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Santo Grace-I used d'anjou pears and they held up well to the oven roasting. They were just the tiniest bit green.... and I was worried, but they were perfect! Lori in Pa- I know what you mean about pricing. I started at $50 a lesson for dinner classes and now have raised my prices over the years, due to cost increases, class and tour, fabulous wines.. gifts with class, aprons, book etc. Most of my clients say they have their money's worth after the tour... But when I just offer the market tour, no one booked it. I think that there are different levels of classes and students. For my students on the whole I am a great substitute for a weeklong sessio which may be out of price range.. say $3,000- $5,000 for all inclusive weeks... and 10-15 students in a session.. touring and cooking. I only take 6 students, custom design my menu with the students and it is only cooking... no touring ( except the market!) for l a per day fee, one can stay where they like and can afford. So giving one's moneys worth is a MUST! and I get return clients...so I must be doing something right. I also found that when I raised my prices, I got more work???? I think being too cheap also then lessens your value. It is a hard call.

msfoodie in an Italian way.. here is the recipe. for each pear: take 1 tbs of softened butter, 2 or three crushed amaretto cookies, and mix together with 1 tsp of bittersweet cocoa powder. taste..and adjust. cut the pears in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds creating a round hole for the filling. Make small balls of filling and press into holes. Place in a baking pan. Pour some water or white wine into the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle sugar o top of the pears, and into hte water, about1 tbs. Bake at 350 until the pears are tender. Traditionally this recipe is done with Apricots, a fabulous magic occurs with the tang from the baked apricots and the bitterness from the amaretti cookies. The bitterness of the amaretto cookies comes from the bitter almonds... that are the inside of the apricot ( or peach)pits. they contain a tiny bit if cyniade!

FYI San Lorenzo ( Saint Lawrence) patron saint of the Central Market and for some also patron saint of chefs.... Was Grilled to death!

Inside the San Ambrogio Market todays first course. Papparedelle con cinghiale, we made a wild boar stew and minced half of it to make our ragu, adding a tiny bit of tomato. Main course was the fried beef, milanese. The young lady from london was amazed and the thinness of the handcut beef, already breaded and prepared. So we picked some up and made it. I remember shopping at their stand 21 years ago, he was 18! ( on the right) a nice salad and twice cooked spinach. We bought already cooked spinach and chard and minced them then recooked them in garlic and olive oil, salt and a squeeze of lemon. Decided to use the farm fresh eggs and make uovo al pomodoro, by dropping some eggs into the hot tomato sauce covering it and then serving when the eggs were cooked. I also added some buffalo mozzarella.. they ate it so fast... without forks just bread there wasn't time to get a foto! Our Torta della Nonna was fabulous! Tomorrow Chianti!

Thanks... the mom daughter on the left of Alfonso were here for the week the young woman on the right is from England and came for the three day session. I do often get families... husbands and wife's, parents and kids... groups of friends. Food is a universal language.. and bonds friendships!

This morning started off with me going to San Lorenzo for breakfast at Claudio's like the other morning.. cappuccino and ciambella. It was early and the guys were still unloading meat. The went upstairs to get some foto's for the blog. My olive man Alberto has also switched over to pasta and oil, and only has one kind of fresh olive for me to cure. So I picked up a kilo of black olives from puglia..and went home to start some salt cured olives. Just layering them in Sea salt ( large sea salt, sale grosso 8 euro cents a kilo at the coop, 50 euro cents at the market) I added lemon rind and garlic slices in with the salt. As per Alberto. Everyday now I will throw away the liquid that forms. When there is no more liquid, the olives are done. Back home to class. When the students arrived we made the pastry cream and the crust for our dessert. Torta della nonna. then put the wild boar on to cook and off we went to San Amborgio. Just a short cab ride and a world away! no shwarma shops, no chinese restaurants.. This is food paradise. Cibreo restaurant is right here.. now in 4 forms. the restaurant, the cafe, the trattoria and the private club, Teatro del Sale. Ran into my friend Alfonso who was kind enough to pose with the girls! While we were shopping I got hugged and kissed about 4 times. Everyone wants to know if i ever miss home? What's to miss? more later.. hubby is home and it is dinner time!

many of the people moving in are students and foreigners.. ( landlords can charge more for rent) buy food, but usually shop at the supermarkets, which are open later. There are some new stands in the market opened by People from Sri Lanka.. so we are getting some new foods in. It will not close.. but there are many empty stands.

The market is so big and most of the shoppers are tourists. so many of the stands at the central market have become more "gift shops" with gourmet non perishables, colored pasta, dried tomatoes and mushrooms. plans for modernizing the market include moving in the polimoda center??? an ATM and post office.. sounds like a mall. San Ambrogio is tiny and was restored to it's glory. It is a more residential area and supported highly by the locals. supermarkets are having huge success, due to the hours for the locals working, cost for families with cheaper food.. and easy to understand for the thousands of students and visitors to florence.

