The new Academia Barilla Tuscan Soup and its yummy lentils, wheat and spelt (farro) mix we introduced with our latest post can be appreciate either as winter dish as well as summer recipe.

Try this gourmet recipe for a salad with season vegetables designed by the Academia Barilla Chef Team!

GRILLED VEGETABLE SALAD
A recipe by the Academia Barilla Chef Team
(serves 6)

INGREDIENTS

- 10 oz Academia Barilla vegetable and cereal mix
- 34 fluid oz water
- Academia Barilla Toscano extra virgin olive oil, to taste
- 1 round eggplant
- 1/2 yellow bell pepper
- 1/2 re bell pepper
- 1 zucchini
- 5 cherry tomatoes
- 1/2 red onion
- 2 oz mozzarella cheese
- salt to taste

PREPARATION

Pour the entire content of the vegetables and cereal bag of the Academia Barilla Tuscan Soup and the water in a boiling pot. Cook for 20 minutes mixing regularly.

Wash and dry all the vegetable, and slice them vertically to obtain slices 0.2 inches thick.

Chop the mozzarella into small cubes.

Grill each vegetable slice a couple of minutes for each side. Chop the red onion in thin slices, and the cherry tomatoes in quarters.

When the vegetable and cereal mix is cooked, eliminate the excess water.

Using a salad bowl mix zucchini, eggplants, red and yellow bell peppers, grilled sliced vegetables, mozzarella cubes, sliced onions and chopped tomatoes, and the Tuscan Soup’s cooked mix of vegetables and cereals.

Add oregano, extra virgin olive oil and salt to taste. Mix well and serve.

Buon Appetito from Academia Barilla and the Academia Barilla Chef Team!

Today we have the pleasure to introduce to you a new product from the Academia Barilla product line: Academia Barilla Tuscan Soup (Zuppa alla Toscana), an easy to prepare dish that instantly brings to your table all the Tuscan food tradition and authenticity.

The Tuscan Soup is innovative mix of vegetables and cereals with the flavor of Mediterranean aromatic herbs to fully enjoy the pleasure of Tuscan cuisine in just 18 minutes of preparation, to match one of the most traditional Tuscan food experiences with the fast pace of modern life.

Academia Barilla Tuscan Soup is prepared, as tradition requires, with simple and authentic ingredients: red and yellow lentils and healthy cereals such as wheat and spelt (farro), with no GMS or preservatives added.

You just have to mix the content of the 3 bags included in the package to bring Tuscany on your table. The first bag contains a mix of pre-cooked vegetables and cereals ready to be put in a pot, the second the Tuscan aromatic herbs, a key ingredient to replicate the full flavor of Tuscan gastronomy tradition, while the final bag comes with a mix onions, carrots, garlic and tomatoes, the traditional Italian soffritto.

We will soon share with you some gourmet recipes where you can use the Academia Barilla Tuscan Soup, but we would like to spend a few words today on the main ingredients of the new Academia Barilla soup: lentils and spelt.

Lentils probably are one of the first vegetable cultivated in scale in the human history: traces were found in Turkish archeological sites from 5,500 B.C. and also in Egyptian graves from 2,500 B.C.

In ancient world lentils have been a very valuable good, the Old Testament reports a Bible episode where Esau sells his birthrights to his younger brother Jacob in exchange of a bowl of lentil soup.

Today in the Italian food tradition lentils are associated with good luck and are a must in the New Year’s Eve traditional menus.

Spelt, also known as emmer wheat (farro), was the most popular cereal in Ancient Rome. Its preparation was considered to be sacred, and Numa Pompilio created a special holiday in honor of farro, Fornacalia. Roman sacred Vestals used spelt mixed with salt (a mix called “mola salsa“) for their sacrifices up to the 4th century A.C. Farro in Ancient Rome was also “libum”, a focaccia with no yeast also used for offers to Gods.

We’ll be back soon with a great recipe with the new Academia Barilla Tuscan Soup!

