Prosciutto, Melon and Mozzarella Salad

I'm spending too much time on Pinterest again (sigh) . . . This delightful salad caught my eye and I knew I'd be making it this summer . . .  Click here to see the original pin on Pinterest.

But the culinary gods were with me today.  I've just found a great source of local, sustainable, indoor farming and they had wonderful baby arugula for sale!  Yes, I do get excited about fresh baby arugula!  So, why wait! 

I picked up the rest of the ingredients at Caputo's, my favorite grocery store.  Their deli was redolent with the aromas of aged cheeses and excellent hams.  A trip to Caputo's always makes me feel like I'm back in Italy.  I've written about Caputo's here, here and here.  Anyway, here's my interpretation of the salad:

The secret to this salad is using absolutely the best ingredients that can be found:  Imported Prosciutto di Parma (pricey but so worth it!), baby arugula, ripe cantaloupe wedges (I peeled mine), fresh mozzarella marinated in extra virgin olive oil, chopped fresh basil, salt and pepper.  One more drizzle of olive oil and a few dots of a balsamic vinegar reduction (click here for instructions on how to reduce balsamic vinegar) . . .  This was food poetry, if I do say so myself . . .

Ahh . . . !  Welcome spring!

Linking to Sunny Simple Sunday Link Party!

Limes

I may have gone a tad overboard . . .

But who could resist this bounty? Twenty limes for $1 at Caputo's - my favorite grocery store! I bought sixty.

First, I dropped a wedge of lime in some fizzy water to cool off after my shopping expedition . . .

Then I made some fresh salsa . . .

And it's only Saturday! I have a whole lot of Sunday to think up more uses for these refreshing little wonders . . .

Caputo's! Everything else . . .

The most important thing to remember at Caputo's . . . stay away from the cooking magazines! That place is dangerous enough as it is . . .

The antipasto bar doesn't disappoint . . . This so reminds me of Italy!

Some buy olive oil in small quantities . . .

And some of us . . . well, we need a little more . . .

And then there's vinegar . . . Inexpensive distilled vinegars, good only for washing windows and coloring Easter eggs, can be found next to the most sublime balsamic vinegars infused with anything imaginable . . .

The Silver Palate Cookbook, given to us as a wedding present by my sister-in-law Angela, is still one of my favorite cookbooks. I was pleasantly surprised to find this balsamic vinegar with the Silver Palate label among the selection. Of course I had to buy a bottle . . .

I went looking for pancetta (Italian bacon) and found . . . Danish bacon! Danish bacon? Huh. Caputo's always surprises me with a new treasure. I'm going to try out the Danish bacon instead of ham next time I make split pea soup. I'll let you know how it turns out.

I left Caputo's feeling like an alchemist who now has the ingredients for turning base metal into gold. I can't wait to take my cauldron out.

Caputo's! Pasta!

At Caputo's, they take their pasta seriously. Check out the aisles of pasta choices, end capped with cans of tomato purée, gallons of olive oil or jars of delicious giardiniera peppers . . .

You could spend hours just looking at all the pasta shapes that are available . . .

That's four aisles of pasta!

It took me a while to get the picture below. A woman was arguing with her mother (in Italian) about how many cans of crushed tomatoes they would need to make "Bolognese" for the family party. I wish I could have gone to that party . . . (Alas, the ladies did not wish to be photographed!)

One of the nice things about Caputo's is that, although, clearly Italian in character, they are not snobs about it. While you might find an end cap stocked with nothing but Sicilian chocolate nougats with almonds and honey, you won't have any trouble finding Twinkies (if you must), or Ballpark Franks (I didn't forget, David!).

Stay tuned tomorrow for more adventures at Caputo's! Next: What to put on all that pasta!

Caputo's! Peppers!

I first discovered Caputo's in the Italian neighborhood not far from our old house within the city of Chicago. It was a really inconvenient store, with narrow aisles, barely wide enough to push a tiny cart, and very limited parking. But once inside, it was easy to see why people put up with all the hassle.

Being inside Caputo's was simply intoxicating: Lots and lots of fresh produce sold in often messy-looking boxes or bushels, but so fresh . . . a smattering of Italian being spoken very fast and with a lot of hand gestures, cashiers that wore too much mascara, and spoke with a thick accent . . . but they were super efficient, and friendly, and they remembered your name. Clearly, this was a family business.

I remember once getting a bushel of plum tomatoes from Caputo's and making marinara sauce from scratch - a lot of marinara, after all, I had to use up a bushel of tomatoes! I also remember mango season. I adore mangoes and Caputo had the biggest, sweetest and cheapest mangoes to be had in Chicago.

The word has gotten out about this treasure because Caputo's has been growing and opening stores up all over the greater Chicago region. And, lucky us, there's one near our house!

I wasn't expecting the new Caputo's to be as charming as the old one. I was resigned to finding a supermarket that was more traditional, able to appeal to a wider clientele, trendier . . . and, sure enough, the new Caputo's is gorgeous, and huge . . . but somehow, they've managed to keep the ambience. When we walked in, music was playing - Italian music, Dean Martin singing "That's Amore" followed by Pavarotti singing "O Sole Mio." The rest was pure bliss.

The peppers were spectacular today. So many choices in the dead of winter, and so relatively cheap! I couldn't stop smiling! Thank goodness I had my camera, otherwise I would have been filling my cart with too many peppers!

These are called Hot Finger peppers . . .

These might be your basic yellow, green, orange and red peppers . . . but they are far from ordinary . . .

The prices are amazing here! I don't know how they do it. Last week I paid $2.49/lb. for red peppers at another supermarket . . .

Ancient red, banana, poblano and jalapeño peppers . . .

More pictures of this wonderful store to come . . .