Buona Pasqua

Happy Good Friday to Everyone,


I am certain that most of you will be enjoying the four day break you have this weekend.


Last evening I sat down to recount the experiences over the past week and was prepared to update when I discovered my website was down.  I later received an email indicating it was down all over Florence so was not only  my router.  I will download some photos later today but in the meantime wanted to provide you with a recipe that my resident chef created.  I also in the last email referred to 'we' created a new recipe...I would like to make a correction....she created a new recipe.  I am simply the sous chef and have been accompanying the culinary experience with chopping and washing dishes.  Easter has begun in this city.  On Sunday we will try to get into the Duomo to observe the old tradition of lighting the cart...which simply is a cart filled with fireworks that they parade from a certain Piazza and then inside one of the clergy lights this thing that looks like a dove and it travels along a wire to the cart and the fireworks go off.  I hope to get some pictures of it.  I see that youtube has some old videos of the event.  


Today we are off to the Piazza Michaelangelo that overlooks the entire city.  Hope you all are enjoying your day off.  Ciao.

Milka’s Veal Ragu

6 baby veal cutlets with bone

6 picante pork sausages

1 cup of finely chopped leeks

3 cloves of garlic..minced

2 cups of wild mushrooms

1 whole red pepper finely sliced

2 large handfuls of chopped basil

4-5 plum tomatoes chopped

1.     In one tbsp butter and one tbsp oil take sausage out of casings..brown on both sides and remove to warm dish.  Add veal chops to frying pan…add a little butter if needed and fry on both sides on high till brown and remove immediately.

2.     Add leeks…sautee until translucent.

3.     Add garlic and mushrooms.  If mixture is drying out at ¼ at a time…add beef stock if needed.

4.     Add red peppers and chopped basil…sautee for two minutes and add another ¼ of stock and then add tomatoes.

5.      Sautee until tomatoes are hot…then add all the meat plus juices from bowl into frypan. Cover and simmer ten minutes turning stove off.