Yes, we still have a number of recipes for you from the Garden Chef Series. Today Chef Mark Grimes of Pinstripes Restaurant with a new exciting recipe, Chicken Parmesan with Campanelle Pasta.

Ready to cook? We are already heading to the kitchen… be prepared as the difficulty level of this recipe is medium, and there are several preparation steps.

CHICKEN PARMESAN WITH CAMPANELLE PASTA
A recipe by Chef Mark Grimes
(serves 4)

INGREDIENTS

- 3 lbs chicken breast, 6 oz each pounded out 1/4 inch thick
- 10 oz ricotta filling
- 2.5 oz sun dried tomatoes
- bread crumbs
- white flour, seasoned
- egg wash

PREPARATION

Take 6 oz single lobe breasts and place in between saran wrap and gently pound out to 1/4 inch thick.

In three separate pans place flour, egg wash and bread crumbs in that order.

Dip each breast into flour and shake off excess egg wash and drain, next into the egg wash and drain, then into bread crumb mixture. Repeat this process with each piece.

Divide ricotta mixture into 2 oz balls and sun dried tomatoes into 0.5 oz portions.

Place cheese and tomatoes at the top third of chicken breast and roll to create an oval shape.

Heat a sauté pan with oil and brown on all sides and finish in oven until you get an internal temperature of 165 F degrees, then set aside while preparing the nutless pesto / herb oil.

INGREDIENTS FOR NUTLESS PESTO / HERB OIL

- 2 oz garlic, fresh
- 3 oz parsley
- 1 oz basil, fresh
- 1 tablespoon thyme, fresh
- 1 tablespoon oregano, fresh
- 1.5 cups Academia Barilla Riviera Ligure extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon cracked black pepper

NUTLESS PESTO PREPARATION 

Place all ingredients in a container and puree until smooth with hand blender.

INGREDIENTS FOR RICOTTA MIXTURE

- 2.5 cups ricotta cheese, drained
- 3 cups Academia Barilla Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated
- 3/4 cup gorgonzola cheese
- 3/4 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
- 1/2 cup nutless pesto
- 4 cups Italian unseasoned bread crumbs

RICOTTA MIXTURE PREPARATION

Mix all wet ingredients first and then add dry ingredients and mix well.

INGREDIENTS FOR MARINARA

- 3 large cans plum tomatoes
- 1/2 cup celery, diced
- 1/2 cup carrots, diced
- 1 cup onion, diced
- 3 tablespoon garlic, chopped
- 1/2 cup Academia Barilla Riviera Ligure extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoon fresh basil, chopped
- 1 teaspoon fresh oregano, chopped
- 1 teaspoon fresh Thyme
- 1/4 cup white flour
- 2 cups red wine
- Kosher salt, to taste
- cracked black pepper, to taste

 MARINARA PREPARATION

Sauté onions, celery and carrots in olive oil for 20-30 minutes, stirring constantly.

Add garlic and cook 3-5 minutes, then add flour and cook out 3 minutes.

Deglaze with red wine and reduce by half and add canned tomatoes and let simmer for 60 minutes.

Puree until smooth and add extra virgin olive oil and fresh herbs as you puree.

Season with salt and pepper.

FINAL PREPARATION STEP: ASSEMBLE

Take cooked chicken breast and top with mozzarella or provolone cheese slices to cover, place in oven until cheese is melted.

Slice into desired size and arrange on your plate.

Toss with Campanelle pasta or your favorite cooked Barilla pasta with the marinara and place on your plate.

Garnish with pesto oil and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and serve.

Thank you Chef Mark Grimes for sharing with us this yummy recipe! Buon Appetito from Academia Barilla!

As the Chicago Botanic Garden carried on with the Garden Chefs Series until the end of summer, we still have several recipes from the Barilla Italian Cooking Weekend we already introduced here on Italian Food Lovers.

