We were very lucky to be able to go back to the restaurant La Scottiglia in Pescina near Seggiano in Tuscany. Last year, 2018, we wrote about the wonderful dish La Scottiglia that the restaurant has been named after since 1972. This year we arrived early for a Saturday lunch and were welcomed like long lost friends by the owner. He immediately started to talk about the recipe and blog we had written last year when we had tried to recreate La Scottiglia (see here). He offered his congratulations for our efforts and his apologies for not writing something on the website as it would have been difficult to do so in English!
We were shown down to the terrace so we could eat outside in the dappled early autumn sunshine and were immediately met with a Prosecco aperitif, clearly we were going to have a good lunch!
The menus were newly printed and now carried English translations which was nice. More staggering was that on the back page was a new description of the history of the restaurant. We were pleased that the information that we had managed to piece together from the internet seemed to be largely correct – if only it has been present before it would have saved us hours of searching (but then, where is the fun in that!!).
Jackie ordered a Tuscan Pâté, and then ricotta filled Tortellini with truffles. For a main course I had the wild boar – but for my starter there could only be one choice – La Scottiglia. It was with a degree of ‘bated breath’ I tried it – had we got close with our recipe or had I deluded myself? I needn’t have worried (too much)!! Our interpretation was close, though not identical! This was ‘softer’ with a little more liquid. I think there was just a slight hint of chilli which ours did not have and probably a little less tomato. Also the bread at the bottom of the dish was thinner – and had soaked up less of the glorious juices. So overall a slightly more ‘gentle’ taste than ours – but I think we can be pleased as we have only been making it for a year rather than for more than a century! I think we can be reasonably comfortable that ours was a suitable ‘homage’ to this most regional of dishes!
And our plans for this autumn ……………….. to get closer still!!
