La Cucina Toscana · Since the old country

Tuscan Italian Cooking Without Vegetable Oil

The slow, honest cooking of the Tuscan hills, where a meal begins with good extra virgin olive oil, sweet butter, and rendered lard. No vegetable or seed oils. Just bread, beans, herbs, and time.

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◆ Cooked only in olive oil, butter, lard & ghee ◆ Six time honored Tuscan dishes ◆ Real food, written for the home cook
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From the Hills of Tuscany

Six Recipes, Cooked the Old Way

Tuscan cooking is famously frugal and famously good. These six dishes lean on bread, beans, herbs, and slow heat, and every one of them is made with honest fats, never vegetable or seed oils.

Ribollita, a hearty Tuscan bread and bean soup I Firenze

Ribollita

⏱ 1 hr 40 min🍽 6 servings🔥 Easy

The famous "reboiled" Tuscan soup of cavolo nero, cannellini beans, and yesterday's bread, built on a slow soffritto in good olive oil. Peasant cooking at its most generous.

Ingredients

  • 5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus more to finish
  • 1 large yellow onion, finely diced
  • 2 carrots, diced
  • 2 celery stalks, diced
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 bunch cavolo nero (Tuscan kale), stems removed, chopped
  • 1/2 head savoy cabbage, shredded
  • 1 can (400g) chopped tomatoes
  • 2 cans (400g each) cannellini beans, drained
  • 6 cups vegetable broth
  • 1 sprig fresh rosemary, 1 bay leaf
  • 4 thick slices stale country bread
  • Sea salt and black pepper to taste

Method

  1. Warm the olive oil in a large heavy pot over medium heat. Add onion, carrot, and celery and cook gently for 12 minutes until soft and sweet. Stir in the garlic for 1 minute.
  2. Add the cavolo nero and cabbage and let them wilt down, about 6 minutes. Pour in the tomatoes and cook 5 minutes.
  3. Mash half the cannellini beans with a fork, then add all the beans, broth, rosemary, and bay leaf. Simmer gently for 45 minutes.
  4. Tear the stale bread into the pot and stir until it dissolves into the soup and thickens it. Season well with salt and pepper.
  5. Rest off the heat for 20 minutes, then reheat gently. Serve in deep bowls with a generous drizzle of olive oil over the top.
Bistecca alla Fiorentina, a thick grilled Tuscan T-bone steak II Chianti

Bistecca alla Fiorentina

⏱ 40 min🍽 2 to 3 servings🔥 Medium

The great Florentine T-bone, cut thick, grilled hard over wood embers, and finished with nothing more than olive oil, salt, and a squeeze of lemon. Restraint is the whole secret.

Ingredients

  • 1 T-bone or porterhouse steak, about 1.2 kg, cut 4cm thick
  • 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • Coarse sea salt
  • Freshly cracked black pepper
  • 1 lemon, cut into wedges
  • 1 sprig rosemary (optional, for the embers)

Method

  1. Take the steak out of the fridge at least 1 hour before cooking so it comes fully to room temperature. Pat it very dry.
  2. Build a hot fire and let it burn down to glowing embers, or heat a cast iron grill pan until smoking. Do not oil the meat yet.
  3. Grill the steak 5 to 6 minutes on the first side without moving it, then 5 to 6 minutes on the second side. Stand it on the bone edge for 2 minutes to render.
  4. Transfer to a board and rest 10 minutes. It should be charred outside and rare to medium rare within.
  5. Slice the meat off the bone, season with coarse salt and pepper, drizzle generously with olive oil, and serve with lemon wedges.
Pappardelle al cinghiale, wide Tuscan pasta with wild boar ragu III Maremma

Pappardelle al Cinghiale

⏱ 3 hr🍽 6 servings🔥 Medium

Wide ribbons of pasta under a deep, dark ragu of wild boar braised in Chianti, juniper, and herbs. The signature plate of the Maremma, started in lard and olive oil.

Ingredients

  • 800g wild boar shoulder (or pork shoulder), diced
  • 2 tbsp lard
  • 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 onion, 1 carrot, 1 celery stalk, all finely diced
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 cups Chianti or dry red wine
  • 1 can (400g) crushed tomatoes
  • 2 cups beef or game broth
  • 4 juniper berries, 2 bay leaves, 1 sprig rosemary
  • 500g fresh pappardelle
  • Pecorino Toscano, grated, to serve
  • Sea salt and black pepper

Method

  1. If you have time, marinate the boar overnight in 1 cup of the wine with the juniper and bay. Drain and pat dry, reserving the marinade.
  2. Melt the lard with the olive oil in a heavy pot. Brown the meat well in batches, then set aside.
  3. Soften the onion, carrot, and celery in the same pot for 10 minutes, add the garlic for 1 minute, then return the meat.
  4. Pour in the wine and let it bubble down by half. Add the tomatoes, broth, rosemary, and remaining bay. Cover and braise on low for 2 hours until the meat falls apart.
  5. Shred the meat into the sauce and reduce uncovered until glossy. Season well. Boil the pappardelle, toss with the ragu and a ladle of pasta water, and finish with pecorino.
Pollo alla cacciatora, Tuscan hunter style braised chicken IV Siena

Pollo alla Cacciatora

⏱ 1 hr 20 min🍽 4 servings🔥 Easy

Hunter's chicken braised with tomatoes, rosemary, and white wine until the meat slips from the bone. Honest, rustic Tuscan home cooking, all done in one pan with good olive oil.

