A weekend packed with cooking demonstrations, wine tastings, and educational seminars, it will surely be an event not to miss. For cheese lovers, this is truly an experience unlike any other, with over 200 varieties of cheeses for guests to sample from local and international producers.

If you haven’t tried Academia Barilla’s velvety smooth and complex Pecorino Gran Cru table cheese, rare mountain-milk Parmigiano Reggiano table cheese, tasty Pecorino with porcini mushrooms and truffles cheese spread or the savory Spicy Fig Compote, make sure to stop by and see why Connie Rizzo, Deli and Cheese Buyer of DeLaurenti Specialty Food & Wine Seattle, says that Academia Barilla has a cheese that’s hot now in a recent article in Specialty Food Magazine.
Take a peak below to see some delicious notes on what we’ll be featuring at the event!

PARMIGIANO REGGIANO

Aroma: Fresh milk, with hints of butter and honey.
Flavor: Sweet and mild, with hints of fresh milk, skimmed yogurt, straw and white flowers.
Texture: Soft and compact.

PECORINO GRAN CRU

Aroma: Sweet and fresh, with hints of milk, cream and grass. Scents of nuts, fruit and hay.
Flavor: Milky, sweet and nutty. Fills the palate, well balanced, round, complex flavor.
Texture: Compact, velvety, moist.

SPICY FIG COMPOTE

Made with fresh green figs and spicy mustard essence, this traditional recipe is presented
with a modern flair.
Aroma: Spicy, distinct flavor of mustard has an intense, refined aroma.
Flavor: Softened by fresh figs, this compote embodies the perfect balance between sweet and spicy.

SPREADABLE CHEESE WITH PECORINO SARDO, TRUFFLES, AND PORCINI MUSHROOMS

Aroma: Delicate notes of fresh milk and cream with the intense undertones of Truffles and Porcini Mushrooms.
Flavor: Milky and sweety with a very well balanced aroma with round flavor.

If you can’t wait until the event or won’t be able to make it, try this tasty recipe below to experience a cheese lovers delight!

CHEESE FANTASIA
Ingredients for 4 servings:
5.2 oz. Parmigiano Reggiano
5.2 oz. Pecorino Toscano
5.2 oz. Pecorino Dolce
5.2 oz. Mozzarella
7 oz. Spicy Fig Compote
7 oz. Fresh Pears with Balsamic Vinegar of Modena
7 oz. Gourmet Chianti Wine Jelly
7 oz. Monti Iblei D.O.P. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Sicilian Sea Salt with Black Olives, To Taste
2 Fresh Figs
1 Fresh Pear

Cut the figs into one-fourth pieces, the pears into eighth and the grapes into half. Cut the Parmigiano into flakes, the Pecorino into slices and the Mozzarella into cubes. Place all the ingredients on a platter with the Parmigiano near the Fresh Pears with Balsamic Vinegar and a piece of fresh Pear. Place the Pecorino Toscano near the Gourmet Chianti Wine Jelly and the fresh Grapes, then the Pecorino Dolce near the Spicy Fig Compote and the fresh Figs. Sprinkle the Mozzarella with the Monti Iblei D.O.P. Extra Virgin Olive Oil and a pinch of Sicilian Sea Salt with Black Olives.

As a matter of fact, the Valrhona meeting, entitled Il Gelato sotto i riflettori or “Gelato Highlight,” was held at the Academia Barilla headquarters in Parma, Italy. Here, Valrhona shared with their clients their new selection of summer recipes: from gelato cakes to desserts served in a glass. Obviously, all of the recipes were based on chocolate!

Alain Chartier, Master Pastry Chef honored with the titles of best pâtissier in France and World Gelato Champion, demonstrated how to prepare the Valrhona treats in front of a full house.

But start at the beginning. The day began at 1 pm, when guests were welcomed into the Academia Barilla Training Room where, for the special occasion, Master Pastry Chef Gianluca Fusto arranged an appetizing buffet of macaroons, small soft coconut tarts filled with chocolate and fabulous little chocolates.

Selections of macaroons, coconut tarts and chocolates

Academia Barilla training room

After this sweet prelude, the meeting moved to the fantastic Academia Barilla Auditorium, where Alain took over the show, in front of numerous guests and Academia Barilla’s video cameras.
The demonstration lasted 3 hours, during which Alain made various chocolate preparations – all of which were truly fantastic.

A moment during the demonstration

For his first recipe, Alain presented a dessert called Mojito. Based on an original recipe, the treat is combination of lime sorbet and vanilla with a light white rum mousse with a chocolate gelato. The recipe took 40 minutes to prepare, but we can assure you that it was worth it! Alain demonstrated, with expertise and professionalism, all of the steps necessary for making a perfect Mojito. And here is the final result.

A hard shell of shiny chocolate containing lime and vanilla sorbet that surrounds a white rum mousse with a heart of soft and creamy chocolate. Beautiful presentation and sublime flavor!

Another recipe that Alain presented was Sante, a glass of sorbet composed of an orange-carrot mousse, carefully placed on a soft layer of Coeur di Guanaja, a delicious chocolate produced by Valrhona.

