{"id":9644,"date":"2020-07-01T12:35:17","date_gmt":"2020-07-01T19:35:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.marialiberati.com\/?p=9644"},"modified":"2020-07-01T12:35:17","modified_gmt":"2020-07-01T19:35:17","slug":"a-tuscan-staycation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marialiberati.com\/freshsite\/2020\/07\/01\/a-tuscan-staycation\/","title":{"rendered":"Tuscan Staycation with Andrew Cotto | The Maria Liberati Show"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By: Morgan Weindel<\/p>\n\n\n

This week\u2019s episode will make listeners feel like they\u2019re in the beautiful region of Tuscany.
Maria gives her listeners two delicious Tuscan recipes to make for their own Tuscan picnic. She
also sits down with author Andrew Cotto to discuss his connection with Italy.
From delicious food to amazing literature, listeners will feel as though they have been
transported to Italy in this week\u2019s episode.
Traditional Tuscan Picnic Recipes
While many associate summer with barbecue, Maria associates summer with picnics. She tells
her listeners \u201cPicnic season is here and no one does it better than the Tuscans.\u201d
Although listeners cannot travel to Tuscany to experience the beautiful culture and amazing
food, Maria gives them two delicious recipes to help make a beautiful Tuscan picnic of their
own. Both recipes can be found below.
Tuscan Panzanella Salad
Ingredients
\uf0b7 12 slices of day-old bread
\uf0b7 4 tablespoons of white wine vinegar
\uf0b7 One cup of extra virgin olive oil
\uf0b7 Half a pound of red ripe tomatoes
\uf0b7 One red onion
\uf0b7 One fresh cucumber
\uf0b7 One handful of fresh basil leaves
\uf0b7 Pinch of Salt
\uf0b7 Freshly ground black pepper
Instructions<\/p>\n\n\n

  1. Slice the bread into 12 slices and place in a bowl with a quarter cup of water and a
    tablespoon of vinegar.<\/li>
  2. Leave for 3 minutes and remove the liquid – squeeze the water out from the bread.<\/li>
  3. Place the wet slices of bread on the bottom of a salad bowl.<\/li>
  4. Top the bread with slices of tomato, cucumber and onion.<\/li>
  5. Drizzle on the olive oil, 2 tablespoons of vinegar and a pinch of salt and pepper and toss
    gently.
    Grilled Porcini Mushrooms
    Ingredients<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n

    \uf0b7 8 large porcini mushrooms
    \uf0b7 2 cloves of garlic
    \uf0b7 1 handful of fresh parsley
    \uf0b7 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
    \uf0b7 Salt and pepper to taste
    Instructions<\/p>\n\n\n

    1. Clean the mushroom caps with a paper towel – do not put under the water but clean
      delicately with a damp paper towel.<\/li>
    2. Chop the parsley and garlic.<\/li>
    3. Place the mushroom caps, olive oil, parsley, garlic, salt, and pepper into a bowl and
      marinate for 3 minutes.<\/li>
    4. Turnover and marinate for another 3 minutes.<\/li>
    5. Place the mushroom caps on a hot grill for 10 minutes or until they\u2019re tender.
      Meet Andrew Cotto
      After giving listeners two delicious recipes to try, Maria sits down with author Andrew Cotto.
      Andrew is an author and professor of English and wrote the novel \u201cCucina Tipica: An Italian
      Adventure.\u201d
      Growing up in an American-Italian family, Andrew had also been familiar with the Italian
      culture. He decided to visit Italy for the first time in his 30s and his life was changed forever. He
      lived in Italy for a year where he wrote one of his many novels, although it had nothing to do
      with Italy.
      Andrew came back to the United States to get his masters and work on some other novels. In
      2014, he spent the entire summer in Rome teaching at John Cabot University. He spent his
      weekends traveling across the country and gained enough knowledge to write \u201cCucina Tipica:
      An Italian Adventure.\u201d
      The story is about an American man with a complicated life in New York. He escapes the
      complications and goes to Italy where he falls in love with the beautiful country.
      Andrew\u2019s Italian Inspiration
      Andrew tells Maria how he developed a deep love for Italy during his first trip. Since then he
      tries to go once a year to expand his knowledge of the Italian culture. He tells Maria teaching in
      Rome at John Cabot University was \u201cone of the best times of his life.\u201d
      He tells listeners about his favorite places in Italy to visit, one being Antella, a small gorgeous
      village in Tuscany. With little to no tourism, this beautiful place is an ideal destination for
      people trying to get the full Tuscany experience.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n

      Andrew tells Maria, \u201cI think the secret is that there are no secrets. Everything is really good.\u201d
      His frequent trips to Italy inspired him to write the sequel to \u201cCocina Tipica: An Italian
      Adventure.\u201d Andrew tells listeners that the sequel is called \u201cCocina Romana\u201d and will take place
      in Rome.
      He goes one to tell Maria, \u201cThe idea of Cocina Tipica is to transport you to Italy. It transports
      you to Tuscany and I hope Cocina Romana transports you to Rome.\u201d
      The sequel to \u201cCocina Tipica\u201d will be out in spring 2021 Andrew tells Maria. Listeners can find
      his books on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or your local bookstores.
      What Does Food Mean to Andrew?
      At the end of each episode, Maria likes to ask her guests what food means to them. Andrew
      tells Maria that food is everything to him.
      \u201cTo me, it\u2019s universal connection between human beings. There are certain things that we all do as
      human beings and those things, speaking in a communal sense, food is the best way to make
      that connection with people.\u201d
      Andrew tells Maria and her listeners how much value food provides to people. He tells listeners
      that on top of value, food brings wellness. Andrew says, \u201cEating well and drinking well in Italy
      isn\u2019t a privilege, it\u2019s a right.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      This week\u2019s episode will make listeners feel like they\u2019re in the beautiful region of Tuscany.
      \nMaria gives her listeners two delicious Tuscan recipes to make for their own Tuscan picnic. She
      \nalso sits down with author Andrew Cotto to discuss his connection with Italy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2304,2692,2612,11,1660,54,232],"tags":[2690,2691,2680,2693],"class_list":["post-9644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-italy-travel","category-podcast-transcript","category-podcasts","category-recipes","category-salads","category-travel","category-tuscan","tag-andrew-cotto","tag-podcast","tag-the-maria-liberati-show-podcast","tag-tuscan-panzanella-salad"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marialiberati.com\/freshsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marialiberati.com\/freshsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marialiberati.com\/freshsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marialiberati.com\/freshsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marialiberati.com\/freshsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9644"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/marialiberati.com\/freshsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9644\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marialiberati.com\/freshsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marialiberati.com\/freshsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marialiberati.com\/freshsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}