• Yildiz100 on May 02, 2016

  I bought this book in preparation for an upcoming trip to Florence and I'm so happy I did! She includes so much great information about the city. The photography is gorgeous and the recipes are appetizing. She includes both weight and volume measurements for the ingredients. (Yay!) The author states that Florence isn't known for it's desserts, but ironically I found that to be the most interesting chapter in the book. Can't wait to cook from this!

Notes about Recipes in this book

• Apple cake (Torta di mele)

  • Melanie on July 27, 2016

    Simple and tasty cake, I liked the addition of lemon in this cake. Best on the first two days.

  • Astrid5555 on October 26, 2016

    This is a lovely cake! However, against my better judgement I followed the instructions closely and ended up with a curdled mess of a batter. She has you add all the milk and lemons zest in one go to the thick and and creamy butter/sugar/egg mixture before folding in the flour. I normally would have added the milk and flour alternately in several additions. Nothing that could not be saved in the end and it did not affect the final cake. Quick to make and big hit with the kids.

  • Yildiz100 on September 18, 2019

    Definitely not too sweet. A bit dry for my taste. The apple in the cake kind of disappears, while the apple on top is a bit chewy. Overall, not my favorite.

• Rosemary & sultana buns (Pandiramerino)

  • Yildiz100 on April 15, 2018

    Add a half tsp of salt. The recipe calls for sugar twice, once for the dough, once for the sugar syrup coating, but it doesn't say which is which. I used 1 tbsp (the lesser amount) in the dough, and the greater amount for the syrup. Works well, makes the syrup thick enough to cling. Dough was a bit dry and I needed to add about 2 tbs to get it to come together the first time, but the second time around I weighed the water and didn't need extra so maybe it was an accuracy tissue. When first kneading in the oil and raisins to the dough after the first rise it seems like they can't be incorporated into the dough, but it does work with patience. These are mildly sweet, nice for tea or breakfast.

  • IvyManning on December 12, 2025

    This recipe didn't taste very good and I came across several typos.

• Grape focaccia (Schiacciata all'uva)

  • jzanger on September 09, 2018

    Absolutely delicious, and reminiscent of the treat I remember from Florence's outdoor market. This was well worth the effort I put into deseeding every grape, and the rest of the process was pretty simple. I made the dough the night before and kept it in the fridge. After a few hours of being in the fridge it had risen quite a bit so I punched it down. The next morning I took it out of the fridge and let it come to room temp while I fussed with the grapes. A few notes for next time: The recipe uses no salt (which is traditional in Florence, I know), but I think I'd add a pinch of salt along with the layers of grapes, sugar, fennel seed, and olive oil. Also, the dough is super sticky, so be sure you oil your bowl and be sure to follow their guidance to oil your hands while handling the dough.

  • jzanger on October 07, 2022

    Update: I make this every year during Concord grape season and recently I’ve also made a variation in the summertime with blueberries, adding a sprinkle of chopped fresh rosemary or thyme. I DO add a healthy sprinkle of sea salt to the layers and I probably use extra olive oil than what’s called for as well. It’s very delicious.

  • anya_sf on October 15, 2024

    I made 1/2 recipe baked in a 9"x6.5" baking sheet. The wet dough was easy to mix with a dough whisk and fairly easy to work with after the overnight rise in the fridge (with oiled countertop and hands). I substituted seedless black grapes, halved as they were rather large. The focaccia took 10 min longer to bake, perhaps because I sliced the grapes and the pan was light-colored; will try baking it on a steel next time. Lightly sweet, soft and fluffy - very tasty. Loved the layer of fruit in the middle, although it didn't get jammy (maybe concord grapes would). Skipped the powdered sugar and sea salt on top (recipe must have been updated since jzanger's review as it does call for salt) but would consider them next time. Will try the blueberry variation as well.

• Beans in tomato sauce (Fagioli all'uccelleto)

  • Yildiz100 on May 02, 2016

    I make a million versions of white beans and tomato sauce, but I had to try out this version too. I thought it was good-not any better than any of the other recipes I use, but I'd say just as good. It was, however, even simpler, since it didn't include any onions to chop. I love that she includes both volume and weight measurements. However, I found the two cups of cooked beans didn't nearly equal the weight she indicated. I went with the weight because 400 grams/14 oz of passata is a lot. In fact, next time if I use passata I will reduce the amount a bit. I suspect if using whole canned tomatoes (the other option she suggested) the ration would be just right.

• Tuna, bean & onion salad (Tonno, fagioli e cipolla)

  • Lepa on July 02, 2022

    Our family loves this salad and this was an especially nice version of it. It's a simple recipe but the addition of basil, the guidance on soaking the onions in hot water and using red wine vinegar instead of lemon juice make it slightly different from the recipe I usually use. I think this one will be my go-to from now on.

