Some of Elena’s recipes

Inspired by the women in her family, Elena bases her cookery on the old Tuscan culinary traditions, so-called "Grandmother's cooking".” In fact, until a few years ago, Italian families honoured Sundays and all festive occasions with a lunch where the mothers, grandmothers and aunts challenged each other to cook the most succulent lunches for their men. “The lunch would begin with starters and finish with dessert, with a total of seven or eight courses.” Elena, a witness of these traditional events, observed the expert hands of women of the house as a little girl and has trasformed them into her profession, frist applying the treasures of her up-bringing to her restaurant La Baraonda, and then teaching them at her cooking school. Integrating this family experience with one of the all time pinnacles of cookery, the book "Science in the kitchen and the art of eating well" by Pellegrino Artusi, Elena is ready to transmit the art which Tuscan women have had the fortune of learning.