After presenting recipes from Chef Lorenzo Boni and Chef Doug D’Avico, today we introduce one of the other participant Chefs, Chef Laura Piper, Corporate Chef at Francesca’s Restaurants in Chicago, pictured here below during her Chicago cooking demo.

Chef Laura Piper today shares with us a classic pasta dish from the Francesca’s Restaurant menu, Linguine Fagottaro Pasta Salad.

LINGUINE FAGOTTARO PASTA SALAD
A recipe by Chef Laura Piper
(serves 6)

SAUCE INGREDIENTS

- 10 large (peeled, seeded and diced)
- 1/2 oz. Fresh basil (chopped)
- 1/2 oz. Raw garlic (chopped)
- 1/2 can Tomato juice
- Academia Barilla Riviera Ligure extra virgin olive oil, to taste
- Academia Barilla Natural Sea Salt with black olives, to taste
- black pepper, to taste

PASTA INGREDIENTS

- 4 lbs. Barilla Linguine pasta (cooked)
- 3 tablespoon Garlic (chopped)
- 3 tablespoon Shallots (chopped)
- 12 Fresh basil leaves (julienne)
- 3 oz. White wine
- 3 tablespoon Academia Barilla Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (grated)
- 3 tablespoon Fresh parsley (chopped)
- 5 tablespoon Academia Barilla Riviera Ligure extra virgin olive oil
- 12 oz. Academia Barilla Pecorino Dolce
- Academia Barilla Natural Sea Salt with black olives, to taste
- crushed red chilies, to taste

PREPARATION

Start preparing the sauce. Set aside 1/4 of diced tomatoes. Combine all remaining ingredients in a food processor and pulse to a chunky consistency. Add remaining tomatoes and fold into mixture.

Season with salt and pepper to taste. Refrigerate sauce until ready to assemble with pasta.

In a sauté pan, sweat garlic and shallots in 2 tbsp. of extra virgin olive oil. Upon garlic and shallots becoming translucent, add white wine to sauté pan. Allow to reduce for 2 minutes. Add cooked linguine, parsley, basil and remaining extra virgin olive oil to sauté pan. Toss with Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and season with salt and crushed red chilies to taste.

To assemble, spoon the pasta onto your serving platter. Pour chilled sauce over the pasta and top with fresh pecorino dolce and garnish with a sprig of basil.

Buon Appetito!

Thank you Laura - more recipes and pictures from the Garden Chef Series at the Chicago Botanic Garden will be coming up soon!

Just stay tuned and keep cooking with us!

A new Italian gourmet recipe to start our October intensive blog activity in a sweet way! (We have several things to share with you Italian food lovers this month, so stay tuned!).

Last week we blogged about the participation of Academia Barilla to the 26th American Wine and Food Festival, an LA gourmet event sponsored by Barilla that turned into an Italian food fest. We also distributed a press release about the event, you can also ready the press release on our blog.

Today we want to share with you one of the gourmet recipes prepared by Barilla Executive Chef Lorenzo Boni, Tortellini with White Truffle Butter Sauce. It sounds yummy, are you ready to go to the kitchen?

TORTELLINI WITH WHITE TRUFFLE SAUCE
A recipe by Chef Lorenzo Boni
(serves 6)

INGREDIENTS

- Barilla Tortellini, 1 pack (family size)
- Milk, 2 cups
- Parmigiano-Reggiano, 1 1/2 cups
- Bay Leaf, 1
- White Truffle Butter, 2 tablespoons
- Salt and White Pepper, to taste

PREPARATION

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.

In small sauce pan bring 2 cups milk and bay leaf to a simmer. Slowly add in Parmigiano cheese, melt gently. Process in a blander.

Once blended pour back in pan and toss in bay leaf. Season with salt and pepper.

Cook tortellini according to directions, drain and toss with the sauce.

Turn off heat and finish with White Truffle Butter and sliced white truffles.

Thank you Lorenzo for this new pasta recipe, we will publish more of your recipes soon!