Appetizers
Focaccia with cherry tomatoes and oregano
An easy but unusual focaccia recipe which makes a rustic-textured, half wholewheat bread. Ideal to eat with cheeses and salad.
Aubergine (Eggplant) Caviar with lemon and yogurt
This eggplant caviar is fresh and lemony. A little cumin gives it a hint of the Middle East.
Aubergine (Eggplant) Crostini
Crostini are little appetizers that you can invent yourself depending on what’s in season and what ingredients you happen to have around. It is easy to cook eggplant in too much oil, since it is something of an oil sponge… this recipe seals the eggplant before oil is added so that you use less oil.
Tomato and Basil bruschetta
In Italian, this simple but delicious tomato appetizer is pronounced "Brusketta". Obviously, use the tastiest tomatoes that you can get hold of. Often, cherry tomatoes have a lot more flavour than larger varieties.
Bean and Escarole Soup (or Crostini)
You can serve small quantities of this Tuscan bean dish on crostini, as an appetizer, or larger quantities as a hearty soup.
Salsa Verde Canapés
Crostini are little appetizers that you can invent yourself depending on what’s in season and what you have in the house. Salsa verde is a tangy herby sauce often served to accompany boiled meats, but delicious in its own right.
Eggplant /Aubergine Croquettes
One of the most delicious things invented! Best fried just before you serve them, but they are fine at room temperature too if it’s a hot day. These go quickly when we make them at our cooking school in Tuscany!
Fried Zucchini Blossoms
This is a dish to be made and savoured immediately. You can even make it as a pre-dinner nibble while you finish cooking something time-consuming with friends.
Sundried Tomatoes
Sundried tomatoes prepared like this tend to much tastier than the ones you find already prepared in oil.
Small Onions in a Balsamic Vinegar Reduction
Your guests will be fighting over these tangy onions! Remember to provide plenty of bread to mop up the delicious caramelized sauce coating them. At our cooking school in Tuscany, this side dish is one of the biggest hits!
Tuscan Chicken Liver Paté
This is the most classic of all Tuscan crostini. Even those who say they don’t like paté love this one!
Roast Peppers & Goat’s Cheese Canapés
Crostini are little appetizers that you can invent yourself depending on what’s in season and what ingredients you happen to have around. We often serve these crostini (which are red, white and yellow) alongside our green salsa verde crostini. A pretty combination!
Mushroom crostini
Best served warm, these crostini will have your guests demanding more. You'll see that the vin santo gives the mushrooms a very special flavour, and the butter gives them a melt in the mouth texture.
Rustic Focaccia
An easy but unusual focaccia recipe which makes a rustic-textured, half wholewheat bread. Ideal to eat with cheeses and salad.
Cecina – Baked chickpea pancake
There are versions of this all the way up to the French Riviera. In Livorno (Leghorn) it is served as an energy-packed sandwich.