The Road to The Kitchen

Yesterday after getting up at an ungodly late hour (don't you love being on holiday) I ventured out to see the city. I walked a couple blocks to catch a bus but on the way down, my eye caught an outdoor market on Corso Racconigi. I got out on the next stop and walked back to the market. It was glorious and I spent an hour perusing the stalls.

I had text messaged Paolo to ask if he wanted me to pick something up from the market. He had earlier apologized for not having much in the refrigerator as they have been much too busy to go to a market to restock. He said it was unnecessary but if I wanted to, I could pick something up...especially if I wanted to cook. I was very straight forward with him when I said, "I'm on holiday, I do not want to cook." I told him I'd pick up something and it would be a surprise and he'd have to figure out how to cook it. I specifically said Iron Chef. Unknown to me, the Iron Chef phenomenon was unknown to him - of course a visit to youtube.com fixed that.

I picked up some fresh young artichokes still on the stem, a large bunch of cime de rapa (broccoli rabe), beautiful mushrooms and a package of orecchiette pasta as well as pomegranates, sweet grapes, and clementines. I carried my purchases home but found there was no space in the refrigerator for them all. That night, I surprised Paolo with my shopping and he made a nice supper of fresh artichoke salad with Gran Padano cheese and the pasta with the broccoli rabe. He said he had never cooked the broccoli rabe before and that he would surely purchase some again. We opened a bottle of Chianti that I brought from Badia A Coltibuono and made plans for the rest of the broccoli rabe, artichokes and mushrooms.