Amici Miei- My Mentors
Benita Bosco- Mercato Centrale. A taste of Sicily in Florence.
Every month this year, I am writing my culinary memoir.
The month starts with my newsletter, and then once a week, I share a short story, what’s in my pantry, and recipes from cooks I have met over the years.
I am celebrating 40 years in Italy and sharing what I have learned.
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As you know, I began teaching cooking classes in an apartment just in front of the Mercato San Lorenzo in 1988. I shopped daily, and as one does, one tends to adopt or be adopted by the vendors. For twenty years, it was my home away from home.
One of my first friends in the San Lorenzo market in Florence was Benita, the Sicilian mamma at Porks. Initially, it was a tiny corner kitchen with sandwiches. I started to notice young men bringing her fish or a slice of meat, and she would disappear in the back and saute up their food for lunch. It wasn’t really allowed. She was the mamma of the local workers.
She owned her own restaurant in Sicily and “escaped” to Florence with her two sons, Luigi, who you will see behind the bar with her, and Filippo, who is in the kitchen.
Little by little, her stand expanded to a large selection of prepared foods, including many recipes from her home, Sicily. They built a larger space with a full kitchen across from the original site. Her sons and granddaughters came to work with her.
They could now prepare food and set up a dining area. They also started serving porchetta sandwiches and named the place “PORKS.”
They also have a large menu of pasta. They buy the fresh pasta in the market and make the sauces themselves. There are many vegetable dishes for vegetarians as well.
They serve many Sicilian specialties, including the Frusciteddi bread fritters, my personal favorites, and Arancini. They also serve Stiggiole ( a street food specialty from Palermo: lamb intestines wrapped around a spring onion and grilled) and lots of fried vegetables. I love it when she makes fried cardoons in winter.
They can also grill up a steak for you.
She shared one of my favorite recipes, her grilled marinated eggplant. This is the recipe which makes everyone love eggplant.
I have included the recipe for the paid subscribers and a video lesson.
When you ask any chef around town where they eat the best food, it’s always at Mamma’s house. Benita is your Sicilian mamma in Florence.