Yesterday, we got an amazing tour of the market by one of the professors at our school, followed by a cooking class for a four course meal!
I had been to the market a few times already since it's so close to my apartment, but I felt like a fish out of water with so many options and of course, people speaking Italian. It was incredibly helpful to have someone describe to me how to know which prices are good, if the fish is fresh, which stands give the best deals, etc. I wish he could come shopping with me at the market every time I go because he was so knowledgeable and full of useful information. He had such an appreciation for the Italian way of cooking with seasonal, fresh ingredients, and it made me extremely excited to experiment with cooking throughout the semester.
The market has everything.
Fish, meat, fruit, vegetables, cheeses, bread, fresh pasta, pastries, stands with a ton of varieties of olive oil and balsamic vinegar, small cafe's and a couple of restaurants.
I'll definitely be spending a lot of time wandering around this place over the next few months!
After buying the ingredients at the market, we headed back to the school to cook!
Technically the meal was "four courses", but we ate it all at once because we were short on time and it was all prepared together.
1: Focaccine Farcite
(Sandwiches made with foccacia that's surprisingly easy to make and can also be used as pizza dough! Mine had prosciutto crudo, fresh pecorino cheese, sun dried tomatoes and fresh basil leaves)
2: Traditional Trenette with traditional Pesto Sauce
(We used fresh trenette which is simply a type of pasta! Yummm)
3: Petti di Pollo alle Melanzane
(Chicken breasts with eggplant, mozerella and fresh tomatoes)
4: Torta di cioccolato e frutta
(A small chocolate cake that just melted in your mouth, and fruit salad)
Recipes coming soon!
that old man though.....adorable.
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