Authentic Florence Recipes

Ribollita

Ribollita Ingredients

• 10 oz. dried cannellini beans
• 14 oz. black cabbage (can substitute kale)
• 7 oz. beets
• 2 celery stalks
• 2 small carrots
• 2 medium-sized zucchini
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 onion
• tomato paste
• stale bread
• bay leaf
• rosemary
• extra virgin olive oil
• salt
• black pepper

Ribollita Instructions

1. Soak the cannellini beans the day before preparing the recipe, then cook them in plenty of boiling salted water with 1 bay leaf and 1 garlic clove. Bring to a boil and cook until al dente.
2. Blend half of the cooked cannellini beans with 1 ladle of cooking water and set aside the rest of the water.
3. Clean the black cabbage, removing the fibrous central part. Wash the other vegetables and cut them into pieces. The beet will need to be thoroughly cleaned and cut into small pieces
4. Dissolve 2 Tbsp. tomato paste in 1½ cups warm water.
5. Fry the carrots, celery, onion, and zucchini with 3 Tbsp. oil for 10 minutes. Add the dissolved tomato paste and the black cabbage, then add salt and pepper and cook for 30 minutes in a covered pot over a low flame.
6. Add the beans, both whole and blended, and the cleaned beets and cook for another 25 minutes in the covered pot. If necessary, add a few ladles of bean cooking water.
7. Break up 3 slices of bread, add them to the soup, and cook for another 5 minutes.
8. Prepare a flavored oil by heating 6 Tbsp. in a saucepan with 2 rosemary sprigs and 1 clove of peeled and crushed garlic, until it begins to brown. Switch off the heat and leave to infuse for 10 minutes, then strain.
9. Spread the soup on plates with half a slice of bread for each; complete with a drizzle of flavored oil, a sprinkle of pepper, and serve.

Dutch Oven Crusty Bread

Bread Ingredients

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 3/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
• 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water

Bread Instructions

1. Place the flour, dry yeast, and salt in a bowl and whisk to combine. Add the water and stir with a wooden spoon until it forms a shaggy dough.
2. Cover the dough bowl and let rise for 10-14 hours at room temperature. It will look bubbly when done.
3. Shape the dough into a round ball and place on a floured piece of parchment paper.
4. Preheat oven to 450 degrees and place a heavy cast iron or dutch oven in the oven for 30 minutes.
5. Transfer the loaf to the dutch oven with the lid on and bake for 30 minutes.
6. Remove the lid and bake for another 15 minutes until bread is a golden brown.

Negroni Cocktail

Negroni Ingredients

• 1 ounce gin
• 1 ounce Campari
• 1 ounce sweet vermouth
• Garnish: orange peel

Negroni Instructions

1. Add the gin, Campari and sweet vermouth to a mixing glass filled with ice, and stir until well-chilled.
2. Strain into a rocks glass over a large ice cube.
3. Garnish with an orange peel.