I have heard of cheap but this is ridiculous. One kilo of baby zucchini with flowers attached, that would be 2.2 American pounds, for 1 Euro, or $1.40. I found them at the farmers' market. We have an area of the market which is strictly dedicated to local farmers who bring their ware. They do not have to pay any taxes on their income-- they have a special permit and can just bring the things out of their garden, whatever they have, and sell the produce in this one area. This time of year, going there is such a pleasure! I am going to try to hit the market after breakfast next Tuesday and bring my camera. For now, these zucchini photos will have to suffice.
Besides making grilled zucchini, I dipped the flowers in a batter of flour, milk, egg, salt and pepper, sauteed them in olive oil and made these beautiful snacks for our guests' aperitivo in the evening.
This delicacy, for 4 people, minus the cost of the actual zucchini (which I used for something else) cost me approximately 1 euro, including the olive oil, the eggs and the milk. And a bit of love and time. You GOTTA love that!!
11 comments:
Yes you can eat like a king for pennies. I'm floored by the prices for good to excellent wine, olive oil, cheese etc.
These look delicious.
keep fofo on the blog! Gotta stop!
Those are very nice babies, indeed. My kid asked for squash recipes this year, so we've been cooking and eating all summer squashes since April. Might be time for a cucumber instead.
Whoa! It dumped the first sentence!
I love zucchini and those look delicious!
Happy new week!
Vale
In a similar vein, if your sage plant has grown out of control this summer, you can batter n' fry it too! http://tinyurl.com/nxd6rs
I've been wanting some zucchini flowers! they look divine!
That's cool that the farmers are permitted to sell without having to pay taxes (although it sounds like Italy could do with raising its tax base in general. . .). But that is a great incentive for them, and you get to reap the benefits!
Such a great idea....I remember in France the first time I went, going to the market and seeing people just set up tables to sell whatever they had grown.
So much better than the sticklers we have over here, the rules and regs are so bad, in fact ,I don't think I have seen a loose lettuce for years, everything is wrapped, and that is our normal market, the farmers market is slightly better but even those are so strictly run.
Yes you can really eat like a King and Queen for Pennies, we love it over there, for the markets :-)
When people ask what we love about Italy the most we always answer "THE FOOD!" In addtion to cheap wine, and olive oil, and parmesan cheese, it's the QUALITY of these seasonal fruits and veggies that makes life here so delicious! Friends in the states just don't 'get it' until they've been here!
I'm all for it, and yeah, give 'em a tax break.
One euro, it's practically cheaper than growing your own.
Thanks guys -- AK, you are so right, I fried up a batch of batter dipped sage with the sardines on the weekend, and will do the same for the guests' aperitivi tomorrow evening!
Rob, it's not only cheaper but no watering :) :) HA!
I went into town today and saw a food magazine called TasteItalia, had a flick through, and what was there??? Battered and Fried Sage Leaves :-)
Post a Comment