019

On this rainy day in Tuscany Italy nice to think of sunnier times down in Naples. Perfect for a long weekend Naples is the best place to go for food, beauty, and chaos. Impossibly narrow streets with pedestrians and two way traffic contending with eachother, Naples will make you suck-in your breath to squeeze past an ape and take your breath away from the sheer beauty of the views towards Vesuvius. All of this vigorous inhaling and exhaling might make one hyperventilate - bring an inhaler. 🤪🤪

15/04/2019

A couple years ago we drove up the hills behind Latina to Sermoneta. Along the way we ran into a hidden view of a lake, an antique car show, and horses grazing along the side of the road. I snapped this one quickly and promptly forgot about it until now.

12/04/2019

Doors in Pietrasanta.....not super close, but kinda close to aperitivo. 😂😂

Indirizzo

Lido Di Camaiore
55041

Telefono

+393284199960

Sito Web

http://flavoroftuscany.com/?page_id=13

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Our Story

You might have dreamed of being serenaded while floating down the canals in Venice, making a wish at the Trevi fountain, or taking in the beautiful panorama at the Cinque Terre. But, you might only get one chance to visit Italy in your lifetime. Let us help you make the experience as unique and enjoyable as you've imagined. We are a small team who have been fortunate (or, spoiled, rather) enough to live in Tuscany for the past several years. We've learned which places are great but only warrant half an afternoon (Leaning Tower) and which places deserve more than a cursory glance between tour bus stops (Siena). We've learned that the Uffizi is great, if you like art, but if you're not into it, then skip it, and that if you're looking for a handmade leather bag, the Florence markets are the worst place to go. We know where the best seafood, steak, pizza, pasta, and kid-friendly restaurants are. And if you're looking for romance on a budget, we've got you covered there too. Flavor of Tuscany is absolutely dedicated to making your trip to Italy a delight for all of your senses, starting with your tastebuds.