How can there be any other way to eat? The Saturday market is now just one block away from my apartment and it goes on for blocks. The selection of meats, cheeses, fruits, vegetables, and other delicious things makes the market a must-stop. Apparently everyone local thinks so, too.
Ahh! Grana Padano! Note the pattern on the side of the cheese wheel. When you see that diamond-shaped imprint, you know it’s the real thing.
Why have butter when you can have lard (or olive oil)? Yum! A slice of lard on a good hunk of bread: Yes!
My purchases today included:
- Bouquet of anemones for my friend, Ewa
- “Sweet” Olives from Puglia – Green and meaty
- Cherry Tomatoes from Sicily
- Pomodori di Pachino – Green and red skinned, crisp tomatoes
- Pickled Artichoke Hearts and Onions
- Ravioli stuffed with asparagus and fresh ricotta
- Basil – dirt still on the roots
- Eggs – handwrapped
- Peas – fresh in the shell
- Mozzarella – freshly made
- Mortadella of Wild Boar with Black Truffles and Pistachios (!!!)
I couldn’t wait to get home and shove it all in my mouth!
Oooo! The Mortadella with truffle!
The pickled onions and sweet olives!
I cooked the ravioli while I cut up the tomatoes, basil and some of the mozzarella. When the pasta was finished, I shelled the fresh peas right onto the hot ravioli, then dumped everything together and drizzled it all with bright green extra virgin olive oil and some crema di balsamico, a reduced balsamic vinegar from Modena.
Oh… Wow. Mmm.
…And this food is not “gourmet”. And it’s not being sold at high-priced, specialty grocery stores. This is daily fare.
This is how we should all be eating.
Mo, your photos bring back the fragrances of Italy–in my case mostly from Rome, although I stayed for a time at our convento di Corpus Domini near Milano’s historic center. What my mind’s nose picks up, above all, is basil and rosemary, cheeses, mortadella, oleo di ulivo, and the heady earthy tones from the stands filled with tomatoes, melanzane and so many other good foods. Then, especially in Liguria, there would be the fragrance of fresh fish. I am so homesick! Thanks.
P.S. What? No funghi?
Ahh, but tonight, in the Brera district of Milano, I had fresh pappardelle con porcini! Heaven on a plate. mmm. The funghi on display were half the size of my head!!!
Ahh, that mortadella con tartuffo nero e pistachio! E vado in Liguria per stare con amici primo giugno. Ti pensaró.
Carissima,
Not even a photograph of the pappardelle? Ah, the porcini of Italy! My introduction to them was gnocchi di patate with porcini, prepared by a confrere from the Veneto. I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. But do search out the cheeses up toward Trieste. They used to tell me of one cheese, which is actually illegal, in which they allow a kind of insect larva to grow, then they grind it up. It’s ready after three generations of these critters. A kind of Gorgonzola I was told. Ma, nella Liguria non mancare di mangiare frutti del mare per me e magari tagliatelle con pesto. And there has to be some delicious way to use some of the lavanda that grows there for seasoning–they do in Provence. Do drop by our Santuario di Gesu Bambino at Arrenzano. La Liguria mi sembra quasi il cielo in terra.
This is making me incredibly hungry!
It seems trite to say the food in Italy is fabulous, but it is!