Creating my own meals are just as important in Italy as going out to dinner. I get to shop at various markets in my general area, work on my otherwise horrible Italian language skills, and walk-to-shop something I haven't done in too many years (I drive to shop for everything these days).
Buying some basic stuff from the market; fennel, oranges, persimmon, raw onion, and treviso I can create a simple, seasonal salad. While this salad is just basically chopped stuff on a plate (because that's what it looks like), I did slice the fennel and onion about an hour ahead of time, squeezed oranges and a pinch of salt over them to allow the fennel/onion mixture to "cure" as I didn't want the harsh flavor of the onion and overly crunchy fennel, as my knife selection here isn't sharp (or I would have cut the fennel thinner)
Fresh winter style salad.
The salad makes a great starter course to be followed up with pasta with braised fennel, onions and mortadella, topped with Parmigiano.
Homemade pasta in Parma
Dolcetto d'Alba. Easy drinker for the week.
Re-working a dish of leftovers, is just as important as a new dish when you're only in town for a few days at a time. You may recognize the big green cabbage roll (below) that I had earlier in the week (that's another purchase) since it's filled with pork, it's going to be tonight's protein. Beneath the cabbage roll are the denser and greener stalks of fennel as well as the whiter parts of the treviso, scraps from the salad I mentioned above. Add a little bread to the plate and bingo...another meal in the books and no waste.
Pork filled cabbage roll with braised fennel and treviso
What's next in the kitchen? Don't know. I keep a supply of yogurt for breakfast along with a big hunk of Parmigiano for when I get hungry mid-day. We'll see what the market has to offer.