Vosges Haut-Chocolat, based in Chicago, IL, is America’s first producer of high-end chocolates and truffles based on the finest ingredients from around the world. Their indulgent products are a blend of exotic flavors, capable of transporting you far, far away. Thanks to Vosges and their team of skilled chocolate makers, you can experience the smells and flavors of different places like Latin America and even Italy in your own home.

And to guide you through your own private tasting session, Vosges chocolates come with informative tasting notes and information on suggested pairings.

Let’s take a look, shall we?
Have you been craving a little spice in your life? Vosges’ Aztec Collection may be exactly what you need. This collection of exquisite truffles is based on carefully selected ingredients like Mexican vanilla bean, Venezuelan dark chocolate, Argentinean dulce de leche, Costa Rican cashews and ancho chilies.

Each truffle promises a sophisticated blend of flavors, delicately balanced to evoke curiosity and passion.

And for all of you Italian food lovers out there Vosges presents its seductive Collezione Italiana – a selection of chocolate truffles filled with regional Italian products like 12-year aged balsamic vinegar, Sicilian sea salt, wild Tuscan fennel pollen.

Each elegant truffle is a play on savory and sweet sensations. Take, for example, the Sale del Mare truffle: Sicilian sea salt is added to a soft burnt sugar caramel and covered with sweet milk chocolate.

“The salt of the caramel leads to a craving for the sweet ~ the milk chocolate.”

And get this…after careful examination and taste testing, Vosges has decided to pair with their Italian inspired chocolate collection with Academia Barilla Extra Virgin Olive Oil. We couldn’t be more pleased!

Inside the Vosges Olive Oil and Truffle Gift Box, you will find 9 chocolate truffles and a 750ml bottle of Academia Barilla Monti Iblei Extra Virgin Olive Oil. The fresh, green flavor and peppery finish of the oil make it an excellent palate cleanser.

And you don’t have to take our word for it:

“When I hold a cheese and chocolate pairing with the Collezione Italiana truffles at my house I always serve a crusty Italian farmer’s bread with olive oil to cleanse the palate between bites. My friend, Susan, suggested I offer the pair in a gift package ready to go, all you need to bring is the bread and cheese. Here you go!”

–Katrina Markoff, chocolatier and owner of Vosges

(Source: Vosges Website, http://www.vosgeschocolate.com/)

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!

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!

Today, to conclude this year’s “ingredient and recipe of the month” series of blog articles, we propose you a recipe for preparing an authentic Panettone alla Milanese (Milan-style panettone). We found the recipe browsing the Academia Barilla Gastronomic Library, from the Italian cookbook “Il panettone milanese” (publisher: La Spiga). Since one panettone is never enough, we give you a recipe to bake three panettone cakes!

One note before going to the kitchen: it is important to understand that the preparation of Panettone requires a great deal of time and effort, as is the case for recipes made with sourdough bread. Don’t be discouraged if your home-made Panettone does not look as beautiful as the ones you can buy in the supermarket, because yours will surely be genuine and comparable to the original recipe.

PANETTONE ALLA MILANESE
A classic Italian Christmas recipe
(for 3 panettone cakes)

INGREDIENTS

- all-purpose flour, 2.8 pound
- butter, 14.1 oz.
- sugar, 10.5 oz.
- sourdough bread, 8.8 oz.
- sultana raisins, 7.05 oz.
- candied orange, 1.7 oz.
- candied cedar, 1.07 oz.
- eggs, 15
- salt, to taste

PREPARATION

To begin, wrap the sourdough bread in a towel lightly dusted with flour and set it aside in a warm place for at least 2 hours, allowing the dough to rise to twice its original volume.

Crumble the sourdough and dissolve it in a small amount of tepid water.

Pour 5.2 oz of flour onto a pastry board. Make a well with the flour and add the dissolved sourdough in the middle. Slowing begin mixing the ingredients together, kneading the dough by hand.

Work the dough into a ball, and place in a lightly sprinkled mixing bowl. Let it stand for approximately 3 hours.

