After falling in love with Mario Batali’s Megamarket, Eataly, earlier this week my boyfriend and I returned yesterday afternoon to pick up some goodies for dinner. Much to our dismay, there was a line to get in, so we headed around the corner to Argo Tea where I sipped on iced Armenian mint tea and then we strolled over to Limelight Marketplaceto browse for a bit. When we went back to Eataly the line persisted so we decided to wait it out. It moved quickly and we were inside in no time!
We took our time and despite the crowds moved through at a relaxed pace. After we made our purchases, we even went back to the Piazza to enjoy a couple glasses of rose and a caprese salad. Two hours later we were back home with our groceries and ready to cook! Despite some of the reviews that this place is overpriced, I would beg to differ. We spent under $100, which included two bottles of wine. This is less than we spend in a restaurant most of the time. The key is to choose wisely and resist impulse purchases.
My specialty is salad and my boyfriend’s forte is pasta, so we each got started on our part of the meal. The salad was inspired by one I saw on a menu a few days ago at Pala and included mesclun greens with edible flowers, 1 thinly sliced pear and a handful of raspberries. The recipe calls for pistachios but unfortunately, we didn’t find any on our shopping trip (ok we did, but they were $15 for a tiny, 3 oz package and we couldn’t justify spending that on nuts) nor did I have any at home so we skipped them this time but you could also use almonds or cashews instead.
I also made a pomegranate salad dressing by blending the seeds of half a small pomegranate, the juice of half a lemon, olive oil, sea salt and pepper.
We couldn’t resist trying the fresh pasta from Eataly so my boyfriend chose the ravioli with meat and vegetables and I had the spinach tagliatelle. He made a light simple sauce by sauteing garlic, shallot and a hot pepper with olive oil and adding a light tomato pulp, fresh basil, sea salt and black pepper to the mixture to simmer.
Eataly also has a winery on site so before we left we picked up a bottle of one of our favorite whites, Gavi, to enjoy with our dinner.
We love to dine out in NYC but whenever we cook meals like this at home, we’re reminded of how much better, healthier and less expensive cooking at home can be and why we try to make an effort to cook at home more often.
What is your favorite meal to cook at home? What do you enjoy most about cooking at home?
I suppose it would depend on what you are buying and how much you are willing to spend for fresh, quality food, but I don't think $1 for a bunch of kale or $2 for raspberries is expensive.
I went to Eataly twice already. It's wonderful, but I disagree with you — it's absolutely, ridiculously expensive.