In my story, “The Reunion,” Emily and her old friends enjoy the Tuscan cuisine at their golden high school reunion. Let’s take a look at some of these treats as we imagine tasting those sweet and savory morsels.
The four erstwhile pals begin to rekindle their connections by warming up with soup, the first course. As they catch up with one another, two of the women are served ribollita, which means “re-boiled.” The key ingredients in ribollita include leftover bread, cannellini beans, lacinato kale, cabbage, and inexpensive vegetables such as carrots, celery, onions, and potatoes. This soup—like most Tuscan cuisine—hails from peasant origins. Centuries ago, Tuscan peasants would reheat the previous day’s soup with stale bread in an effort to stretch their meager means. Though this dish is of modest origins, the happy diners find it rich and satisfying. The savory flavor of the ribollita improves in the re-cooking; the women’s friendships take on a richer, deeper flavor as they are rekindled.
Zuppa di farro, Valerie’s choice, is a healthful soup, a type of minestrone with farro. It is a popular dish in Tuscany, particularly in the town of Lucca. Farro is an heirloom wheat with a distinctive nutty flavor. Farro wheat actually includes three species of grain: spelt, einkorn, and emmer. It is known as a nutritious food for its high fiber and protein content.
As the main course gets underway, the women are enjoying sweet, sour, and savory dishes including gnudi, crespelle, and tortelli di patate. Gnudi are light, pillowy dumplings made with ricotta cheese and semolina flour. Gnudi is the Tuscan term for “naked”; these pillowy balls of ricotta are “nude ravioli,” i.e., just the filling without the pasta shell. In Tuscany, gnudi are served with burnt butter and sage sauce, sprinkled with pecorino or parmigiana cheese.
Crespelle are often known by their French name, crepes. They are very thin pancakes, usually made with durum wheat. They may be prepared either sweet or savory. Crespelle can be found at tables in many regions of Italy. In some regions, the savory dish is filled with cheese, sometimes with salty anchovies, ricotta, and dried tomatoes. In other areas, the sweet variety is preferred. It is dusted with sugar and honey on the outside, and may be filled with ricotta cream or fennel seeds.
Tortel di patate is a wonderfully filling dish. These are potato pancakes, a staple food in the Italian peasant tradition. The original recipe calls for just three ingredients: potatoes, salt, and oil. This delightful dish is prepared by peeling and grating raw potatoes, which forms a paste that is then salted. Some farina may be added for consistency, if desired. The mixture is typically fried in olive oil. Similar patties can be found in other countries and traditions, including latkes, a traditional warm treat on the Jewish winter holiday of Chanukah. Fun fact: The similarly named tortelli di patate is a type of pasta with potato filling.
By the close of “The Reunion,” we find Emily eagerly anticipating the sweet gelato, a delectable dessert. Gelato made its first known appearance during the Renaissance, when Cosimo Ruggieri created the first gelato flavor, the fior di latte, at the court of the Medici family in Florence. Traditional gelato flavors include chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, custard, and hazelnut. In the modern era, new flavors have surfaced, such as tiramisu, mango, pineapple, banana, and amarena cherry.
Gelato is similar to ice cream, with some clear differences. Gelato is primarily made from milk and cream; only a small percentage of this recipe consists of egg yolks. Ice cream is composed of equal parts heavy cream, whole milk, and egg yolks. Ice cream is much heavier in butterfat than gelato. Ice cream’s butterfat content weighs in at roughly 14-25 percent; gelato’s fat content is only 4-9 percent. Gelato is denser than ice cream, which may contain over 50 percent air by volume; gelato contains roughly half as much air.
And that brain freeze you may have experienced digging into your ice cream? Gelato shouldn’t hit you that way, as it is served ten to fifteen degrees warmer than ice cream. This temperature is thought to enhance the gelato’s creamy texture, as well as its bold flavors, and allows the gelato to melt quickly in your mouth. And the sweet, creamy gelato will soon melt in the friends’ mouths as they cap off their reunion dinner, heralding myriad sweet shared memories ahead.
Sources:
- Italian Wikipedia: “Tortello di Patate”: Translated to English by Google Translate
- Zeldes, Leah A. “Eat this! Ribollita Ribsticking Winter ‘Soup’ from Tuscany”: Dec. 8, 2010
- “Gelato vs. Ice Cream”: Sweetcycle: Retrieved July 6, 2022
- Quirk, Mary Beth, “What’s the Difference Between Ice Cream, Frozen Custard, and Gelato?” Consumer Reports, July 14, 2017
- Mullan, Michael, “Plotting Freezing Point Curves for Ice Cream and Gelato Mixes”: dairyscience.info: Retrieved July 6, 2022
