We run out of recipes from the Chicago Botanic Garden’s Garden Chef Series and the Barilla Italian Cooking Weekend, at least for this year - next year we’ll make sure to have one of our bloggers from the Italian Food Lovers editorial team on site, so we can actually video the Chef demos and interview the Chefs (not while they demo, of course).

First of all, we would like to say thank you to Barilla USA’s Chef Lorenzo Boni, Trattoria N. 10’s Chef Doug D’Avico, Francesca Restaurants’ Executive Chef Laura Piper, Pinstripes’ Chef Mark Grimes and Mado’s Chef Rob Levitt for sharing their recipes with us. Thank you again, see you again on Italian Food Lovers!

Just to recap, this year we had the pleasure to publish on Italian Food Lovers recipes for 7 gourmet dishes. Did you try any of them at home? 

• Sautéed Wild Mushrooms Bruschetta
• Grilled Baby Octopus with Watercress Salad and Oranges
• Farfalle Piccolini Pasta Salad
• Linguine Fagottaro Pasta Salad
• Lobster Bread Salad
• Chicken Parmesan with Campanelle Pasta
• Grilled Peach and Prosciutto with Parmigiano-Reggiano and Bulsamic Must

Also, we have to say thank you to Stephanie Sette from the Academia Barilla USA Marketing Team (in the picture above) for getting all the content together for us (she does it all the time with the US events content, by the way) and of course also to Academia Barilla Italian Culinary Specialist Mario Rizzotti, who has been conducing several rounds of educational and tasting demos during the Barilla Italian Cooking Weekend.

In these pictures taken during the Barilla Italian Cooking Weekend Mario Rizzotti shares his Italian culinary knowledge with the show participants, teaching them how to professionally taste some of the best Italian gourmet products, such Italian extra virgin olive oils and traditional Italian cheese specialties such as Parmigiano-Reggiano and the several varieties of Pecorino, from Sardinian Pecorino Dolce to Pecorino Toscano DOP and Pecorino Sardo Gran Cru. Follow the link to see more pictures of Mario Rizzotti’s tasting demos at the Chicago Botanic Garden.

A final thank you goes of course also to all the guests and visitors and participated to the Chicago’s Chef show. If you liked the Italian cooking and Italian food culture you experienced at the Chicago Botanic Garden, you now you can find it also here on Italian Food Lovers all year round!

Also remember that you can experience the flavor and taste of Academia Barilla’s Italian gourmet food specialties all year round too, they are all available at the Academia Barilla online store, where you can also find Italian cookbooks, Chef tools, Italian gastronomy gift boxes and gift certificates!

Welcome back to Italian Food Lovers with more Chef recipes from the Barilla Italian Cooking Weekend at the Chicago Botanic Garden’s Garden Chef Series event earlier this year.

Today Chef Rob Levitt (pictured here below at the Chicago Botanic Garden’s event) of Chicago’s gourmet restaurant Mado shares with us an interesting gourmet recipe from the Italian gourmet event: Grilled Peach and Prosciutto Salad with Parmigiano-Reggiano and Balsamic Must! Ready? Let’s go to the kitchen!

GRILLED PEACH AND PROSCIUTTO SALAD WITH PARMIGIANO-REGGIANO AND BALSAMIC MUST
A recipe by Chef Rob Levitt
(serves 4)

INGREDIENTS

- 4 slightly under ripe peaches (free stone are best)
- 1 lemon, zest and juice
- 2 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
- Academia Barilla Unfiltered Italian Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 3 tablespoon Academia Barilla Natural Sea Salt
- 4 twists fresh cracked black pepper (or to taste)
- 7 tablespoon Academia Barilla Parmigiano Reggiano (shaved with a vegetable peeler)
- 4 paper thin slices Academia Barilla Prosciutto di Parma
- 8 tablespoon Academia Barilla Balsamic Must
- arugula leaves (optional)

PREPARATION

Light a charcoal or wood grill, and let the coals burn until you have a nice, even, medium heat.

Cut the peaches in half and remove the pits. Toss with the lemon zest, olive oil, thyme leaves, 2 tablespoon salt and pepper.

Place the peaches on the grill cut side down. Let them cook for about four minutes, or until they can be lifted easily from the grill and have nice lines charred into them (the grill marks are mostly aesthetic. If they stick a little, it’s ok, they will still get the smoky grill flavor we are going for).

Turn the peaches 90 degrees and let cook 2 more minutes. Turn over and let cook for 2 minutes.

Take the peaches off the grill and place in a bowl with the lemon juice and 1 tablespoon olive oil. Toss together and let cool.

Cut the peach halves into thirds, divide amongst 4 plates, and season with remaining sea salt.

Scatter the Parmigiano shavings over the peaches. Lay 2 Prosciutto slices over the peaches. If using, scatter the arugula leaves around the plate and drizzle with the remaining olive oil.

Drizzle with the Condimento Balsamico, and finish with a twist of black pepper.

Thank you Chef Levitt for sharing this yummy recipe with our readership! We look forward to having you as a blog guest again soon!

A quick post to remind all Italian food lovers, as anticipated three weeks ago, that Italian celebrity Chef, cookbook writer and Food Network star Giada De Laurentiis will be in California this week to promote her newly released Italian cuisine cookbook, Giada’s Kitchen.

After touring the entire United States with a number of book signing events at several book stores and gourmet stores across the country, Giada De Laurentiis will be available this week in California to sign copies of her new cookbook at two Williams-Sonoma stores in Costa Mesa and San Francisco - save the dates and locations if you live in California!

October 15 - 1pm-3pm
Williams Sonoma - Costa Mesa, CA
South Coast Plaza
, 3333 South Bristol Street

Costa Mesa, CA 92626 

(714) 751-1166

October 20 12pm-2pm
Williams Sonoma - San Francisco, CA
Union Square, 340 Post Street
San Francisco, CA 94108
(415) 362-9450

While signing her new cookbook at the California William Sonoma shops, Giada De Laurentiis will also be promoting her new Giada De Laurentiis Selected by Academia Barilla Italian gourmet product line.

Giada’s Italian food specialties are also all available at the Academia Barilla online shop: just follow the next links to purchase the products: Giada’s Balsamic Vinegar of Modena, Giada’s 100% Italian Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Giada’s Tuscan Herb Mix, and Giada’s Natural Sea Salt with Lemon Zest.

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!