You know how much we love fresh pasta and more than any stuffed pasta. While in Florence this time I didn’t have much free time to cook, traveling here and there (Pisa, Paris…) for work so we tried a few places where to buy some fresh pasta and so far in central Florence the best we’ve had were the spinach and ricotta ravioli from mercato centrale’s Raimondo Mendolia stand. You can eat there or buy the ravioli raw and cook them yourself at home. That’s what we always do. Because We have tried a few ravioli in different restaurants, they are always good, but what I love with bringing them back home is that I simply boil them and serve them with olive oil, salt and pepper and grated Parmigiano for me nothing else. The reason why we love these ravioli more than any it’s because they are large with a lot of filling. And, the filling has plenty of spinach which taste is really remarkable. Contrarily to many stuffed ravioli which stuffing is to dense and heavy (use of too much potato or starch or flour), this one is light. So if you’re in Florence and looked for stuffed pasta, head to mercato centrale!!!
Good morning from Florence! So here we are, finally in Italy, this time it’s not Sicily but Tuscany, and it’s not for the Christmas holidays with the family but a business trip. Nonetheless it’s the Christmas season and it’s Italy with panettone and Christmas songs everywhere and the many delicious food to eat! In order for me to have enough space to work and to cook A. has rented us an apartment where I have a small kitchen to play with, and just 12h after landing in Florence I was already happily cooking lunch for us!
my panettone and I!
What was I doing during 12h? Well I slept 6, then woke up at 6AM in the dark… right… it’s Europe, it’s winter and it’s dark until 7:00 or 8:00… Waking up early is still a great thing, because while it’s still all sleepy and empty and the sun is rising slowly we first enjoyed walking around the Duomo and the Ponte Vecchio before it’s getting impossible to enjoy. And then only we went for some important shopping: food! We first went just around our apartment to Eataly (but honestly when you’re in Italy you don’t need Eataly, there’s so much more to explore!) and at the San Lorenzo market, where they have a food court on the second floor of the mercato centrale where you can buy, take away or eat there plenty of Italian food: pizza, fresh pasta, curd meat, Fiorentina beef, fish… no city is escaping the hipster food fashion with all the good and the bad… Anyway… I got there and around some essentials: olive oil, parmigiano, panettone, honey, tangerines, and for the lunch: fresh vegetarian ravioli with spinach and ricotta and some speck. Everything for a day outside walking all over the city in the cold, because it is quite cold indeed in the narrow and shaded streets of the city.
all what’s needed to start with!
It is impressive how quickly the city gets crowded on Sunday with groups first and then just crowd and past 11:00 am it gets really crazy, so to avoid most of the crowds we then headed for the Abbazia di San Miniato al Monte, from which the view is worth the small additional climb from piazzale Michelangelo! It’s so quiet and green. And I recommend the funny bucolic and almost rural walk down through the via dell’Erta Canina among the olive trees and the cypress trees. And well that’s how my first day ever in Florence went… beautifully and deliciously! And there five more to come!
