Italian Meat Recipes
Tuscan meat cooking is slow and generous: roasts perfumed with rosemary, sage and garlic, and braises that simmer for hours in wine until the meat falls apart. It is the food of Sunday lunches and family celebrations.
These are the meat dishes we teach in our hands-on cooking classes: arista roast pork loin, stracotto beef braised in red wine, chicken cacciatora with olives and orange, chicken involtini, guinea fowl with walnuts and grapes, turkey breast cooked in milk, polpettone, herby pork stew, a rich ragù and classic Tuscan chicken liver crostini.
Turkey breast roll stuffed with herbs and grapes, cooked in milk
This is our family dish which has been passed down through the generations and adapted a little. A butterflied turkey breast is stuffed with herbs and grapes, rolled up and tied and cooked in milk.
Guinea fowl with walnuts and grapes: a Tuscan harvest recipe
This is a great dish for the autumn, with the nuts adding texture and the just-harvested grapes adding a smooth sweetness.
Asparagus and sausage pasta sauce
A quick spring pasta sauce of asparagus and Italian sausage, made creamy by blending part of the asparagus with olive oil. No cream needed. Ready in 30 minutes.
Tuscan pork stew with white wine, sage and rosemary
The white wine, stock and slow cooking make the pieces of pork really melt in your mouth.
Polpettone: Tuscan meatloaf with vegetables, in tomato sauce
This dish is colourful, moist, flavoursome and very comforting.
Chicken involtini: stuffed chicken or turkey rolls in white wine
Chicken or turkey breast fillets are filled, rolled up and cooked to make a succulent, interesting dish.
Crostini toscani: Tuscan chicken liver pâté with capers and vin santo
This is the most classic of all Tuscan crostini. Even those who say they don’t like paté love this one!
Tuscan herb-crusted roast beef cooked on the stovetop with Vin Santo
Tuscan herb-crusted roast beef, cooked on the stovetop with rosemary, sage, and Vin Santo. Tender, thinly sliced beef with fragrant, herby pan juices.
Tuscan ragù: slow-cooked meat sauce with vegetables and sage
There are dozens of versions of ragù which are favourites in different regions of Italy. During our cooking classes in Tuscany, we teach this Tuscan version (using not much tomato).
Stracotto: Tuscan slow-cooked beef in red wine
The vegetables in this slow cooked dish produce a velvety-textured sauce which goes perfectly with the tender meat.
Arista: Tuscan roast pork loin with rosemary, sage and fennel
this is one of the classic tuscan roast meat dishes, herby and succulent.
Tuscan chicken cacciatora with red wine, olives and orange
Tuscan hunter’s-style chicken, slow-cooked in red wine with herbs, vegetables, black olives, and a hint of orange.