• Florentine-style green beans (Fagiolini alla Fiorentina)

  • Yildiz100 on May 19, 2018

    Not crazy about the cooking technique here. Other recipes for this dish call for blanching the beans first but this recipe just has you cook them in the sauce. Took way longer than indicated, maybe an 45 minutes and they were still a bit crisp. Will not repeat.

  • mziech on September 04, 2019

    I liked this recipe. The fennel seeds add something special, not just green beans in tomato sauce.

  • Lepa on July 02, 2022

    We liked this but I followed @yildiz100's suggestion and blanched the green beans for two minutes adding them to the tomatoes and think that was a good idea. The flavor was nice.

• Panzanella

  • Lepa on July 02, 2022

    This is a solid panzanella. I liked the addition of rocket.

• Tomato & bread soup (Pappa al pomodoro)

  • jzanger on September 05, 2018

    I made this with peeled and crushed garden tomatoes, following the recipe almost to a t. The flavor was delicious, but I did end up feeling like there may have been too much bread for the simmered tomatoes. I think several factors could be to blame, such as how much your tomatoes reduce on a medium setting for 20 min, what volume of bread the 350g translates to, etc. I think next time I would only use 2/3 of the bread to begin with, then add more toward the end if necessary. After I added about 1/2 c more vegetable stock the texture smoothed out and was lovely, but I would have preferred a better balance between tomato and bread in the end.

• Florentine-style crêpes (Crespelle alla Fiorentina)

  • Yildiz100 on August 03, 2016

    A big success! Even my 4 year liked them. A few tweaks: instead of her crepes, we used the recipe we always use (Swedish version in Bonniers). I ran out of milk so I only used 450 milliliters and decreased the flour slightly, and it was still a bit more béchamel than necessary. Next time I might try 400 ml. This had a high ricotta to spinach ratio. I think I could easily double the amount of spinach next time, though my daughter might not approve. Baking time was more like 25 minutes. I did the crepes in advance and next time will do even more prep in advance for an easy weeknight meal.

• Spinach and ricotta dumplings (Gnudi)

  • Yildiz100 on April 02, 2017

    These held together during cooking but fell apart on the fork. Kind of bland, and it seemed like too much spinach or like the spinach should have been pureed.

  • apattin on August 06, 2018

    Not a favorite. Too bland and needed to add lots of flour to shape them into balls. Used homemade tomato sauce instead of the sage butter. I noticed that other recipes call for semolina flour... will try them next. My supermarket ricotta cheese, even though I drained it as directed, produced no liquid. Maybe that was the issue.

  • IvyManning on December 12, 2025

    Not sure if it was user error or what, but these fell apart the second they hit the plate. Didn't taste like much either.

• Little potato gnocchi (Topini di patate)

  • Yildiz100 on July 12, 2019

    A nice straight forward recipe for gnocchi with the classic ratio of potatoes and flour. I simplified it even further: first, I peeled and chopped my potatoes before boiling. I know that all recipes say that this causes them to retain too much water, but I hate peeling hot potatoes. So, after lots of experience cooking peeled potatoes I have realized that unless you cook them until they start to break down, they really don't absorb much water at all. (Try weighing them before and after. There is no difference. Further confirmation-I did not need any extra flour.) Second, I didn't roll the individual gnocchi into balls, I left them as they were after slicing. Served with pesto. Delicious!

  • IvyManning on December 12, 2025

    Okay, but stuck to the sheet pan so it was a mess transferring them to simmering water. I froze half and those fell apart completely when I cooked them. Frustratingly vague recipe.

• Vegetable & bean soup (Ribollita)

  • Lepa on December 12, 2023

    This seemed healthy and the adults liked it (but didn't love it). The kinds really disliked the texture. Not sure if we will repeat this. We did enjoy eating it with sliced raw onions, as suggested by the author.

• Pear & ricotta ravioloni (Ravioloni di pera e ricotta)

  • jlg84 on October 28, 2016

    Truly excellent!

• Panino bowl with beef stew (Panino con peposo)

  • IvyManning on December 12, 2025

    Not sure what "diced" means in this recipe. Am I to truly dice the beef? Or is it more bite size pieces?

• Plum sorbet (Sorbetto di susine)

  • Yildiz100 on February 11, 2023

    Good. It's a little Annoying waiting for the whole plums to break down and I wondered if it might actually be worth it to cut them and take out the pits before cooking. 515 G of plums made the perfect amount of gelato for my ice cream maker.

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