In order to obtain perfectly leavened dough, heat the oven to 302 F, switch it off, and place the mixing bowl with the dough on the opened door. Once the dough has fully risen, place the dough on a pastry board and gradually mix in 4.5 oz of flour and some warm water, kneading the dough by hand until smooth. Allow the ball of dough to stand for approximately 2 hours, until it doubles in volume.

In the meantime, cut the candied cedar and orange pieces into small cubes and soak the sultana raisins in warm water.

In a saucepan, add the sugar in an inch of water. Heat and stir until completely dissolved. Once the syrup is lukewarm, remove from direct heat and place the saucepan on warm water bath (Bain-Marie).

Add 3 eggs and 12 yolks, and lightly cook the mixture. In a separate saucepan, melt 10.5 oz of butter on low heat, making sure that the butter does not burn.

Mix 2.2 pounds of flour with 2 tablespoons of salt and place on a pastry board, making a well in the middle. Gradually incorporate the leavened dough, the melted butter, and the sugar and egg mixture.

Knead the dough by hand for 20 minutes, until the dough is tough enough that it can be beat onto the board. This procedure ensures smooth, elastic and homogeneous dough. 

Drain the raising and dry in a clean kitchen towel. Add the candied cedar and orange bits, as well as the raisins, into the dough, kneading the dough for 2-3 minutes until well combined.

Divide the dough into 3 equal parts, rolling each third into a ball. Place the ball of Panettone onto a piece of parchment paper, buttered and dusted with flour.

Using a strip of thin cardboard, surround each Panettone with the parchment paper, creating a mould. Let the Panettone leaven in a warm place for at least 6 hours, until it has doubled in volume. After 6 hours, let the Panettone rest in a cool place for 10 minutes.

Place the Panettone on a baking sheet covered in parchment paper, and score the top of the dough with a cross.

Cook at 390 F for 5 minutes, then place the remaining butter slices on the score lines. Leave in the oven for 1 hour - 1 1/4 hour, slowly diminishing the temperature as the Panettoni begin to darken.

Enjoy your panettone! Merry Christmas from Academia Barilla and Italian Food Lovers!!!

As recommended by Chef Matteo Carboni in the video above, results are better when different varieties of grapes are mixed, which will result in a richer flavor. In the video recipe, Chef Carboni uses Sultuna, Pans and Moscate, which he introduced in his last video here on Italian Food Lovers.

Before proceeding with the grape hand-pressing. Matteo advises to use 4 pounds of table grapes in order to obtain 4 cups of table juice for 6 servings.

Not an easy job! You will surely need some strength to do this. Chef Carboni suggests to begin pressing the grapes with your hand, then to proceed crushing the remaining grape berries one at the time with your fingers before filtering the grape juice and giving it a final hand-squeeze to get as much juice as you can.

For 4 cups of grape juice we will need 4 oz of all-purposes flour that must be mixed with the grape juice in a bowl. Start with a little bit of juice. Mix with a whisk ensuring there are no lumps. Add the rest of the juice and keep mixing for a few more minutes until all the lumps disappear.

Put the mixture in a pot and bring to a boil, constantly stirring it. Keep boiling for 2 minutes before placing the mixture into molds while it’s still hot. Chef Carboni uses two different molds based on the servings he desire to prepare. Place the molds in the fridge, allowing them to rest for at least a couple of hours.

The first recipe prepared by Chef Matteo Carboni, Sugoli Grape Jelly paired with Pecorino Cheese and hazelnuts, is a dish that you can serve at the end of the meal as a dessert, or before the dessert. 

Chef Matteo Carboni concludes the video with a final dessert preparation, using the bigger Sugoli Grape Jelly molds that have been in the fridge for a bit longer. For the dessert presentation Matteo simply adds fresh cranberries, fresh mint and ground dark chocolate to the Sugoli Grape Jelly.

Chef Carboni also suggests trying a glass of Moscato wine (Muscat wine), to enjoy with this delicious Italian gourmet dessert.

Thank you Matteo, we can’t wait for your next video recipe!