If you don’t have wild mushrooms, use a mixture of button mushrooms and dried porcini that have been revived by soaking them for 30 minutes in stock, water, wine, or cognac.

Assembly: Cook 1 sheet of pasta until it is barely done, remove it from the boiling water, and let it briefly drain on a cloth towel spread on the counter. Place the semidry pasta sheet in the lightly oiled baking dish and cover it with a layer of béchamel sauce, a layer of sautéed mush-230

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rooms, and a sprinkling of the cheese. Continue cooking the next pasta sheet as you prepare each layer. Add a spoonful or two of the pasta water to the sauce if you’ve used too much on the first layers. Tuscan cooks usually use some of the pasta water in their sauces. Top the dish with buttered bread crumbs and more parmigiano. Bake, uncovered, at 350˚

for 30 minutes. Serves 8.

Ribollita

A thick, soul-stirring soup with white beans, the ubiquitous bread, and vegetables. As the translation ‘‘reboiled’’ indicates, this is a soup that is easily made using leftovers, probably from a big Sunday dinner. The classic recipe calls for hunks of bread to be added to the pot at the end. Tuscans pour oil into each bowl at the table. The soup, with a salad, is a complete meal—unless you’ve been out plowing. Almost any vegetable can be used. If I say

‘‘zuppa’’ to Maria Rita, she piles in everything I’ll need, plus handfuls of fresh parsley, basil, and garlic. I take her advice to include the heel of the parmigiano. Once cooked, the softened heel is the cook’s treat.

C Prepare a pound of white beans by washing them well. Cover with water in a stock pot and bring them to a boil. Take them off the heat and let them sit in the water for a couple of hours. Add more water to cover, add seasonings, and simmer until barely done. They should be watched because they tend to become mushy soon after they’re done.

Clean and cut into medium dice: 2 onions, 6 carrots, 4 ribs of celery, a bunch of curly cabbage or chard, 4 or 5 cloves of garlic, and 5 large tomatoes (or a box of chopped tomatoes in winter). Mince a bunch of parsley. Sauté the onions and carrots in olive oil. After a few minutes, add the celery, then the chard and the garlic, adding more oil as needed. Cook 10

minutes, then add the tomatoes, a heel of parmigiano, and the beans.

Add enough stock (vegetable, chicken, or meat) to cover. Bring to a boil, then simmer 1 hour to blend flavors. Add the cubes of bread. Allow to rest W I N T E R

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for several hours. Add the parsley, reheat, and serve with grated parmigiano on top and olive oil to pass around the table. Leftover pasta, green beans, peas, pancetta, and potatoes all can be added to the pot the next day. At least 15 servings, depending on the amount of stock used.

Pici with Quick Tomato-Cream Sauce

Hearty sauces of hare and boar adhere especially well to the long, thick strands of this local pasta, which is almost as thick as a pencil.

I use this sauce on fusilli and pappardelle or any broad pasta. This is a favorite.

C Cook 4 or 5 slices of pancetta, drain on paper towels, then crumble and set aside. Chop 2 medium onions and 2 or 3 cloves of garlic and sauté in olive oil for 5 minutes. Chop and add 1 large red pepper and 4 or 5 tomatoes. Season and cook 5 minutes more. Season with chopped thyme, oregano, and basil. Stir in 1/2 cup of light cream and 3/4 cup of puréed tomatoes. Add a spoonful or so of the pasta water to the sauce. Stir the pancetta into the sauce at the last minute to retain crispness. Cook and drain enough pasta for 4. Mix the pasta with half the sauce; serve the rest of the sauce over the pasta. Pass the parmigiano! Serves 4.

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Quail, Slowly Braised with Juniper Berries and Pancetta My father was a hunter and our cook, Willie Bell, often was lost in a cloud of tiny feathers as she plucked a mound of quail. The drooping little heads all fell in the same direction. I wouldn’t eat them, even after she smothered them with cream and pepper in the huge covered frying pan on the outdoor fireplace. With more equanimity, I’ve met them in a new guise. The balsamic vinegar should come from Modena. Those that are labeled Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena and are marked API MO are the real thing, 232

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aged for at least twelve years. Some of the ancient balsamics are so fine that they’re sipped like liqueur. I think Willie Bell would approve of these quail.

C Flour and quickly brown 12 quail (2 per person) in hot olive oil.

Arrange the quail in a heavy casserole with a tight-fitting lid and pour in 1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar. Cover quail with strips of pancetta and 2

minced shallots. Sprinkle with sprigs of thyme, crushed peppercorns, and juniper berries. Braise in a slow oven (275˚) for 3 hours. Turn the quail over after about an hour and a half. Moisten with a little red wine or more balsamic vinegar if they look dry. They are excellent served with polenta.

Serves 6.

Roast Chickens Stuffed with Polenta