There is nothing more pleasing on a brisk winters morning than a good frost. It is bitterly cold first thing, however, you will always know the day will be fantastic! Blue sky, sun shining and a dry cold instead of the wet, misty fog we have have the past few days.
Last Thursday was a classic winters morning with a grass snapping frost which meant it was going to be a perfect day for I Tatti’s olive oil harvest celebration- Fettunta (which is a colloquial Tuscan word for bruschetta). The farmers have finally picked all the olive trees (and there are a lot of them), pressed the oil and we were all invited up to the farm house to taste the new olive oil and enjoy the view.
The kitchen staff had made beans, chickpeas, pappa pomodoro and ribollita for the festivities and we all gathered round the tables and helped ourselves to the delights, melding the flavours with the new oil.
I almost got a great shot and then this pink head came out of know where! The line behind me wasn’t as fascinated with all the photography so I didn’t push my luck.
Once we had our plates full of food it was then time to pop on over to the bread toasting section, grab a piece of sliced bread and toast in over the open coals- perfect for a cold day!
The trick was now rubbing your toast with raw garlic, adding a sprinkle of salt and drizzling over more olive oil all while holding your plate of beans and chickpeas. Never fear I wasn’t going to let a little thing like this break me, I just decided I’d sip the farms vino rosso after I ate. Worked like a charm!
The food and olive oil were deliciously morish with a lovely after flavour of pepper from the oil, a perfect combination for a day at the farm. It is always lovely to catch up with everyone in the great outdoors and enjoy this beautiful view because I had a terrible realisation the other day….we are almost half way through our year…….I can’t even think about that just yet!
Winter is coming……
Italy Take Two 