Recipe Time: the famous Pear Ravioli

If you've kept up with my blog for a while, you'll be aware that my all-time favorite restaurant in Florence is Coquinarius, a small restaurant that barely anyone has ever even heard about. Absolutely everything that I've ever eaten there has been delicious and so authentic, but the dish that the restaurant is best known for is its pear ravioli. A more popular restaurant called La Giostra has a similar dish, but I've tried both and think Coquinarius does it better. 

After having the ravioli a few times (and quickly draining my wallet of its precious euros in the process) I decided I needed to learn how to make this masterpiece of a dish. So I found a recipe and made it from scratch. Boy, was it worth it. It came out absolutely amazing. The perfect amount of sweet and savory. Just divine.

So I'm passing along the recipe for my readers to try. It's actually really easy to make... the hardest part is making the fresh pasta, but you can always just grab some pre-made dough from the store and the rest will take less than twenty minutes.

Pear Ravioli 

Serves 4

What you'll need:

3 Pears (the recipes that I've found have told me that pears that are not too ripe work best. To be honest, I have no idea what a ripe pear looks like, and my rav came out fine.)

8 oz of Pecorino cheese

1/4 cup Mascarpone cheese

1 egg yolk

1/2 cup of butter

Extra Pecorino to sprinkle on top of the finished ravioli

First, grate the pecorino cheese and the pears. 

Then combine the pecorino, mascarpone, pears, and egg yolk all together for the ravioli filling.

My friend Monique made the fresh pasta since she had just learned how to in her cooking class. I've taken a class on how to make fresh pasta as well, but I let her take the reins on this part of the recipe...

Here's a tutorial on how to make your own pasta.

After you've rolled out your dough with a rolling pin (or with a wine bottle, like we did, since we didn't have one available), cut it into pieces -- as big as you want your ravioli to be. 

Use a spoon to put the pear and cheese mixture onto one piece of pasta, place another on top of it, and use a fork to seal the pieces together, just like we did (see above photo).

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook the raviolis for 3-4 minutes, a few raviolis at a time.

While the raviolis are cooking, heat up the butter in a skillet. Once all of the raviolis are all done, pour the butter over the top of them and serve! 

Leave the rest of the grated pecorino on the table so that you can top your dish with it.

The couple of times that I've made this recipe its gotten rave reviews. If you're ever in Florence, I recommend trying the real deal at Coquinarius, but if you don't plan on being there anytime soon. definitely give this dish a try.

Happiness at the International Food Festival

September and October have been full of fun festivals and events in Florence. Recently, there was an international food festival held over one weekend in Piazza Santa Croce, and any one who even slightly knows me is aware of my slightly sick obsession over food. So naturally, I hit up the festival (more than once) to get some eats and try to relive some of my travels over the past few years. I was also super excited to eat something besides pizza and pasta.

There was a TON of German food, which was amazing because I was missing the hearty food that I got in Munich a couple of weeks before.

CORN! On the cob!

Spanish paella. Really!?

Brittany and I chose some frittes and a large pretzel as our first little snack. Yum

So those are chocolate covered soft pretzels. As big as my head.

Takes me back to our trip to Salzburg during my study abroad semester...

The booth that by far made me the happiest was the Greek one. Lamb, chicken, and pork gyros, kebabs, and Tzatziki sauce... so freaking good.

Happy as a clam eating my gyro! They threw some fries in there for me too. 

I've fallen in love... again.

It's been a crazy few weeks since I've been back, but I'm working hard and really enjoying myself. I'm so glad to be back with my Firenze family for the next few months, and I've finally made my next big life decision-- I'll be coming back to Florence after a month home for the holidays. For how long? I'm not quite sure yet, but I'll be here till at least May. After being back for only two weeks, I knew that only four months left here would not be enough. I've fallen in love with Florence again-- the people in it, the things that I'm doing, and of course, the food that I'm eating...

Our favorite bartender at Rivalta !

My first Bus2Alps Family Style dinner at Il Gatto e La Volpe (on Via Ghibellina)... love these guys!

 No post of mine would be complete without a food shot. My first time at Trattoria Mario with some new friends... de-freaking-lish. The hour wait was worth it... this pasta was some of the best I've had, and I tried the Florentine steak. I'm not a steak fan, but have tried many Florentine steaks, and this was one of the best.

The best thing about this second time around in Florence is that I finally have the flexibility and money to do some traveling. I took a spontaneous trip to Cinque Terre this week (look for those pictures in my next post) and am heading to Oktoberfest on Thursday with Bus2Alps... can't wait for liter beers and pretzels in Munich! 

That's all for now...

Florence Foodie: Acqua Al Due

One of my best Florence friends, Kate, left this amazing city after a summer here to go back to her hometown of Dublin (and then is heading back to school in England), so we thought we would have a nice farewell dinner before she left. We decided to indulge at Acqua al Due, one of the most popular restaurants in town.

We naturally started off the night with bottles of Chianti and Pinot Grigio, and after everyone had their glasses full, I made one of the cheesiest toasts of my life to Kate... and then we drank.

The reason that Acqua al Due is such a popular restaurant is because not only is the food delish, but it's moderately priced as well. I've had a lot of amazing dishes there during my time in Florence, but my favorite thing to get is to get a salad sampler and a pasta sampler to split with someone. With a sampler, you'll get three different kinds of whatever you order (above is the salad sampler), so you don't have to choose just one. The most popular dish to order is the secondi piatti sampler, which has three types of steak. I'm not a steak person, but the balsamic steak is to die for.

