I got an email the other day from some old friends in Tuscany, with some updates on their life: Susan and Michael Grant, who lead an extraordinary life indeed. For anyone who gets jazzed about buying produce at farmers markets, growing their own food at home and the thought of one day spending afternoons in their own Tuscan villa, Susan and Michael are livin’ the dream.
I first met the Grants years ago while working a side job as a television field producer in Italy (a pretty good gig in itself, minus the cell phone stuck to your ear, humping tripods under the hot Tuscan sun). There were so many memorable interviews and news stories from those days, but this assignment was an eye-opener to a world that exists only in most people’s sleep.
After successful years as entrepreneurs and chefs, about a decade ago the Grants were able to buy an historic stone villa in Chianti and turn it into a monument to organic living and haute cuisine. Susan trained as a chef at Michelin-starred restaurants across Europe, and virtually everything that is now paraded out of her kitchen doors at La Petraia began life as a plant or animal on her own property.
Susan Grant
The Grants grow every imaginable fruit, vegetable and herb in their terraced gardens, raise chickens and the native cinta senese pig, keep their own bees for honey and pollination, and forage their own chestnuts for flour. Whatever nature does not provide for them in their own hills, Susan selects at the local outdoor market in the town of Radda-in-Chianti. (You can join her for a week in her gardens and for cooking lessons in the kitchen – read more here.)
The latest news in their email was that La Petraia has at last completed the construction of the vineyards, which now grow several Italian varietals in the millenia-old testucchio or alberate method.
As a features editor and guidebook author in Italy, I saw more bed-and-breakfasts, villas and vineyards than most people will read about in a lifetime. There were some absolutely extraordinary ones with histories and lineages that just cannot be purchased. But while the Ontario-raised expats may never be able to consider themselves Tuscans, they are ever faithful to local customs, and create elegant versions of local dishes from the very soil that was meant to produce them.
Here is a recipe from Susan McKenna Grant’s cookbook, called “Piano, Piano, Pieno,” for pasta e ceci, a Neapolitan tribute to fresh ingredients and simplicity:
Sweet pea, apple of my eye
Pasta e Ceci • Pasta and Chick Pea Soup from Napoli
Serves 4 to 6
- 3/4 cup dried chick peas, soaked overnight in water
- 1 small onion
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 bay leaf
- A few fresh sage leaves
- A sprig of fresh rosemary
- 170 g (6 oz) mixed pasta shapes
- Salt and pepper to taste
To finish
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Grated Parmesan or pecorino cheese to pass at the table
Drain the chick peas and put them in a saucepan with the onion, garlic and a bouquet garni made with the herbs. Add enough water to cover by about 3 inches and simmer until the chick peas are tender. The time will vary depending upon the age of the chick peas. Check from time to time and add more water if needed.
When the beans are soft, remove the bouquet garni. Use a hand blender, blender or potato masher to roughly purée the chick peas and the onion. You are not looking for a smooth purée—the soup should retain some semblance of the original chick peas.
Bring the soup to a boil, add the pasta and reduce to a simmer. Cover and simmer for about 15 minutes, until the pasta is al dente. Season with salt and pepper.
Serve immediately with a drizzle of the olive oil and the grated cheese.