Just writing about Italy and Tuscany in previous hubs made my mouth water thinking about the delicious meals that we had when we were there. We have travelled Italy from North to South and the area that I have found the richest in flavours .has been Tuscany.

Tuscan cuisine is unassuming, uses simple ingredients, often left-overs like old bread and pasta. It is also a well equilibrated cuisine, giving preference to carbohydrates.

Tuscan cuisine expresses modesty, wisdom and instinctive good taste. I especially love the winter recipes. For someone like me, who is not very gifted in the kitchen, Tuscan recipes are  easy to cook and very nutritious for a growing family. I usually make the soups: minestrone, minestra con le patate, ribollita or even acquacotta.  My family loves them and I can prepare them a day or two in advance for those busy days when I cannot be bothered with having to cook -which is quite often!

Lucca, a mediaeval town

When we stayed in Lucca I discovered a bookstore within the mediaeval walls. After looking at different books on cookery, I decided to choose the one with the easiest-to-make recipes. The book is called Tuscan Cookery by Elisabetta Piazzesi. It has been the cookery book that I have used the most in the past year. Not only are the recipes easy to follow but the ingredients are easily found in your cupboards or garden and my husband and children actually enjoy the meals ... this in itself is a triumph for someone like me who is always burning casseroles or making biscuits that even the dog refuses to eat!

The book has lovely illustrations of the ready made dishes and ingredients. You also find amazing photos of Tuscany along with a brief explanation of the origins of the dish. A pleasure to read and actually it ignites the "I want to cook" flame within you.

One of my favourite soups in the book is the Ribollita. This a soup made with vegetables and old bread! Tasty, warming and filling. Nothing better after a hard day of work and indispensable during the long cold winter days. The preparation is not difficult -I can do it!

Elisabetta Piazzesi ‘s recipe for a Ribollita for 6 people uses:

• 1 large red-skinned onion

• 2 carrots

• 1 stick of celery

• 4 potatoes

• 10 courgettes (zucchini)

• 300 gr. dried beans 1 Savoy cabbage

• Some swiss chard

• A bunch of Tuscan black cabbage or kale

• 1 leek Tomato purée

• 2 days' old Tuscan white bread.

Preparation:

Soak the dried beans and cook over a slow flame (while you are writing a hub).

Gently fry the sliced onion, adding all the other vegetables, except the cabbage, kale and beans. When the vegetables have sweated their own juice, add water to the pan and the kale and cabbage shredded. Cover and simmer for an hour over a slow heat. Add the cooked beans, some of them whole and some of them pureed, salt and pepper and simmer for another 20 minutes. Try to stir frequently otherwise the beans will stick to the bottom of the pan. Add some tomato purée and switch off the heat.

Slice the old bread and in a earthenware casserole, alternate layers of bread with the soup, until the bread is well impregnated with the soup. Leave to stand for a day. Next day you can get yourself nice and pretty because your lunch is already done. Just heat up your soup and presto!

There are several versions of this Tuscan vegetable and bread soup. They vary from household to household and the recipes are based upon regional produce.

As the name literally means re-boiled. In some cases that is exactly what it is. The first day La mama would make a minestrone for the family. The second day, the leftover minestrone would take a new life with bread slices, or toasted bread rubbed with garlic and baked with thin slices of red onion on top. For the third day any remaining leftover would be re-boiled again and enjoyed at the table.

Remember that although it is a soup, it should be thick enough to eat with a fork! In Tuscany, it is served with the traditional drizzle of extra virgin olive oil on top... delicious!