If you go to Montemagno, anyone who is from there can point out the grandmothers considered to be the custodians of the village’s culinary knowledge. It’s a small hamlet, everybody knows each other, and good eating is a topic that most people care about. Some because they cook, others because they eat. Today there’s a trattoria (only one) where you can taste the typical dishes, but it’s in the homes that the knowledge is passed down. Signora Gigliola confirms this to me. As she tells me how the dishes you see in the pictures are made, her voice is animated by the anticipation of the pleasure she’ll get from tasting them – also by a pinch of pride. Montemagno is a place out of time, where people are still authentic. It’s rustic, like someone who has kept off the beaten path and managed to stay sincere. The characters here remind me of people straight out of Boccaccio, some grumpy at times, some mischievous, some astute, some wise. And they are endowed with a genuine sensibility, free from any intellectual pretense. When walking in the environs it is common to find unexpected sculptures in the cracks of rocks or in the woods, the work of poet-farmers. A little further away, in Calci, there’s one of the most beautiful monuments of Italy, the Certosa di Pisa. And in Montemagno there is another treasure: a micro-world of authentic flavors. Perched on Monte Pisano, which separates Pisa from Lucca, this town has always remained enclosed within a cradle of flavors. This mountain is an uncontaminated ecosystem, to the point that all products here are organic, even without the certification. And the legendary longevity of its inhabitants (whose numbers keep dwindling) is proof of this. It’s a pure town, with its own fragrance. The olive trees rise above fields of aromatic herbs, and calamint grows wild everywhere. It’s no surprise then that their oil is so good, to the point of becoming a magical potion. So what can we eat here? Both meat and fish. Because even though we are in the mountains, the sea is so close you can see it. There are typical Tuscan specialties given a Montemagno touch thanks to the olives and their oil. Here they use olive oil to fry... And if you want to find out how to prepare them, ask around town.
Pasta recipe with mantis shrimp
“It is a quick dish, simple and very tasty. The most important thing is the shrimp, they have to be extremely fresh, practically alive. You have to score them on top, on the carapace, with scissors, so that a drop of their juice ends up in the sauce. That makes it turn out best. I usually use linguine, or even other types of pasta.”
Ingredients
18 oz mantis shrimp, 14 oz tacconi (a type of short pasta, small rectangles with curled edges), 3 large tomatoes, 2 garlic cloves, fresh parsley, dried chili pepper, extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper.
How to
Peel and mince the garlic; wash the parsley, dry it, take the leaves off and mince it. Cut the tomatoes in two, remove the seeds and dice them. Cut the shell of the shrimp in two with scissors, lengthwise. In a large pan heat a little oil and brown the garlic in it. Add the shrimp and the tomatoes, salt and pepper and a pinch of dried chili pepper. Cook for 5 or 6 minutes, stirring constantly, turn off the heat and keep warm. In the meantime, cook the pasta al dente, drain it and pour it in the pan with the sauce; finish cooking it for another minute. Top with minced parsley and serve immediately, on hot plates if possible.
Montemagno stew with olives recipe
“I prepare the mirepoix by chopping an onion, garlic, celery and carrot with parsley and herbs. Then I add oil, I sauté it with chili pepper and salt until it’s browned, then and a little tomato, just a bit, it should not be very red. Then I add the stock and let it cook.” The olives have to be added almost at the end. And this is the secret of the dish: “We use our own olives. I made them this year, too, and I always have a jar on hand. They are pickled in brine with salt, cinnamon, cloves and lemon peel. I keep them in this liquid until they’re good, until they’ve absorbed all the flavors. Then just before the stew is cooked I add them in, I let them boil a couple of times and then it’s ready, and it’s good.”
Ingredients 21 oz beef chuck, celery, carrot, onion, garlic, fresh parsley, extra virgin olive oil, tomato paste, stock, salt, chili pepper, Montemagno olives.
How to
Cut the meat into small chunks. Prepare a mirepoix, dicing together celery, carrot, onion, garlic and fresh parsley. Brown this mirepoix with our oil, add the meat and brown it with salt, chili pepper and a little bit of tomato paste, without going overboard (it should not be very red). Add a little stock and cook very slowly. A little before it’s cooked, add the olives.
Mixed fried fish
recipe “I love mixed fried fish! What’s there to say, it’s floured and fried fish, that’s the whole recipe.” But we’ve discovered a few secrets. First of all, they don’t give in to the desires of the new generations, and the fish are floured whole and cooked as they are, without shelling the shrimp. And then the oil. “To get a lighter fried fish you can use a seed oil, but to make it good you have to use our olive oil.”
Ingredients
3 lb 5 oz very fresh mixed fish (squid, shrimp, mullet, sardines...), white flour, extra virgin olive oil, lemon, salt.
How to
Rinse the fish and clean it, if needed (depending on the type, small fish and shrimp are cooked whole). Flour it thoroughly and fry it in abundant olive oil. Lay it on a paper towel to absorb the excess oil, salt it and eat it hot and crunchy, serve it with lemon slices.
Photos by Giacomo Bretzel