Dinner and a book is supported by the Rex and Alice A. Martin Foundation of Elkhart, celebrating the spirit of Alice Martin and her love of good food and good friends.

She is a chef, American and a food writer, he a retired Venetian banker.

Now they are taking another audacious leap, leaving exquisite Venice to live in a roughly renovated stable in Tuscany.

It's all part of Marlena De Blasi's second book, A Thousand Days in Tuscany.

Let's meet my guests, Joe DiMaggio, to find out more.

Welcome, Joe.

Thank you, Gail.

Thank you.

It's so great to be back in the studio.

I love having you.

You are just one of my favorite guests.

You add so much to this show and to the region and in--oh, let's get to the book, right?

Yeah, absolutely.

So we did A Thousand Days in Venice before.

Same author.

So this is the continuum of that.

And now they have moved to Tuscany.

And why did they move to Tuscany?

Well, he--he wanted to do it.

That was his idea.

He said, 'I've grown up in Venice' and of course, she loves it.

So like, oh, and they go to Tuscany.

Yeah.

And the move to Tuscany is also funny.

I mean, the movers are Albanians.

The Albanians.

Yeah.

When they first get there, all these people just kind of show up out of nowhere.

Yeah.

And that's how it's done.

You know, you just get a group of people and they are packing all their things.

They drive to Tuscany and police are following because they aren't sure who those movers are, what it all means and fun.

I mean, they have a little bite to eat and--and the police stay around and have a little something.

Wouldn't that be nice if we did that?.

That would be great.

And part of this whole culture.

And, you know, it's so great reading the book because it kind of takes you back to a simpler time, obviously, where they all eat together, they drink together from morning till night, everyone.

It's all communal.

They do everything.

They help each other that, you know, in the book, where they help each other pick each other's olives and grapes and everything, they just do it as a big--as a big family.

La Famiglia, you know.

Yes.

And when they arrive, they see the stable that's been converted for them.

And then all these people from this little area arrive and start cleaning the stables.

It was supposed to have been cleaned.

It's been renovated.

But it has dust and, you know.

So they all help out.

And it was done pretty cheaply.

And you'll learn later on in the book, I won't give too much away, but that the owners, the Lucis or whatever, they--they got a government assistance to add to increase tourism.

It was part of the tourism package where they said it would be, you know, doing that.

And they basically did everything on the cheap-- And they need to and they thought, well, maybe these people will come and stay for a while and then leave.

But we still fulfilled our commitment.

And then, of course, everybody meets everybody.

And it's almost too good to be true.

But it is.

It's fun.

Let's talk about our Tuscan menu today.

What are you doing?

So what I'm going to do is I'm going to make a panzanella, which is a super rustic old Italian basically Tuscany salad.

It's made with stale bread.

And this is, you know, a lot of these recipes and what we're doing today, a lot of it is very earthy.

It's you know, they forage for things.

You know, they forage for mushrooms, they go truffle hunting, things like that.

This salad is super simple and you're not going to believe how good it is.

The dressing is really, really easy to make.

It's basically a bunch of chopped up cubed things we're going to throw into a bowl with some stale, crusty bread that we're going to rejuvenate with the dressing.

And you're gonna let it sit a little bit and you're not going to be good at this.

So I'm going to start chopping.

You start chopping.

And with my--I'm going to do a Tuscan soup here.

It's--it's got some sausage.

I chopped up some sausage and added onions.

Now I'm going to add some spinach.

And actually you can add as much as you want.

I have some frozen here.

I've defrosted.

And if you're making a smaller portion, just use a portion of it.

And then I have--I'm supposed to use six cups of chicken broth.

You know, normally Joe and I don't use chicken broth.

We use vegetable broth.

But I know all of you are coming to dinner.

So I thought, well, we'll add a little chicken broth.

A little extra kick.

Yes, a little extra kick.

And besides, it's going to help our joints, you know, A little bone broth.

Little bone broth.

And so I will be heating this up and then I will add the potatoes.

And then I even brought some fennel.

And of course, this is very simple, too.

Yeah, everything's really simple.

And you'll notice in the book when they do a lot of their dishes, it's almost Shepherd's style where they're just really doing things.

And, you know, they talk about, you know, like the wild boar, the leg of boar and the lamb.

I mean, they'll literally stew things for days and days and days.

That haunch.

One of the neighbors, Barlozzo.