Ingredients

  • 1 whole chicken, cut into 8 pieces
  • 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 onion, sliced
  • 3 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 1 cup dry white wine
  • 1 can (400g) whole peeled tomatoes, crushed by hand
  • 1 cup chicken broth
  • 2 sprigs rosemary, 1 sprig sage
  • Handful of black olives (optional)
  • Sea salt and black pepper to taste

Method

  1. Season the chicken well. Warm the olive oil in a wide pan over medium high heat and brown the pieces all over, about 10 minutes. Set aside.
  2. Lower the heat, add the onion and cook until soft, then the garlic for 1 minute.
  3. Pour in the white wine and let it reduce by half, scraping up the browned bits.
  4. Add the tomatoes, broth, rosemary, and sage. Return the chicken to the pan, cover, and simmer gently for 45 minutes.
  5. Uncover, stir in the olives, and let the sauce thicken for 10 minutes. Adjust salt and pepper and serve with bread to mop the pan.
Fagioli all'uccelletto, Tuscan cannellini beans in tomato and sage V Lucca

Fagioli all'Uccelletto

⏱ 45 min🍽 4 servings🔥 Easy

Soft cannellini beans stewed slowly with garlic, sage, and tomato in olive oil. The Tuscans are nicknamed the bean eaters, and this is the dish that earned the name.

Ingredients

  • 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 3 cloves garlic, lightly smashed
  • 8 fresh sage leaves
  • 2 cans (400g each) cannellini beans, drained (or 3 cups cooked dried beans)
  • 1 can (400g) chopped tomatoes
  • Pinch of chili flakes (optional)
  • Sea salt and black pepper to taste
  • Crusty bread, to serve

Method

  1. Warm the olive oil in a saucepan over medium low heat. Add the garlic and sage and let them perfume the oil for 2 minutes without browning.
  2. Add the tomatoes and chili and cook for 10 minutes until thickened slightly.
  3. Stir in the cannellini beans gently so they keep their shape. Add a splash of water if it looks dry.
  4. Simmer very gently for 20 minutes so the beans drink up the sauce. Season with salt and pepper.
  5. Rest a few minutes off the heat, drizzle with a little more olive oil, and serve warm with crusty bread.
Cantucci, Tuscan almond biscotti for dipping in vin santo VI Prato

Cantucci di Prato

⏱ 1 hr🍽 30 biscuits🔥 Medium

The crisp twice baked almond biscuits of Prato, bound with butter and eggs and meant for dunking in a glass of vin santo. A sweet, simple ending to any Tuscan meal.

Ingredients

  • 300g all purpose flour
  • 200g caster sugar
  • 3 large eggs (plus 1 yolk for glazing)
  • 60g unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 200g whole almonds, unpeeled
  • Zest of 1 orange
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • Pinch of fine salt

Method

  1. Heat the oven to 170C (340F) and line a baking sheet with parchment. Toast the almonds for 8 minutes, then set aside.
  2. Beat the softened butter with the sugar, then the eggs one at a time, the vanilla, and the orange zest.
  3. Fold in the flour, baking powder, and salt to a sticky dough, then work in the almonds.
  4. Shape into two long logs on the sheet, brush with beaten yolk, and bake 25 minutes until pale gold and firm.
  5. Cool 10 minutes, then slice each log on the diagonal into 2cm pieces. Lay them cut side down and bake again for 12 minutes until crisp. Cool fully before serving with vin santo.
✨ Round Out Your Routine

Complement Your Tuscan Table with ShapeON

A kitchen full of real ingredients is the foundation of feeling well. ShapeON is a natural supplement built to sit alongside that foundation as part of a balanced diet and an active lifestyle.

Starter ShapeON 2 bottle pack
2 Bottles
Was $358.00
$79.98 / bottle
Total: $159.96
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Most Popular ShapeON 3 bottle pack
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Was $537.00
$69.98 / bottle
Total: $209.94
You Save $327.06!
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Best Value ShapeON 6 bottle pack
6 Bottles
Was $1,074.00
$49.98 / bottle
Total: $299.88
You Save $774.12!
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Order Now
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60-Day Money-Back Guarantee. Every ShapeON order is protected for a full 60 days through BuyGoods, so you can give it an honest try as part of your daily routine.

A rustic Tuscan kitchen table set with olive oil, bread and tomatoes
Our Kitchen

Cooking the Way the Tuscan Hills Always Have

Mirmae Cucina is a small recipe kitchen devoted to the everyday food of Tuscany, the cooking known as cucina povera, the cooking of making something wonderful from very little.

We keep our pantry honest. Everything here is made with extra virgin olive oil, butter, lard, or ghee, and never with vegetable or seed oils. Beans, bread, herbs, slow heat, and a good bottle of Chianti do most of the work.

Each recipe is written plainly, in real measures, for the home cook who wants to slow down and eat well. No shortcuts, no mystery ingredients, just the dishes a Tuscan grandmother would recognize.

  • ◆ Only real, traditional fats
  • ◆ Seasonal, simple ingredients
  • ◆ Written for slow home cooking
  • ◆ Rooted in cucina povera