Not only on New Year’s Eve, is a tradition to make dinners and lunches with family and friends and in Florence … to eat tuscan food!
If for Christmas Eve dinner, “Who spoils Christmas Eve, wolf’s body and dog’s soul” (tuscan way of saying), tradition wants fish and not meat, the last of the year and New Year’s Eve, things change in every family there is a special dish, a menu made of both meat and fish and, if we want it Tuscan, some recipes cannot be absolutely excluded.
The appetizers range from the classic toasted livers, a pure paté of chicken livers, which after a glass of red wine, bind perfectly with a fried sage anchovies and salt cod fritters (as foreseen in the Cookbook by Zà Zà).
The first course, to stay a little light, would like a nice chicken broth (with or without tortellini …) or an “Acquacotta”(Tuscan vegetable soup), an ancient recipe from the Tuscan tradition, simple and genuine that evokes ancient flavors (also present in the Cookbook by Zà Zà).
Then, usually, there comes a roast or a mixture of roast meat seasoned with rosemary, sage and garlic and, if fish is to be, then a nice sea bass with salt and, of course, roast potatoes.
Tradition would like it to be accompanied by another typical dish, the pudding made with cardoon, thorny thistle stalks which requires a long and elaborate preparation and which today can be substituted with a fennel or potato and porcini flan.
Before midnight, a plate of lentils because they bring abundance and wealth.
On desserts, which from local specialties have become a symbol of the city, Siena wins over Florence. Who doesn’t know panforte, made with honey, candied fruit and nuts, or ricciarelli, biscuits made with almond paste and sugar.
And, of course, the cantuccini di Prato to soak in the Vin Santo.
The last thing to serve on the table is the exotic fruit, a choice of what was once considered a sign of comfort (today pineapple, avocado, mango and papaya arrive) along with dried fruit, nuts, dates, mandarins and oranges . And on the table can not miss the grapes: the tradition wants that, in addition to lentils, eating raisins during New Year’s Eve, bring plenty of money in the coming year.