For dinner, I went to il Mercato delle Erbe with the goal of getting "delicious things to put on bread." Well, I have to say I found some pretty delicious things. First, I went to this wonderful stall with this lady who sells olives, sauces, pickled foods, etc... After looking through the beautiful array of goods, I decided to get some salsa verde, which literally means green sauce. It had olive, artichoke, herbs, garlic, a little heat, and who knows what else. But it went great on bread. I also got some balsamic marinated onions, which are a little tart and very tasty.
Then I went to my favorite bread lady and got a Tuscan loaf. After, I searched around for a good place to buy some mortadella, the famous salami of Bologna. I decided on a stall in the back corner of the market, and I'm so glad that I did. I started talking with the man behind the counter, who was there with his father, first talking about the mortadella, and then somehow about his road trip across the U.S. ten years ago. The people at this market are truly some of the nicest people in Bologna and I love going there just to meet them. He gave me some free samples of the salami and after we had talked for about 10 minutes I finally left, knowing that I'll be back soon. Oh, and the mortadella was excellent (on the far left), pictured below with some gran padano cheese and fennel salami that I already had.
Finally, there was a salad of buffalo mozzarella from the market, along with arugula and fresh tomatoes. The tomatoes were simply amazing, their taste screaming of freshness and summer. I went to this one stall with good looking tomatoes, and asked the lady there, who must have been about 80 years old and only 5 feet tall, if the cherry tomatoes I saw in front of me were sweet. "Si," she replied, "but if you want the sweetest, you have to buy these," pointing to these tiny tomatoes from Sicily on the side of the stall. "Ok," I said, "I'll take those." She started to carefully pick them up tiny cluster by tiny cluster, as if they would shatter like glass if she handled them too roughly. "But!" she added, "you must use these tonight!"
"Si, li uso stasera" I respond.
"And you cannot cook them. You must eat them raw!" she orders.
I nod.
"And so you don't crush them, I am putting them in this box."
She takes them and gently lays them in a plastic box, which she wraps in a paper bag and then places in a plastic bag, handing them to me with care.
"Tanti aguri," she says and smiles as I leave, "Best wishes."
And so, that is how I acquired the best tomatoes I have ever had. Here they are, over some fresh arugula from the market along with the buffalo mozzarella, salt, pepper and olive oil.
And here is everything:
Sarah also made some delicious tomato, basil and mozzarella pasta. Yum!
