One of my favourite parts of Florence is Piazza della Signoria.  It is located near the imposing Ponte Vecchio, spanning the Arno River.  It is truly the ‘open air art museum’ so many travel books refer to.  Walking in between the copy of Michelangelo’s David, Perseus with Medusa’s head and the Medici lions, you can’t help but feel like a culture vulture!  And, if that is not enough arts for you, the Uffizi Gallery is just around the corner.

Hubby and I chose the perfect day for an outing to Uffizi: windy, with thunder clouds looming in the sky.  We started out all excited, admiring each piece of art we walked by.  Slowly the admiration turned to awe as we marvelled at the hall upon hall, each filled with exquisite art and sculptures.  But as the hours passed, the wonderment slowly started turning into a feeling of trepidation, especially when we realised that after four hours we probably did not even see half of the things on display yet.  And when we finally arrived at the Uffizi rooftop café and even it was closed, desperation took over and I thought to myself that I might never make it out alive again!

 

Luckily we eventually managed to find our escape and headed towards the Piazza del Duomo.  On the way there the clouds finally gave in and it started to pour down with rain.  After our exhausting day I really started to feel sorry for myself (and my feet in particular), when hubby spotted a little trattoria.  What a lovely place.  The décor was so special; wagon wheels against the walls, filled with wine corks!  The aroma from the kitchen made our mouths water.  So with a lovely glass of Chianti in hand, we studied the menu and finally decided on a wild boar stew (have to try something new every now and again) and a bistecca Fiorentina for supper.  Red wine and red meat, just the thing to comfort you after a long and tiring day!  Hubby had the wild boar and it was truly delicious, with a rich tomato based sauce.  The steak was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay to much for me to finish but was really cooked to perfection.  (However, not the best thing to have this meal if you still need to walk back to your hotel afterwards!)

Seeing that this was a particularly trying week for me, what better way to start off the weekend than with the comfort food that includes some good meat and good wine.  So with that said, buon appetito!

Italian style Bistecca 

(serves 2)

Ingredients:

2 T-bone steaks (about 350g each)

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon chopped thyme (fresh)

Salt and pepper to taste

300 ml chicken stock

2 corn on the cob

125g polenta

200g baby spinach

1 lemon, cut into wedges

Method:

1. Fill a pot with water, enough so that it will cover the corn, and bring to the boil.
2. Once the water reaches boiling point, add the corn and boil for 10 minutes.
3. Remove from the water, rub with half the butter and season with salt and pepper.
4. Place the corn on a griddle pan and char the the corn slightly.
5. When done, slice off the kernels (holding the corn upright and cutting top to bottom).  Set aside.
6. Add the chicken stock to a pot and bring to the boil.
7. Add the polenta to the stock by whisking it in. Cook for 25 minutes, until creamy.
8. Rub the steaks with the olive oil, thyme, salt and pepper.
9. Get your griddle pan really hot and fry for 4 minutes on each side. Remove from pan and cover the meat with some foil.  Leave the meat to rest for 10 minutes.
10. Heat a little butter in a pan and add the spinach and corn.  Just warm it through so that the spinach wilts.
11. When serving, place the polenta on the plate and put the steak on top of the polenta.
12. Place the spinach and corn on top of the steak.
13. Drizzle the left-over meat juices over the steak and serve with lemon wedges on the side.