Around the time of the grape harvest in Tuscany, in all Florentine bakeries you can find a very popular dessert, flat bread with grapes (schiacciata con l’uva). This a seasonal dessert made with bread dough, , olive oil, rosemary and grapes. Some recipes include red wine, finely chopped rosemary and anise seeds. I prefer a simpler version, in which I heat the oil with a sprig of rosemary at a very moderate power (oil must not fry) and use the rosemary as a brush.

It’s an excellent dessert when fresh, like all leavened cake, based on bread dough, the day after tends to get rubbery, so my advice is warming it up for few minutes in an electric oven.

Prep Time: 35 minutes | Cooking Time: 25 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour | Yield: Makes 8  servings.

TIP – rising time: 4 hours for rising

Ingredients for the dough

 

• 4⅓  cups pastry flour
• ½ cup white sugar
• 5 tbsp delicate olive oil or seed oil
• 1 sprig of rosemary
• 0.35 oz fresh active yeast or ½ packet instant yeast (1 tsp)
• 1¼ cups warm water
• A pinch of sea salt

Ingredients for the filling

 

• 2 lbs red concord grapes
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 3 tbsp cane sugar

 

Instructions 

 

In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast in the warm water and add the sugar, then mix in the oil and the sifted flour. Add the salt last.

The dough must be very soft and sticky. In order to work it, you should spread some drops of oil on your hands.

Spread a tablespoon of oil on the dough and fold the outer edges into the centre as you turn the bowl. Let it rest for 15 minutes, covering with cling wrap.

Again, spread a tablespoon of oil onto the dough and repeat folding. Let it rest for 45 minutes, covering with cling wrap.

Repeat, and let the dough rest for 2 – 3 hours, until the dough has doubled in size.

Heat the oil with a sprig of rosemary and prepare a baking tray with parchment paper. Brush it with the flavoured oil using the rosemary sprig, and sprinkle a tablespoon of cane sugar on it.

Pre-heat the oven to 480 F (250 C).

Divide the dough into two parts. Place a piece of it on the prepared parchment, using your fingers and not a rolling pin to flatten it out, but not too thin. Brush with a tablespoon of oil, sprinkle with sugar, and spread with half of the grapes.

Repeat and lay the other half of the flattened dough on top, using your fingers to seal the edges. Again, brush with a tablespoon of oil, sprinkle with sugar, and add the remaining grapes.

Lower the oven temperatures to 430 F (220 C) and bake the flat bread for 20-25 minutes. Test for doneness with a toothpick. Let cool, and serve.

In the trattorie of Florence I have heard shelled beans cooked in this way called “fagiouli all’uccelletto”.
(Pellegrino Artusi, Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well)

This recipe is a typical Florentine way to eat their beloved cannellini beans which have replaced meat for centuries. The name originates from the way small game birds were cooked in Tuscany, seasoned with a generous amount of sage.
The bean’s abundance in vegetable proteins and fibre has nourished Mediterranean populations for centuries. In these times of abundance, they are still quite appreciated.
Beans are an excellent side dish, but you can add sausages to the basic recipe and create an excellent traditional Tuscan main course.
There are many versions of this recipe, some include onion and seasoning. The recipe reported by our Romagna gentleman consists of sage and tomato, I personally love adding garlic.
The first recipe we find in the original cookbook of Italian cuisine is the one which considers beans as a side dish, excellent for accompanying stewed meats. In it, the beans are browned in a substantial amount of oil and sage, and later enriched with tomato sauce. I prefer to use a milder temperature and less oil.

Prep Time: 5 minutes | Cooking Time: 35 minutes | Total Time: 40 minutes | Yield: Makes 4  servings.

Ingredients

 

• 500 g beans, already cooked in water with a poached garlic clove, a sprig of rosemary and 3 sage leaves. Reserve the cooking liquid.
• 4 sausages
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled
• 1 tin of crushed tomato
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• Sea salt
• 10 sage leaves
• A sprig of rosemary

 

Instructions

Put a pan on the stove with the oil, sage leaves and garlic. When the oil starts to sizzle, toss in the sausages and brown them, piercing them with the prongs of a fork in order to make them lose their juices.

When the sausages are golden, toss in the beans and season with salt and pepper. Add the tomato sauce to the beans with 2-3 tablespoons of their cooking liquid. Let them simmer for 15-20 minutes without a lid, take them off the stove and serve.