Since I moved here in 1984.. things have become very American..when I arrived there were 2 chinese places and one Sardenian restaurant. Now? 4 McDonalds in Florence..chinese.. I think last count there were over 200, add on several japanese... and a countless number os Shwarma places, only outnumbered by Call Centers. But there are some Napolitano places, Calabrese too! My poor market is dying.. and the San Ambrogio market flourishing. I will post the foto's today. The city center has been abandoned to those from outside the city high rents making it impossible for locals to live here. I really don't miss anything from the states, I go back once a year for the IACP convention and eat bagels, mexican food and sushi.. all of which I cna make myself now if I get cravings. Hathor... I use the pots and pans the locals use... no calaphon, no all clad I LOVE high heat..and slow cooking so have clay pots, aluminum pans, some triple botton with lids as well.

although the kale is already out in the market here in FLorence too.. it is prefered to be used after the first freeze! I think that it tenderizes it! the new oil is out.. and my favorite way to enjoy it is with fettunta, the garlic rubbed toasts, topped with overcooked kale or tuscan beans, some of the cooking broth and new oil.. More broth and it is soup! but not really cold enough here yet! am waiting. so the new oil is being used for pinzimonio, raw veggie dipped in oil with salt and pepper. including raw artichokes.

Since I live here I teach all year, on TWTH. I do classes even for one person. What was not available to me when I arrived, so found my nitch. having being trained in Classic Frenhc cuisine, I had to unlearn everything, and start from scratch. I teach mamma cooking, but cna take it up a notch for fine dining and like to teacj techniques... and really how to cook..and not how to follow recipes. the Tuscans have a whole nother way about it, a natural feeling with food! I love to talk, ask way too many questions and get too personal, but that is me. I have gathered great stories recipes and foto's and.... is my book I am planning on trying to seflpublish here this winter. Cooking with the seasons is the only way to cook here. I teach my students to shop first then look for ways to prepare the food. If the food is at it's peak, it really only takes the simplest preparations to show it off, no fancy sauces. just pick a technique, roasting, boiling, steaming etc.. great olive oil , fabulous sea salt, balsamic vinegar????? Less is more! I just found some black fresh olives from Puglia and am going to salt cure them.. so will put up the foto's later today after class. from yesterday's class, the returning students have requested Fresh pasta Wild boars sauce a lesson in tomato sauces Torta della nonna ( an ITalian pie crust , pasta frolla, two layered pie, filled with pastry cream and baked topped with almonds. we will find our main course at the market. Off to work!

The market itself was built in the 1860's when Florence became the capital of the newly United Italy. The first capital was Torino, home to the Savoia family. The old market which was in what is now Piazza Rupublica was knocked down and three markets were built, in the style of the times, looking very French. The largest of the Markets in San Lorenzo, the San Ambrogio market (where we will go today) is smaller, and the third which was across the river I cannot find any references to. My apartment was one of the older buildings left standing. In the Piazza is the home to Benvenuto Cellini who was the goldsmith to the Medici's. On my street, the man who wrote Pinocchio was born, his father was the chef to the Ginori family, nobility that lived in Via Ginori! when I was retileing the kitchen some stucco came off the the walls were frescoed. I moved a plastic wall ( now red) and made the kitchen longer and my bedroom smaller. here is a foto of my mettitutto, where I keep my pots and pans.. and the table setup for class after shopping. ( thank you IKEA, before when I was poor I had a marble table.. now I cna afford a long butcher block!) The only thing left in the house from when I rented it is the sink. no cuisinarts, no microwaves, no kitchenaids.