Barlozzo, yeah.

Yes.

He brings this and leaves it on their doorstep.

And of course, they think it's something that's passed out there on the step.

But it's--it is a delicacy.

I mean, it's a leg of boar, but they're and they're soaking it.

They're-- Brazing it in wine and just soaking it for days And then, the fifth day he says it's ready.

It's ready.

It's ready.

So all kinds of exciting things happen and they do have--they have a marvelous time.

They get to know these people.

And I just wanted to mention the author.

She loves to decorate no matter where she is.

Right.

And if you remember, in A Thousand Days in Venice, the first book, they described her home in detail about how extremely detailed, decorated it was with drapes and curtains and fabrics and, you know, colors and rich colors and a wall-- Scented candles and towels everywhere.

And her husband, you know, every time he hears about a decorating idea, he just sort of mumbles crazy stuff Like, oh, gosh, what is she doing now?

Right.

Well, she gets into this right away and she wants to paint the old Italian tile or the new tile she wants to paint.

Yeah, the new tile.

Yeah, she said.

And then she brings out her brocades and she's hanging things and there are-- fabrics and whatnot.

And this neighbor.

But also he comes in and he says, What are you doing in here?

Of course, he's Italian.

He actually was born in that stable.

Oh, right.

Right, right.

I forgot about that.

Yes.

And he just can't imagine why you have to decorate, dress up all this stuff here.

But she is just having-- Because it literally was just an old stable, right?

Yes.

That they kind of renovated, of sorts.

And there's one little section I do want to read because you know this--some of you remember and I didn't see this, but Donna Reed was this homemaker that was always tidy when her husband came home.

A little Peter Pan collar, and she flits around and--and she says Barlozzo arrives at four bells, unsmiling and at ease with silence.

His Tuscan reserve clashes with my piffling chatter and my Donna Reed twirling around him, you know, just like With an apron twirl, you know, blond.

320 00:07:35,223 --> 00:07:36,179 Yes.

And then fluffing up the pillow and he sits down.

He's looking like, who is this?

Who let her--?

Who is this?

What have you done with my wife?

And she offered him a glass of water, which he refuses saying, 'Acqua fa ruggine', water makes rust.

'Once I exchanged his water for wine, he drains half the glass and without preamble reveals that he was born in this house'.

So she does have a good sense of humor about herself.

She, she, she does.

And what I like about her writing in her style is that she's very raw.

She--it's interesting to me.

Something that I picked up on is a lot of times when you read books, you don't necessarily have them talk about like guttural feelings, but she talks about how hungry they are and how they're ravaged and hungry and they're just, you know, shoveling food in their mouths.

And it's just kind of interesting.

But I appreciate that it's raw.

It's real.

Well, we're--we're enjoying it because we're not eating it.

We can smell it.

We think we can.

Sure.

Very descriptive.Her food.

I mean, she's a brilliant food writer.

She is.

And that's actually what she does in her life, too.

I've added two cut up potatoes, and so we're going to cook and cook and cook this and let this--well, I think I'm going to go with the heavier flame here.

Time is flying Tempus Fugit.

So and now all I have to do is add at the end there's some evaporated milk and we'll do a little salt and pepper.

And I actually brought some if I can find it here.

I brought a little fennel seed because I love the smell of fennel in Italian.

We're going to put a little in the recipe, just call for it.

But hey.

And what I'm doing is I'm simply chopping up these vegetables.

It's really simple.

We've got a red pepper, a yellow pepper, we've got tomatoes.

I've got a--I use an English cucumber or also known as a hothouse cucumber.

Seedless, but they do have a little bit of seed.

So I did scrape those out and basically we're just chopping everything up in one inch cubes or as close to that as you can get.

Again, this is rustic.

It's homey, does not need to be fancy.

It does not need to be perfect.

But the colors come together beautifully in the flavors.

We're going to do some fresh basil in here.

And the great thing about a panzanella salad is it's a throw, you know, it's an homage to the Italian flag.

You've got your white from the bread, you've got your red from the tomatoes.

He thinks of everything.

Oh yes, it's beautiful.

I just love the colors of your tomatoes here.

And I've put the lid on.

Let this cook a while, added the potatoes, remember spinach broth, sausage and onion.

And we let that cook and cover it up.

And that's our Tuscan soup.

But we--we need to have the potatoes cook.