The dessert was presented in a glass glazed with Coeur di Guanaja with a small transparent strip so that you could see the contents. The finishing touches were very fine strips of dried carrot. Excellent work Alain!

To prepare the desserts for all of the guests, Alain was joined by Chef Marco Canevari and Chef Fabrizio Pantani, who also assisted him during the demonstration.

From the left: Master Pastry Chef Gianluca Fusto, Chef Marco Canevari, Chef Fabrizio Pantani and Master Pastry Chef Alain Chartier.

The meeting ended with a tasting session of all of Alain’s fantastic preparations and a toast to a job well done! Congratulations to everyone! Academia Barilla is very happy to have had you as our guests!

Make sure to stop by as we will be featuring some of the products in an effortless dish: Pinzimonio.
See below for a sneak peek at tonight’s dish.
Serves 4
INGREDIENTS:
- Your favorite fresh vegetables
- 3 ounces of Academia Barilla 100% Italiano Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 1 ounce of Academia Barilla Balsamic Vinegar of Modena, aged 3 years
- 1 large pinch of Academia Barilla Black Olive e OR Blood Orange Sicilian Sea Salt

Wash, dry, peel and cut vegetables into uniform strips approximately 3 inches long. Display the vegetables (standing up) in a glass bowl with crushed ice at the bottom. For the dip, mix the oil, vinegar, and salt together. Portion the dip into 4 small cups, one for each person.
Enjoy the Pinzimonio by dipping the vegetables into the oil and eating.

The Economist tells how “a pasta-maker gets a taste for books“, describing the Gastronomic Library’s collection of over 8,500 cookery books in more than ten languages, and nearly 5,000 menus and scores of old prints showing food in various phases of preparation.

The Economist’s journalist quotes BIGAB’s Director Giancarlo Gonizzi and the Dewey decimal system he adopted to classify the collection, besides the cultural activities scheduled at BIGAB with students (from Parma’s university, but also US visiting students) and with Parma’s city authorities. The article mentions that the library has begun digitizing its contents and plans to make them available online.

Digitalizing the entire Gastronomic Library is a long process, but currently in progress; we will definitely keep you updated on BIGAB’s online availability.

In the meanwhile, you can start enjoying the first fruits of this hard work at the new Academia Barilla website, that features an entire section dedicated to BIGAB, and started publishing online the first series of traditional Italian regional recipes, as well as fun food facts such as those about Academia Barilla’s collection of historic menus, or “At the table with…“, a section where you can discover the favorite food and recipes of great people in history, from Cato to Catherine De’ Medicis to Napoleon Bonaparte.

The content and full index of the Academia Barilla Gastronomic Library, while not currently entirely available online, it is searchable through the new Academia Barilla website, a good resource page for all food culture students, historians, chefs and food lovers!

Enjoy the food culture readings, they are food for thought!

As we get into 2009 and we move from a Christmas blog design to a Winter make-up, we want to share with you a delicious Season treat from Academia Barilla. We recently blogged about panettone, inviting you to bake your own one by presenting it as recipe of the month for the month of December. Today we introduce to you Academia Barilla’s lavish and exclusive version of the traditional Italian Christmas cake.

Academia Barilla and Master Pastry Chef Corrado Vicina are happy to introduce the Four Season Panettone (Panettone Quattro Stagioni), an exceptional combination of intense flavors that will make you discover, slice after slice, all the taste of four different ingredients in one panettone cake: chocolate for a Winter taste, cherries bring all the flavor of Spring, apricots stand for Summer and chestnuts to bring us back the autumn gourmet mood.

The presentation of the Four Season Panettone preparation included here above illustrates the process that requires Master Pastry Chef Corrado Vicina three full days of intensive artisanal preparation at the Academia Barilla Culinary Center in Parma, Italy. 

Chef Corrado Vicina, with the help of the Academia Barilla Chef Team, start processing the purest yeast with first choice quality ingredients, individually selected one by one.

The Academia Barilla Culinary Center has a Pastry Lab with professional, state-of-the-art bakery tools that allow creating the perfect dough for a mass yet limited production. Just few hundreds Four Season Panettones are baked each year, and they are available exclusively through the Academia Barilla Culinary Center in Parma, Italy.

Chef Corrado Vicina has a secret recipe for the Four Season Panettone, sorry we cannot share it - but we can tell you how the Four Season Panettone is made. 

As you can see from the slideshow, after processing the dough in the four flavor variations, the fours seasons merge together into a smooth hug after two days of leavening.

Before putting the cakes in the oven Chef Vicina puts his final Chef touch, a sprinkle of pure white almonds and a cloud of grains of white sugar. The panettone cakes are baked in transparent ovens, so the baking can be constantly overviewed.

After one hour of intense oven heat, the panettones get hung upside-down drying for an entire night, a 12-hours process that allows eliminating excess humidity and that will make the Four Season Panettone softer and fresher.

Academia Barilla’s Four Season Panettone gets a very simple yet elegant packaging: a protective inner plastic bag seals flavor and softness, while an hand-wrapped red wrap makes it perfect for a gourmet Season gift!

Happy New Year again from Academia Barilla and Italian Food Lovers!