Alright so today I decided to finally try my hand at some basic Tuscan dishes. Total beginner move, right? Figured I’d tackle a couple easy ones since my pantry ain’t fancy. Gotta start somewhere.
The Grand Plan (& Reality)
Opened up my notes app. Basic idea was this: gotta use stuff already lying around. Beans? Check, had some canned cannellini hiding at the back. Chicken thighs? Frozen bag in the freezer. Tomatoes? Yeah, a sad can from last month. Fresh herbs? Ha. Dried stuff it is. Olive oil? Barely a half-bottle left. Tuscan? More like “Use What Ya Got-stan.”
Dish #1: Smushed Beans on Toast (Fancy Name: Fettunta con Fagioli)
First mission: turn these boring beans into something warm and mushy.
- Drained that whole can of cannellini beans right into a small pot.
- Tossed in a giant spoonful of minced garlic (the jarred kind, fight me).
- Sloshed in maybe 2 glugs of olive oil. Measured with my heart, not a spoon.
- Pinched in loads of dried rosemary and a heavy sprinkle of salt.
- Turned the heat to low, gave it all a good smash with a fork. Just kept mashing and stirring for like 10 minutes till it looked kinda like lumpy bean paste.
Meanwhile, shoved two slices of bread straight onto the oven rack. Set it broil high. Forgot ’em. Smelled burning. Panicked. Yanked ’em out – slightly charred at the edges. Perfect? Nah. Workable? Absolutely. Rubbed one warm, burnt slice with a raw garlic clove I had left. Spooned the hot, greasy bean mush on top. Done.
Dish #2: Pathetic Chicken Scampi Style (Sorta Chicken al Limone)
Thawed the chicken thighs quick under warm water. Probably bad practice. Didn’t care. Dried ’em with paper towels. Hit ’em hard with salt, pepper, and enough dried oregano to make it look greenish.
- Heated my one decent skillet. Drizzled the last bit of decent olive oil in.
- Slapped the chicken thighs in skin-side down. Sizzle attack! Let ’em sit. Fiddled. Peeled a garlic clove, crushed it messy under my knife, threw it in the pan oil near the chicken.
- Waited till the skin looked kinda crispy brown. Flipped ’em.
- Poured in maybe half a cup of chicken stock (powder mix stuff dissolved in hot water).
- Squeezed a whole lemon over it. Pips and all fell in. Scooped ’em out with a spoon after the fact.
- Dumped in half a stick of butter cause why not. Let it bubble away for another 10 minutes while I felt like a slightly competent human.
Pulled the chicken out. The sauce looked thin. Left it bubbling hard for a minute. Got thicker? Maybe. Wishful thinking probably. Poured it over the chicken pieces on the plate.
The Grand Finale & Lessons Learned
Plated it all up. Burnt toast with bean sludge. Chicken swimming in lemony butter swamp. Tasted it. Honestly? Bean toast was warm, garlicky, salty mush on crunchy bread – weirdly comforting. Chicken was tangy, greasy, tasted kinda lemony and herby. Pretty good! Definitely not “authentic Tuscan.” More like “Survived the Kitchen Tuscan-ish.” Mess was epic. Dish mountain. Used way too many pans.
Big takeaway: Doesn’t need perfect ingredients. Doesn’t need skills. Just need some staples, heat, and the guts to smash stuff together. Forgot the fancy name? Doesn’t matter. Call it dinner. Tastes fine.