You know, I find at first I thought, oh my gosh, how is she going to handle all of this?

Because she handles multiple scenes of people coming and going.

There's a lot going on.

There's a lot of movement all over the place.

You'll notice that when you read the book, it's like there's always something going on.

There's always different people coming and going, and they're having these suppers at the you know what they're-- They go to the bar, Centrale, just some meters up the hill and they can go there any time and have a dinner and meet people.

And it's rustic.

And I'm getting the signal here that we need to show some pictures of some Tuscan stables and some Tuscan countryside.

And then when we come back, we're going to make some more Tuscan food for you.

Stay with us.

And our book is A Thousand Days in Tuscany, and I'm there in Tuscany with my friend Joe DiMaggio.

Gail, speaking of Tuscany, before we go any further, how about we have a little--little vino little Toscana.

OK. Like they do in the book, you know?

Yes.

So I brought some Santo Cristina.

This is a classic Italian Tuscan wine from the Tuscany region.

Lots of grape, lots of fruit forwardness to it.

Pretty, pretty easy to find.

Tuscan wines are pretty readily available.

But I think before we go any further, we should salute,.

Salute.

And to you and you and everybody.

Everybody here.

Mm hmm.

I mean, it's what they do in the book.

They drink from--.

This is nice.

Isn't that nice?

Yes.

It has a hint of cinnamon and a little bit of grape, well, a lot of grape.

That's very nice.

And so my soup is cooking here.

Perfect.

Yeah, that looks great.

Like almost like an Italian wedding soup.

Really, really.

Really, really.

Yes.

And you're making your salad.

Yeah.

So I've got all the stuff in the panzanella.

I'm going to add some capers to the top of this, the capers at a really nice, earthy element to it.

And then we're going to make the dressing really quickly, which is really simple.

I'm going to take about a half a cup of olive oil, make sure it's Italian olive oil.

Obviously.

We're going to do about a clove of garlic.

I just did a little smash and chopped garlic on that.

We're going to do about three tablespoons of champagne vine--vinegar.

And that you're not going to believe how simple this is and how amazing it is, and then really this is the trick ingredient, just a little bit of Dijon mustard.

And what the Dijon mustard does is it adds a nice rich element to it, a nice tartness, but it also helps emulsify the vinegar.

So it makes it nice and thick and actually comes up little fresh ground pepper, always fresh ground pepper, Wonderful.

Little salt, sea salt.

I prefer the Himalayan sea salt.

You can find these anywhere, a little bit of that.

And we're simply just going to whisk this together.

And again, it's so simple, but you're not going to believe how good it is.

And then once we get this all together, if you can see that mustard starts to help emulsify that dressing, it's going to thicken it up.

It's going to make it all bind together.

Emulsification.

You could also do this in a blender, but it's really not necessary.

Oh, this is more Italian.

Yes.

And then we're going to pour it over the salad.

And the best part about the salad is the longer it sits, the better it gets.

What you want to happen is you want these--these bread cubes to absorb that dressing and then it gets nice and incorporates.

We're just going to stir this up a little bit and then I'm going to hit it at the end with a little extra salt and pepper.

And would you let that sit for a while?

I would let it sit, actually.

When I make this at home, I let it--I try to make it the day before and I let it sit overnight.

And then it's the next day.

I love it.

Everything, all the juices and all of the caper juice and the--the vinegar and the olive oil, the dressing, it all gets incorporated and it just becomes one delicious, cohesive salad.

I use some shallots in this.

You do want a raw onio.?

A lot of panzanella recipes call for red onion.

I find red onion, raw red onion to be a little too acidic and a little too--.

It's strong.

Acrid for me.

So I prefer shallots.

They have a little more of a mild flavor.

I find that I prefer that in a raw and a raw presentation.

So we're just going to let that sit.

And I'm just saying I have--.

Soup is good?

The soup is good, actually.

It's nice and thick.

You can make this thinner if you wish and you add a little milk, you can add evaporated or I have to have lactose intolerant.

So I'm adding that and a little more salt.

And that will be--it could be the main course.

It could be the first course.

Let's make it the first course.

Make it first course.

Because you're going to do the second course.

653 00:15:10,589 --> 00:15:11,219 Yeah/ So now what I'm going to make is a really, really earthy, earthy, earthy, homemade, homemade Tuscan dish.

I'm going to do a pasta.

