Simple Eating: Vegetarian and Not-So Vegetarian Ideas

By now you’ve located your nearest lower cost grocery stores, fruit and vegetable vendors, maybe some open air markets, and have also realized that eating good food out can be quite expensive. If you aren’t accustomed to cooking for yourself, this post will give you ideas for meals that are simple, quick, inexpensive, and good. These are the first two meals that we have made in Rome this year, which means that we have the barest kitchen consisting of extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, pepper, and the actual food items.

Vegetarian meal: Cost about 5 Euros for two people (plus oil and vinegar)

This meal included a pasta dish (spinach and regular fettuccini topped with tomatoes sautéed lightly in olive oil), a vegetable (zucchini and eggplant cooked with olive oil and balsamic vinegar), and a small salad of arugula with balsamic dressing on it. Some Italian words from the meal are: pomodori (tomatoes), melanzane (eggplant), rughetta (arugula – a peppery type of lettuce).





Not-So Vegetarian meal: Cost about 8 Euros for two people (plus oil, vinegar, and pepper)

This meal included a meat dish (beef carpaccio), a pasta dish (spinach and ricotta tortelloni topped with olive oil and ground pepper), a small salad of arugula, bread, and a tomato.
Carpaccio is thinly sliced meat served in olive oil and lemon juice, usually accompanied by capers. The meat is eaten raw. You may also find salmon and other carpaccios. Vegetarians interested in trying a similar dish could look for recipes online to make it with zucchini.

The tortelloni are one of many stuffed pastas that you will find alongside fresh pastas in the cooler section of your local grocery store (near cheese and milk). There are many types to choose from that may vary throughout the summer and across grocery stores. The staples will include pasta stuffed with spinach and ricotta, ones stuffed with prosciutto, and ones stuffed with meat (carne). You may also find ones with more unique fillings like cheese and pears, melon, and radicchio (a bitter purple lettuce).

Cooking at Home

Here is a simple dinner idea that Jenny and I had in Rome last May.

You are looking at ravioli with pesto coupled with arugula salad, fresh mozzarella, pears, topped with fresh basil, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil. The ravioli and mozzarella were bought in a grocery store. We found everything else at open-air markets.