Milan 2012: Day 4

We were walking to the university on the fourth morning when we saw that the street was turned into a farmers' market for the next two blocks. When we were in NYC early this year, the same thing happened. We walked out our apartment and stumbled on the farmers' market at Union Square. I just love checking out local markets anywhere I go because that's when I get to see the local produce and what the locals eat.

I waved Yi off and spent the next two hours checking out the market. On one side were the veggies and food stalls and on the other, the clothes and utensils stalls. Since we had a kitchen in the apartment, I bought some cheese, fruits and veggies and brought them back to the apartment 5 minutes up the street. People were greeting me "Buongiorno!" What a life, I thought! Fresh beautiful veggies and fruits, crisp cool air, no worries and I was in Italy, and I can buy all the ingredients and cook all the dishes I saw in cookbooks and TV shows!




Is this lettuce? Looks yum.














Fiori zucca (zucchini flowers), 1 euro per packet with 15 or more flowers in each packet.




All that from the farmers' market, for 8.15 euros and Milan is Italy's most expensive city!


Our fridge was always filled with fruits and mozzarella. The packet of fiori on the right was bought at a supermarket at 2 euros and the flowers were bigger but not as fresh and plentiful as those from the street market which were half the price.


The next morning, I stuffed the fiori zucca with buffalo mozza and anchovies.


We didn't have flour or any oil other than EVOO, so I pan-fried the flowers. The cheese yielded delicious milk while the stuffed flowers were delicious. The stems and the part where the stems join the petals were crunchy. 


I pan-fried the fresh porchini mushrooms--so meaty and tasty--too. This was an awesome breakfast!