When I first moved to FLorence , alone, in 1984, I stayed for a month in a small hotel. The dollar was high and the room was great about $35 a night for a private room, bath down the hall. Then I decided to try and stay, I found a room for rent for $200 in Fiesole wth a young couple and bought a motorino. Freedom! I was here for three months ( got a job in the hotel I had lived in , making beds and then cooking for the kids from Gonzaga U. living there) After three months, My roommates in the states called.. they were moving! I bought a round trip ticket Florence to FLorence and went home and sold my stuff. Packed my bas and have been living out of them since. A year after I was here ( I moved 9 times) I met Andrea... my now husband.. the oby of my dreams. he had a great apartment ( huge) around the corner from Vivoli's and not fasr from the San Ambrogio market and Cibreo. in 1988 I was offered the opportunity to teach cooking for Syracuse University ( I was baking desserts for the vegetarian restaurant in town) The school used the huge commercial kitchen under the American church. That lasted a semester..and when I went back the enxt semester to reserve my space, they had already given it away. I had 20 kids signed up...and now where to teach. I ran around to all my friends asking to use theri restaurant kitchens and they all said no. I called everyone I knew.. nothing.. finally my brother-in-law said there was a nice aparmtent in his building across town. I called.. teh guy wanted to show me something else.. and here Iam. A nice but small home kitchen, dining room and bedroom overlooking the Mercato Centrale. PERFECT! in the meantime I had tried to open a official school, but the red tape here... would require that I basically open a restaurant kitchen.. which is not what I want! We lived here and taugh here for years, not being able to afford 2 places. Finally it just got too small as my work increased. My hubby was a cabbie in Fiesole and sold his licence and we bought a fixer upper.. I AM NOT FANCEX MAYES... then nightmare which I almost died during the process.. took 8 years until we could finally get in. ( during that time I lived and worked in Panzano at the Antica macelleria Cecchini, Dario had a farm and we had our own place there, hence my real friendship with Dario) I also ended up having to qui, blood pressure at 245/150 and I lived through with no damage! So, we LIVE in certaldo where I will go on Friday after my Chianti tour with students and breathe and enjoy the countryside. My work is seasonal so I often have months off with no reason to come into town. But when I work it is so totally not worth it to commute! and I get the best of both words.

any special requests.. I have been asked to visit some shops... for foto's foods???

Massimilliano is my connection for sushi grade tuna... as well as great recipes. he has owned his own restaurant and the food was spectacular. as for my daily grind.. When i am in Florence for classes.. Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday like this week, are the norm. If I can I try to be off Friday Saturday Sunday and Monday. I live about an hour away.. and when I come down to teach I stay here. Gas is $6 a gallon and the drive can be hectic. When I am in the countryside.. I write.. maintain my site, answer emails to take bookings, plan trips for groups coming, and of course am trying to write my own cookbook. I love to enjoy the countryside, we have a tiny backyard.... and love to go to fleamarkets, and junk stores and farmers markets which are usually on the weekends. Dinner with friends..and just enjoying the company of my hubby...and our cats!

oops.. forgot.. when the students arrived this morning we also put some Tuscan Beans on to cook slowly while we were shopping. We used the Zolfini beans from the Val D'arno region.. a slow food protected food. We used them to make a warm seafood salad with Calamari ( instead of tuna and beans) and we also put some wild boar in a marinade.. tomorrow wild boar pasta sauce and fresh homemade papparedelle!

Breakfast sweet.. mini sfogliatelle! Today we began class by doing a tasting at PORKS, the Sicilian wine bar in the Mercato centrale run by Benita and her two sons and granddaughter. We had some sliced porchetta, grilled eggplant, caponata, grilled pumpkin, and the best! her stuffed artichokes she makes a savory bread "meatball" called Frusceddedu ( don;t really know how to spell it, it is in dialect.) a bread crumb, egg, mint and grated pecorino cheese. Today she used that as stuffing for artichokes. FABULOUS. Shopping gave us this menu: Fresh pasta with white truffles, french butter and parmesan ( 4 year old by Bonat) White truffles are going for 250 for 100 grams, mine was about 20 grams for the 8 of us. Rolled chicken breasts, stuffed with ham and cheese with a caper sauce. Sauteed fresh artichokes with cherry tomatoes and orange. Baked pears stuffed with crushed amaretti cookies butter and cacoa powder. market shots sushi anyone? Tomorrow I will cab over with the students to San Ambrogio market and go to Vestri for hot chocolate!!!

I always steal some when I am at the San Lorenzo market shopping for class. It is my energizer! for me perfect as is.. but would love it partially dipped in Chocolate... a jewel!

Practice makes perfect! having cooked professionally..it is easy to teach people how to be organized and work backwards! We made the panna cotta and the marinated strawberries first. then put the meat in to cook. ( arrosto Fiorentino) Made our tuscan herbs ( on my site Erbe Toscane) put the soup on to cook. Sat down and had snacks. Drink wine started the non stir risotto ( 14 minutes cooking time) Pureed the soup and ate it. Drink wine Had the risotto Sliced the beef and dressed the salad... drink wine ate the panna cotta! we meet at 11am and were back at the studio by 1.. 1:30 and cooking. Done by 4pm.

FYI this week the students i have have asked to make gnocchi with wild boar sauce and tuscan beans.. as well as minestrone. Recipes and foto's to come on my egblog

I adore Crostate! the pasta frolla recipe I use is 3/2/1 300 gram pastry flour 200 butter 100 grams sugar cut the butter into the sugar and flour, I use my hands and can take forever doing this. It will not make it tough then, bind with one whole egg and one yolk. This should be done quickly, squeezing together. Let rest and then roll out. This is a very forgiving dough.. and the only one I make now! It is divided into half. then filled with a jar of jam and then the rest of the dough is rolled out flat and cut into strips to create the cross-hatching . Bake until golden. the variation is that the Butter and Sugar can be equal.. 150 butter and 150 sugar. think about the difference between butter cookies and sugar cookies! May have to make this tomorrow and then post foto's! We get a great fig and almond jam made by Chiaverini... that is my favorite.

