On Wednesday, I met Francesca di Leonardo at my apartment. She has a cooking school in her home and offers several types of classes for 1 or more people.

We started by going to the Mercato Centrale San Lorenzo, which is the most famous one in Florence. The first floor is food stalls and the second floor has some food places but mostly like restaurants.

We were purchasing food to make a late lunch. We started at the meat market where she purchased a pork rib roast to make Arista alla Fiorentina, ground beef and pork for Ragu’ alla Bolognese, chicken livers for Crostini alla Fiorentina, and also some pork livers wrapped in caul fat. I didn’t get the name of this but had seen it and wanted to know what it was so she bought 3 to cook.

The butcher at the market.

Then we went to the vegetable stand where she bought a couple of ‘mama’ artichokes and 4 ‘baby’ artichokes. This all took a lot of time since each vendor always asks what you are making and then they discuss what is needed for it.

The market wasn’t nearly as big as I had thought it would be from reading about it. Francesca said that there aren’t a lot of locals that shop there anymore. There are a lot of tourists, who don’t buy anything, but restaurants come there to get their supplies. Every year more places close.

She also said that the center of town is mostly inhabited by students and immigrants now. Businesses (not tourist related) moved out of the center and then so did the people. Many of the apartments in the city have not been modernised. When she bought her apartment 25 years ago, it had 4 people living in it, no windows, and only a toilet, not bath. Some of the places are still like that.

We walked past the Santa Maria Novello Cathedral which is quite beautiful.

Santa Maria Novella

And we passed a butcher shop on the street. She said that it used to be that there was a specific butcher shop for each: pork, beef, and chicken. This one was very old time with marble walls and floor to keep it cooler and a stuffed boar head on the door (you can just see it’s nose in the photo on the right) along with a plaque with a boar on it in the wall.

Very old pork butcher shop

Then we went to an old pharmacy. The monks were the ones who dealt in herbs so it was in a monastery and had a small chapel. The building was closed for many years then was refurbished and opened to the public and now is a parfumerie. Absolutely beautiful inside and interesting to me since I worked in pharmacy for so many years. I will probably go back and check it out a bit more.

Old pharmacy

Chapel ceiling

Just one of the many beautiful paintings on the walls of the chapel.

We got to Francesca’s apartment which is quite far from mine. She has a large kitchen area with a big table covered with an oil cloth tablecloth that is used for prepping the food, then cleaned up and set with nice dishes to eat.

We started by making tiramisu. Beating egg yolks with sugar, then adding grated chocolate and folding in beaten egg whites. Ladyfingers are dipped in espresso with whisky and layered in the pan then the egg mixture covers it and topped with more grated chocolate. Into the fridge to cool and solidify.

Tiramisu

Next we made the ragú. Chopping carrots, onions, garlic, celery, parsley and sauté them in olive oil. Add the beef and pork and brown for a while. Add red wine and cook that down. Add tomato pureé, bay leaf, 3 cloves, and some nutmeg and bring to a boil and then lower heat and simmer for about 2 hours.

Ragú Bolognese

The butcher had trimmed the pork roast so that the bones were cut mostly away from the meat and ‘Frenched.’ We chopped garlic, rosemary, salt and pepper together then rubbed it all over the roast and tied it together. The butcher would actually do all this for you but she wanted to show me. The butchers do all kinds of different things with the meat than you would see in a grocery store or even a ‘live’ butcher at home.

Arista alla Fiorentina (Baked Pork)

We cooked some more of the chopped onion, carrot, garlic and celery in olive oil then added the chicken livers and gizzards, and finally white wine. When you buy chicken livers the gizzard comes attached, unlike home where you get everything separate. Took that off the heat and then put it in a mini food processor and gave it a whirl. In the same pan, more olive oil and an anchovy was cooked until the anchovy dissolved, then the liver went back into the pan along with some chopped capers. Butter was added at the end. This was the appetizer and is spread on crostini.

Chicken livers cooking for pâté

Crostinin alla Fiorentina

The pork liver in caul fat was unwrapped and rolled in chopped sage and fennel seed then rewrapped. It is then put on a skewer alternating with a bay leaf and pieces of crostini and baked. This was actually about my favorite thing. It was very flavorful and something you would not easily be able to imitate in the states. You don’t find pork liver or caul fat every day!

Pork Liver Skewers

Finally, it was time to prep the artichokes. The ‘babies’ had the outer leaves pulled off then quartered. The ‘mamas’ also had a few of the out leaves removed and then the leaves were spread away from the center. A mixture of garlic, parsley, salt, and pepper was shoved into the ‘mamas’ and olive oil poured over them quite thoroughly They were put in a pan with some white wine and water and steamed.

The babies were basically cooked the same way but the garlic/parsley mixture was sprinkled over the top towards the end.

Baby Artichokes

She had bought and made enough food for 6 people (or more!) But the recipes are for that many. There was so much food and we drank almost 2 bottles of wine. It was all very good! I brought home leftovers so I have enough for at least 2 meals. And since we ate so late I didn’t need any dinner last night either.

Francesca was very easy to talk to, her English was fairly good. We talked about a lot of things besides food. She is probably 5 – 7 years older than me so we could relate in that way also.

As you can probably tell from this long and expansive post, I really enjoyed myself. It was much better cooking and eating with someone than going to a restaurant. And the food was ten times better than what I have had here.

Thursday we are meeting again and going to the Mercato Sant’Ambrogio. Osso Buco is on the menu for sure, since she had bought them the day before when she saw them at the store. You don’t find it as often here since it is not a Florentine dish.