More Recipes from the Kitchen Wall

Gino, of Le Grotte, the Caves, suggests the most classic of Tuscan fall antipasti: Fettunta, which is also known as bruschetta.
He has you toast your bread over the coals, which does make a difference, though you could use a toaster if you had to; the important thing is that the bread be Tuscan. Rub the slices on both sides with a cut clove of garlic, going easy lest the garlic overpower the oil, lay the bread on a serving platter, drizzle it well with good extravirgin olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and serve at once, before the slices have time to cool.

Aristide, at Il Barroccio, offers Sausages and Polenta, another winter classic.
Begin by mincing half a small onion, a small rib of celery, half a small carrot, and a small bunch of parsley. Sauté the mixture in a quarter cup of olive oil, and when the onion is translucent crumble 2 sausages into it (remove the casings), together with an equivalent volume of ground beef. Add several whole sausages -- I'd say 1-2 per diner -- after puncturing the casings with a fork, and cook, stirring, until the meat is browned. Sprinkle in a half cup of red wine, a quarter cup of tomato sauce, cover, and simmer gently while seeing to the polenta (should the sausages look to be drying out, add more water).
When the polenta is done, turn it out onto a polenta board and cut it into wedges with a string; put them on your diners' plates, and season them with the sausages and a goodly dusting of freshly grated Parmigiano.

La Trattoria del Quercio, the One-Eyed Man's Trattoria, suggests Fettuccine alla Pirata, a zesty summer dish.
Bring pasta water to boil, salt it, and, assuming there are four of you, cook a pound (400 g) of fettuccine. In the meantime see to the sauce: Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil and two of unsalted butter in a broad skillet, and when they are hot sauté 2 crushed cloves of garlic; when they have browned add 2 well-rinsed salted anchovy filets of the kind one buys at the deli (or 4 of the smaller anchovy filets that come packed in oil). Cook, mashing the filets with the back of a spoon, and when they are reduced to a paste add a pound (450 g) of canned tomatoes, cut into chunks (if the season is right, use blanched, peeled, and chopped plum tomatoes), a half cup of pitted black olives, a tablespoon of salted capers, well rinsed, a pinch of oregano, and hot pepper flakes to taste. Simmer the sauce until the pasta is done, use it to season the pasta, and serve the pasta with grated Parmigiano for those who want it.

The Trattoria I Due Ladri, the Trattoria of the Two Thieves, suggests Black Leaf Kale Soup Over Slices of Toasted Bread: peasant food of the finest kind, and a superb way to begin a winter meal.
To serve 4 boil a pound and a half (700 g) of black leaf kale until tender in very lightly salted water. Remove it with a strainer, reserving the water, coarsely chop it, and keep it hot. While the kale is cooking thinly slice Tuscan bread, rub the slices on both sides with a garlic clove, and dip them in the water the kale cooked in. Lay the slices in your soup bowls, spoon the kale over them, season with abundant extravirgin olive oil, salt, and abundant pepper, and serve at once.

Nice ideas to keep on a wall!

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