My first-floor apartment in Florence has a private garden outside the back door-and a wine bar outside my front door. Fuori Porta is right below me, and the kitchen’s extractor fan blows hot and strong straight into my garden. It is just as well that I love their food, and I choose what to eat depending on who is in the kitchen and what I can smell in advance from my garden.
I went downstairs last week and saw Alessio in the kitchen. Rather than saying hello, he said ‘Oh good, it’s you. Do you have some alloro for me?’ Certainly I would give him some bay leaves, I said, ‘But what is that beautiful, sweet-smelling meat you are cooking with onions?’ ‘Peposo, my peposo,’ he told me.
When Alessio makes his base preparation for spaghetti con vongole veraci, it is the same. I go downstairs and ask what lovely dish he is cooking with garlic. ‘No, nothing today, Rachele,’ he says. Then I see a spaghetti vongole come out of the kitchen. ‘Oh yeah’, he admits, ‘That. Do you have some parsley for me? I am a bit short.’
Despite what I might have prepared and is waiting for me at home, I find it very difficult not to remain and taste Alessio’s creations when their smell that good. He must be one of the most modest chefs I know, but not one of the most modest men. Always the Italian male, he asks if I am single when I come in alone more than twice in a row. Always looking out of the kitchen to check out the customers, he also offers to be my ‘social representative’: he offers to publicise me if I need a good man. He knows plenty. I just have to give him the word.
Even though I consider Alessio mainly the expert of primi, one of my favourites is his peposo, the classic Tuscan dish of beef, peppercorns and red wine. I have tasted it for years, from many different Tuscan chefs. I have even cooked it myself in Finland and Sweden while representing Antinori as a guest chef. But I have never found any others as good as Alessio’s. I would love to say it has something to do with his using alloro from my garden, but I give him full credit for his culinary skills.
Peposo is said to have been invented in Brunelleschi’s era, in Impruneta, by the men who fired the ovens to cook the stones for buildings such as the Duomo. It is also believed that the men who built the Duomo ate peposo for lunch. They couldn’t very well come down for a lunch break while half way up the dome, so they took their packed lunches of sustenance with them and paused, even at 150 metres, to eat their peposo and then carry on working.
Many Tuscan chefs slow-cook this dish in the oven. However, Alessio’s recipe, which I offer here, has a modern edge, and, as he serves it, with soft, creamy polenta, it’s the perfect dish to welcome the beginning of autumn as the days are getting shorter and the nights are cooling down. Comfort food time.
RECIPE
ALESSIO’S PEPOSO (serves six)
1 large red onion
3 small carrots
3 stalks celery
1,5 kg beef for stewing, the sinewy stuff (in English we call it stewing beef or gravy beef, in Italian you will find it as muscolo di manzo, or ask your butcher for a good cut of meat to prepare peposo).
2 bottles good red wine (I like to use Peppoli Chianti Classico)
Extra virgin olive oil
Black peppercorns, to grind and to leave whole
Bay leaves
Whole cloves
Juniper berries
Salt
Method
Finely dice the red onion, carrots and celery. Begin by sautéing the onion lightly in lashings of good extra virgin olive oil in a heavy based pan, and once the onion is soft throw in the carrot and celery.
Large dice the meat muscle, trimming off any fat, throw into the sautéing vegetables, lightly brown, at a very high heat, add juniper berries, a small amount of whole cloves (be careful) and bay leaves in plentiful bunches. Use handfuls of black peppercorns, which is where the dish gets its name, meaning ‘peppery.’
As in many good Tuscan meat recipes, a lot of wine is required. Once the meat is browned pour in the Chianti stirring the pot well to get the caramelised meat flavours into the sauce. Bring to a boil and simmer all day if you can, leaving it just ticking over on the side of the stove. If you don’t have time, it will not be as good, so, pazienza. The result will be a very rich, dark, glossy, glazed pepper stew.
Serve on grilled Tuscan bread drizzled with extra virgin olive oil, or with creamy polenta. If there is any leftover peposo it makes wonderful filling for ravioli. Serve with the same wine used in the cooking process-a perfect match.