We enjoyed our pasta, salad, and wine, and reminisced about Kate's time here in Florence.... 

Sara and Vanessa

Emilia and Madeleine

My two best friends for the past few months

Flatmates

Acqua al Due is on Via della Vigna Vecchia, 40, fairly close to Santa Croce. Make sure you make a rez before going !

My Favorite Aperitivo Spots in Florence

All of the new study abroad students are starting to trickle into Florence this week, and upon telling ones that I meet that I've been living here for eight months, they ask a lot of questions about the ins and outs of Florence. So, I thought that it would be a good idea to post some of my best Florence tips!

Most Italy newbies don't know what aperitivo is, but it's an awesome way to eat and drink on the cheap. Many Italian bars host one – it’s sort of like a happy hour, typically happening between 6 and 10pm. How it works – you buy a drink (wine, cocktail, beer... anything alcoholic) and then get access to all-you-can-eat appetizers. I LOVE going to aperitivo because for the price of one drink, you can eat a full dinner.

Some of my favorite spots, based on quality of the food, drinks, atmosphere, and price...

Kitsch
KitschFirenze.com

Kitch is known around Florence as being one of the best (and definitely the largest) aperitivos in town. There are two locations, and most nights, they will both be packed out with Italians for their 8.50 euro aperitivo. 

Moyo
Moyo.it

I like Moyo because it's a not huge and the atmosphere makes me feel like I'm back in New York City. The cocktails are great (at 7-8 euro), and the food selection is always pretty good as well. Wednesday is sushi night--you can choose from a plate of sushi or just enjoy the asian-inspired aperitivo food. If you're craving Chinese takeout, this definitely hits the spot.

Astor Cafe-- Martini Monday
AstorCafe.com

Astor Cafe, the restaurant/bar that I am ALWAYS at during the day, hosts a Martini Monday. From 7-11, a friend of mine, who happens to be the best martini maker in town, whips up some specialty martinis. Pay 7 euro for one of them, and you get access to the food buffet. This past Monday there was a good mix of both Italian and American food. Try the Scooby Snack martini!

Oibo
Oibo.net

I love sitting outside and enjoying the view of Santa Croce when I get aperitivo at Oibo. I always get an 8 euro Strawberry Daiquiri (or two) while enjoying my food, and if they have fried polenta that night, you can bet that that's pretty much the only thing that I put on my plate.

If you have any other aperitivo spots in Florence that you like, put it in the comments! I love to find new places to try.

Pear pasta anyone?

Part two of Crystal's visit...

Of course, I had to bring Crystal to Piazzale Michaelangelo. If you saw my previous post on my first trip to Piazzale Michaelangelo, you know that it has some of the best views of the city and is a total must-see when you come to Florence. So we followed tradition and took some wine up with us to see the sunset.

The next night, Crystal wanted to go to a really authentic Italian dinner, so we went to my favorite restaurant that I've been to in Florence so far-- Coquinarius. It's only about ten seconds from my apartment (dangerous? yea...) and has the most amazing food. As our appetizer, we ordered crostini with roasted vegetables on top. To be honest, I was a little hesitant (probably because I really wanted the brie and honey crostini I had eaten my first time there), but it was really good!

Chianti... of course!

I decided to stick with what I ordered during my first visit to Coquinarius-- the pear pasta. It may sound al little strange, but the taste is to die for-- sweet, delicious, and stuffed with cheese. With parmigiana on top,  I was not at all bored the second time around! Crystal ordered ravioli stuffed with lamb and artichoke, which tasted like a high-quality kebab in a ravioli. I swear, nothing tastes bad at this restaurant!

And we got chocolate cake for dessert.. shocking. And.. it was great.

I highly recommend Coquinarius for a real, authentic Florentine meal. It's not cheap, but it's worth the splurge!

Crystal's visit was so much fun.. I can't wait for more friends to come see me in Florence... get here already :)

Two month anniversary

The 22nd marked the two month anniversary of my arrival to Florence! I CAN'T believe it's been two months already, I feel like I just stepped off the plane in the Florence airport. So much has changed over these past two months... I've made some amazing new friends, got two great jobs that don't even have anything to do with teaching English (I'm doing social media and internet marketing for two awesome companies here in Florence), and am having such a great time. As cheesy as it sounds, my eyes have been opened to so many new things and can't even imagine what the future has in store for me here.

On a totally unrelated topic, Taylor, Chad and I tried a new restaurant called Cento Posti last week after Taylor had met the owner at her job and he told her to come in. We sat outside on a gorgeous Saturday afternoon and watched the madness near the Duomo ensue as we dined on our plate of choice.



I decided to go with Orrechiete with broccoli and sausage. It was a little spicy but was SO delicious.

Thursday morning, I leave for Barcelona to go to the Steve Aoki show and to see a friend of mine who lives there. I'm counting down the minutes till I'm on the beach!! Expect some great pictures of beach fun and Spanish food :)

You'll find me at the market.

The central market here in Florence is a food lover's paradise. Everything is so fresh, and the smells and colors of the vegetables, fruits, meats and cheeses could knock you off your feet.

Homemade biscotti

The famous Limoncello

Balsamic demonstartion

Picking out some cheeses

At the florist

Nerbone has SUCH delicious food-- it's right inside the market and has some non-traditional Italian foods.

Potatoes and beef.. SO good.

Taylor got a pork sandwich, Chad ordered some artichokes. Both were delicious!

I'm officially doing all of my food shopping at the market from now on. I feel sooo Italian..