I'm going to do a pappardelle.

Pappardelle is the big thick ribbon pasta.

And typically they come with egg.

I actually found one without egg because for allergy reasons, Pappardelle means to gobble up.

So what's great about this pasta is anything you put in it kind of, like, all incorporates.

So we're going to do a little porcini mushroom and these porcinis, I bought them dried and then I rehydrated them, reincorporated them.

They have such a delicious earthy just, just-- I'm in the woods, earthy, woodsy flavor that's going to be great.

And then they talk incessantly in the book about chestnuts, about roasted chestnuts.

So I got some roasted chestnuts.

And these are going to add a really nice kind of a sweeter but still earthy flavor.

When they all come together with the pasta, we're going to do a little shredded Parm in there.

So delicious.

So I'm going to start with my pan again.

You always want to let your pan get warmed up before you put olive oil in it.

Let the pan warm up for a lot of reasons.

The pan'll warm up.

What it does is it opens up some of the pores in the pan.

When you put the olive oil in, it will incorporate into the pan and spread out evenly.

So you're not going to get any sticking.

I've already cooked the pasta to perfectly al dente because I'm just going to throw it in at the last minute.

And this recipe is really you can kind of make whatever changes you want.

I'm going to saute some shallots and some fresh garlic down in that.

He's---Oh, that's wonderful.

I'm drizzling some olive oil on my bread and I've added some sea salt and some--some tomatoes with some herbs on others.

And it's really like a sandwich.

In fact, the Spanish eat something like this for breakfast, not--they have tomatoes, olive oil on sliced bread.

And it is a wonderful breakfast.

This is our--it could be our first course, actually.

And so some people will use other things, you know, some the little green things you're going to add--.

Capers.

Capers.

Yeah.

So we're building a little appetizer tray and my soup is coming along.

Soup looks great.

The wine is coming along right back to the wine.

Cheers.

Cheers again.

We should do that every time.

Oh, my goodness.

Oh, now the other thing this--she packs everything into this book.

She's there.

She's going to write another book.

So she--she wants to go to every festival that's being held.

She is all in.

Anything that's happening in that region and that town.

She volunteers for everything she wants to help pick olives, she wants to help in the vineyard, you know, all these families come together, she signs up for it, she's down.

And it is tiring.

We don't hear too much about Fernando.

Sometimes he kind of drifts into the background Right.

I felt like it was a little strange.

It was a little strange.

And Bartalozzo takes on more of a front position.

But I think it's also because he leads them into all these adventures.

He'll come at four o'clock and say, tomorrow, I want you to be ready at four.

We're going to go be there.

Yes, we're going to go there.

And one day she dresses up and they're going to another festival.

She gets jodhpurs on her boots and her lacy white--.

She dresses for every event.

And a leather jacket and a fedora and off.

She's ready to go.

I mean, and she loves to dress.

I mean, this woman, she said she collects costume--clothes like costumes.

So add that to the--.

And fabrics, yeah.

This woman has fun.

And I have a friend like this and life is entertaining with this person.Very much so.

She is very entertaining.

Again, she's very raw, very real.

The only thing that I--that I wanted to bring up that I don't know if anyone else if you've read the book or if you're reading the book, I did find myself having to go back a few times and reread some sections because I felt like some of the--the parenthetical dialogue when she was speaking in another person's voice.

Yes.

Would go on for an extended period of time.

And I just had a check, which is, is this Fernando still speaking or is it--.

Barlozzo,?

Whatever it was, the fight scene?

Because guess what, it's not all paradise.

There is a little rocky road, right?

They have--they have a couple issues in the book, which is, again, that's real.

I mean, it can't all be perfect.

So, that was one of the instances that-- And the people are fun.

They really are.

I mean, it's--I've got some sea salt to this.

So here.

Very simple.

This is a bruschetta.

Yeah, it is pronounces bruschetta bruschetta any anytime you get that C and H in Italian, it's a hard one.

Bruschetta, not bru-sh-etta.

But that's OK.

If you say bruschetta, we're not going to-- We're not going to slap your hand, we will be polite.

So in any case, here's the food.

And I--you know, I loved going to the bar Centrale.

If you had nothing to do on a Friday night, just go on up there, have a drink.

Sometimes it's busy, sometimes that isn't.

And sometimes they go there in the morning.

And everyone is gathered.

They all bring a dish.

They all come together.