I love the freedom I have with my job. Letting others help with the menu planning is perfect! As we shop the market we stop to do tastings to build up the students palates for the Italian Cuisine. my mother-in-law taught me, spend more time shopping and less time cooking. Words for the wise! Noneof my students believed we would get our meal done in time, having spent so much time shopping. Organization is the trick! We started at Sieni caffe/pastry shop on the corner of Via dell'ariento and Via San Antonino with Cappuccino ( they use Illy cafe) and Sfogliatelle and Fedora's my favorite pastry. then off to the market. We began at Stefano Conti's stand tasting 12,20 and 30 year old traditional balsamic vinegar. then new oil, young "fake" balsamic and smelling the NEW Items like truffle salt, truffle honey, fennel pollen etc, that build up flavors and make your food taste FABULOUS. my salt collection After tasting we toured the stands , looking for ideas. Todays menu ended up being: Tasting of Culatello di Zibello Buffalo mozzarella Blood sausage Lardo from Colonatta new oil tasting Yellow Bell pepper soup ( cibreo restaurant's recipe, on my site) Risotto with gorgonzola ( non-stir which i learned from Gabrielle Ferron of Pila Vecia in Verona, rice grower) Arrosto Fiorentino ( Dario Cecchini's recipe on my site) fresh salad with new oil and 30 year old baslamic vinegar and Fleur du Sel salt Dessert Panna Cotta with strawberries and 30 year old Balsamic ( what again!) we bought our wines at the new Vino Sfuso place near me called DiVino, we had a Primativo from Puglia and a Montepulciano and a lovely light white to start. 7 Euro total for the wine! Buon appetito.. Maybe porcini tomorrow.. and truffles!!

The Sicilian Bar Porks is in the market which is open from 7am until 2pm. The food shots are from LOBS Via Faenza, 75/r

My traditional Limoncello 2 cups whole grain , Everclear 95% alchol 190 proof 5 organic lemons 2 cups water 1 1/2 cups sugar Put the whole grain in a large mouthed jar. Using a potato peeler, peel the lemons over the jar, and let the zest fall into the jar. Cover and let sit in the light for 3 days. ( you will see that the alcohol leeches the essence out of the lemons, which is why you want organic. If you don't have organic, soak the lemons first in warm water to get the chemicals out!) When the lemon zest has turned white and the alcohol is yellow, make your simple syrup by bringing the sugar and water to a boil to dissolve the sugar. I just let the sugar melt, do not try to create a dense syrup. Off the heat add the lemon-infused alcohol, straining out the zest. DONE! If you use Vodka, you don't need to add so much simple syrup as the vodka is already drinkable, but it takes longer to get the lemon to give up it's essence. This is one of the recipes that makes me realize why we studied fractions in school. Since whole grain is 95% alcohol, it needs to be cut at least in half ( as in my recipe) to become 100 proof or 50% alcohol to drink. Grand marnier is 45% and most commercial limoncello is 33%. If you want yours to be lighter.. one part of your alcohol to 2 parts sugar syrup is 33%. 1 cup alcohol to 2 cups simple syrup. I also do manderin-cello,sage-cello, basil-cello and mixed citrus. Christmas is just around the corner.

hubby in the countryside so on my own for breakfast. here is the setup.. My MOKA , Illy caffe, biscotti di prato from Mattei. Added french chocolate chip cookies, made with the cocoa fave ,picked up at the Salone del Gusto. As per a previous note ( I think in the Tuscan cooking thread) biscotti di Prato are often called cantucci in local dialect, cantuccio meaning corner, formed by the hand, which is the correct size! ciao for now.. off to get ready for class. here is my biscotti recipe. Notes: all the flour that we use is low gluten like White Lily, beet sugar and fresh eggs. Biscotti di Prato 5 cups flour 2 1/2 cups sugar 1/2 pound toasted almonds, skin on 4 large eggs 1 tsp baking powder Preheat oven to 350. ( If you need to toast the almonds, do so and let them cool before adding to batter.) Prepare dough. Mix the whole eggs with the sugar. Add the flour and baking powder. When the dough becomes to stiff to stir, put on table and start to knead with hands. If the dough is too sticky, add more flour, if too dry a little milk. Flatten the dough on the table and add the almonds Fold the dough over the almonds and knead in to incorporate. Divide the mix and form long ropes. Place on baking parchement and press down down to flatten, allow for some spreading. If you like you can give the cookies an egg-wash and sprinkle with granulated sugar. Let cook until firm to touch and cut while still warm.