Italian Dinner a la Marketman, Part I

tom1

Hmmm, so many guesses what I did with the chanterelles in the previous post that I decided to move up this set of posts on an impromptu Italian dinner we had last weekend. The food stocks and supplies in the Marketman household are at their absolute peak on a Saturday. If we are in Manila (as opposed to Batangas), I have probably visited several markets that morning and if I hit the foodstores in the preceding days, I would also have a ton of stuff in the fridge/freezer. So when we decide to spontaneously throw a dinner for 4-6 people on a Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m., we almost always manage to put a decent meal on the table in less than two hours, without additional marketing. We just make do with what we have in stock. Sometimes it is a modest meal, other times it is a “Gosh, are we glad we didn’t go to a mediocre expensive restaurant and have to battle the weekend crowd” moment… this dinner was one of the latter experiences…

tom2

To start, we had fairly ripe red tomatoes that are greenhouse raised (and therefor more watery that I would really like), we had two coveted large pieces of freshly flown in buffalo mozzarella from Galileo Enoteca, and a friend who just arrived from a trip to Hawaii brought us a little bag of black Hawaiian salt. Slice the tomatoes, slice the mozzarella, arrange on a platter, sprinkle with good olive oil and some cracked black pepper, and last minute sprinkle with black salt for visual interest. If you want a bit of acidity, add a dash of balsamic vinegar. If you have fresh basil leaves, which I did not, just shred and garnish the salad with them. Easy, quick, colorful and delicious!

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12 Responses

  1. i’m now drooling as i see these photos and reminded of the 1st EB with MM at Galileo Enoteca years back.

    Great photos!

  2. Great starter for a festive meal. I have also been buying the smoked mozzarella from Galileo recently, the scamorza. Actually am not sure if its a mozzarella or it might be another cow’s milk cheese. Very similar. Its really nice grilled and served with chopped tomatoes , basil, olive oil and balsamic vinegar..similar to what you have done with the fresh cheese…

  3. Hmmm, a simple appetizer never fails. If I have some pickled capers, olives or cornichons for a bit of tartness, I’ll throw them in there too with a bit of olive oil.

  4. I was able to get the “mozarella du buffala” from costco about a month ago and it tasted like our own “kesong puti” but without the saltiness, i had to sprinkle some salt to make it authentic kesong puti ;-). A bit expensive keso though, the container comes with 4 mozarella rounds for $12 or $3 for one that would be about 4 slices on your picture,,,We consumed it with hot pandesal for breakfast. But i will sure try your recipe If ever i get this mozarella again.

  5. I was just reading the food section of the San Francisco Chronicle last night and guess what’s on the front page of this section? None other than “Insalata Caprese”, and it says on the article that Italians only have one and only one version with only 5 ingredients no more no less: Tomatoes, evo oil, mozarella du buffala, salt and Sweet Basil.

    I guess they featured this because Heirloom Tomatoes are once again in season.

  6. speaking of heirloom tomatoes, i can’t help but wonder if these are the same as those tomatoes they used to refer to as “tumana” when i was a kid…they have the same irregular shape…just curious, thanks!

  7. Laura, yes, we have our version of native or heirloom tomatoes, but not as much variety as the ones now marketed in the U.S. I will look for the previous post I did on them and put it here.

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