Now, I want to show you something really quickly.

You'll notice in the book as well.

And when you get into cuisines like Tuscan cuisine, it's very similar.

I would--I would equate it if you're talking about Parisian cuisine, when you have, like cuisine Provençal, which is much more like farm house, much more organic, earthy, like forage-y.

Tuscan cuisine, does not have a lot of fancy sauces and--and--and garnishes and things like that.

It's very everything's very astute.

So what I'm going to do to make the sauce for the pasta.

I'm just going to hit it with a little bit of butter.

They love to use butter.

This is actually called Earth Balance.

It is a dairy free butter,.

I use this, too.

Yeah, it's great.

It's got great butter flavor.

It's all natural.

So I'm gonna let this butter cook down with these porcinis and the shallots, the garlic and the roasted chestnuts.

And then once I throw the pasta in, that's going to thicken up a little bit.

It's going to make its own sauce.

Then we're going to hit it with a little fresh parmesan.

This is brutal, isn't it?

This Parmesan is actually dairy free as well.

I buy it at Whole Foods and it smells and it tastes-- if you can't eat dairy, I know being Sicilian like I am and not being able to eat actual cheese is a curse, but it is the cross that I must bear.

It's something that I, unfortunately, for allergy reasons, cannot.

You make the best of it.

There are alternatives and there are good alternatives out there nowadays.

So I'm just going to incorporate my pasta, my Pappardelle, and here I want to get this all mixed up.

And again, so simple.

This takes really no time at all.

I didn't see you chop the shallots, but they.

Are they bitter to you, the shallots, or do you find them more gentle than actual-- I find them more mild and gentle.

But you have--shallots are very finicky.

Yeah.

So I'll buy them sometimes from the store and they'll they do go bad quickly.

You want to make sure that they're not brown at all.

If you smell them see like this, it has a very mild aroma, right.

Yes.

As they start to turn they will get a little more bitter and acrid and smell like kind of rot little bit.

So, yeah.

So you're going to wrap this up.

You're almost ready with your--.

We're just going to let this simmer down with some all incorporate.

And we're going to invite you not to the bar Centrale, but come with us back to the stable and we invite you for a Tuscan meal.

Right.

Tuscan meal.

Yes.

Very soon.

Mangia, mangia.

And right now, take a look at the menu.

We'll be right back.

And we are ready for the next festival, aren't we?

Yes, we are We're dressed and ready to go.

Yeah, I love that jacket.

All I need is my fedora, but I don't have it.

But talk about your food.

Well, so we did really basic rustic Tuscan food today.

We made the panzanella, which is just chunky, one inch cubes of bread, tomatoes, fresh basil, red pepper, yellow pepper, capers, shallots.

We made a really great homemade dressing, really delicious.

We're gonna let that soak up again.

This--this dressing soaks into that bread in the salad.

It gets better as it sits.

And then we made this really simple pappardelle with a little porcini mushroom shallots and some roasted chestnuts.

And we're just going to top that off with a little bit of our parm right there.

Isn't that nice?

This is a plant based parm.

It's got great flavor.

Super great Well, it's plant based.

Yes, yes.

You are so pure in your food, I love it.

Well, I know you have to be sometimes.

Bravo.

It doesn't mean you can't enjoy the flavors and get the same profile without triggering any allergies or food and sensitivities or dietary restrictions that you have.

That's the--that's the brilliance of the modern day grocery experience.

Yes.

And I just want to say, too, we've added we've got some apparent--.

How would you say this?

I can't remember the first course, you know, when you--you're having some cheese.

Aperitivo.

Oh, yeah,yeah.

We're having aperitivo and of course, our good red wine.

And then we have some soup.

It's a Tuscan soup, which could be a wedding soup.

It's chock full of veggies and some rustic bread and some chestnuts.

And we have for the end of the meal, with any dessert, we would serve some Vin Santo, a little holy wine.

Right.

Cheers and thank you.

My pleasure.

I love being here.

Any time Oh, and mangia!

Mangia mangia!.

Change your mind and see you next time.

Good food, good friends, good books.

Make for an exquisite life.

Right.

See you next time.

Cheers.

This WNIT local production has been made possible in part by viewers like you.

Thank you.

Dinner and a book is supported by the Rex and Alice A. Martin Foundation of Elkhart, celebrating the spirit of Alice Martin and her love of good food and good friends.