Experience the ultimate Italian travel experience in the heart of Parma and Emilia-Romagna, Italy’s Food Valley, with Academia Barilla and the VIP gourmet tour organized by Academia Barilla Culinary School Alumni Frank DiMaria we announced with a previous post.

The VIP gastronomy tour dates are September 21-26, 2008, and the gourmet guided tour to Emilia-Romagna includes:

Culinary Hands-on Experience
Exclusive tasting sessions
Regional delicacies
Authentic menus
Specialty recipes
English-Italian translation
5-Star hotel accommodations
All meals included
Castle and winery visits
World class facilities
Individualized instruction
Courses from Italy’s top local Chefs
One-of-a-kind gourmet and culinary tours
Daily transportation and transfers
Tuition and course materials

Culinary travel highlights include:

The cultural street life, authentic markets, food stores, retail shops, restaurants and cafés of Parma and surrounding areas of Emilia-Romagna

Two hands-on culinary courses at the Academia Barilla Culinary Center
The spectacular historic Torrechiara Castle and medieval town nestled in the countryside of Emilia-Romagna

Gourmet tours to award-winning Parmigiano-Reggiano and Prosciutto di Parma producers, where we will witness the production, authenticity and quality of traditional Italian products

Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar tastings with professional, expert techniques on how to taste these regional delicacies

An excursion to a winery in the Emilia-Romagna region for a tasting and lesson on discovering the intricacies and flavors of different wines

An excursion to the Ferrari Museum in Imola to experience first hand the history of an Italian icon

Gelato and sorbetto tasting in local area cafés

The exclusive group price for this luxury VIP guided tour is $2,900 per person, airfare excluded. For more detailed information about the VIP tour features, cost and booking please call Frank DiMaria at +1 847 965-0672 or +1 847 417-7587, or email Frank at frankdimaria@comcast.net.

We will be blogging more over the next few weeks about this VIP gastronomy tour to Emilia-Romagna, getting into details of each activity and destination to feed you with more Italian food culture and some desire to come cook with us in Parma!

We have been blogging a lot in the past about Academia Barilla’s gourmet and gastronomy tours in Parma and Emilia-Romagna, as well as the several initiatives from the Academia Barilla Culinary Center such as the culinary learning vacations that conjugate the pleasure of discovering Italian culture and food tradition with the ultimate experience of learning how to cook with top Italian Chefs.

We also blogged several times about other Academia Barilla initiatives that put together Italian food and culture - and no, we don’t mean “just” Italian food culture, but actually gourmet food plus Italian culture, such as in the gourmet cultural tours proposed by Academia Barilla to discover historic and artistic landmarks, contemporary art or classic opera.

Talking about which, we can anticipate that also for this year Academia Barilla will offer gourmet luxury packages to enjoy the Festival Verdi 2008, dedicated to the Italian Opera Maestro Giuseppe Verdi. We’ll blog about it soon, stay tuned!

We are not the only one blogging about the Academia Barilla gourmet, cultural and culinary tours to Italy. The Academia Barilla Culinary Center in Parma, Italy, is listed as a top culinary destination by several Italian food websites and directories, such as ChicagoTribune.com, Cooking In Italy, Alta Cucina and GreatEveryDayWines.com, among others. Not to mention of course Gourmet Magazine, who recently ranked the Academia Barilla Culinary Center among the world’s best cooking schools, among the top 5 in the world in the Luxury category. 

If you want to get more info and details about the cultural, culinary and gastronomic tours of Academia Barilla please get in touch with Academia Barilla in Parma at +39 0521 264060 (toll-free number from Italy 800 376-116), or in the United States at the US toll-free number 1-866-772-2233.

We also already talked about our VIP tours, too, as in the recent case of Lynn Novo’s VIP gourmet tour to Parma, organized by Chef and food entrepreneur Lynn Novo from Atlanta, Georgia.

The Academia Barilla VIP tours are luxury guided cultural and culinary tours designed by Academia Barilla and managed by Academia Barilla Culinary School Alumni such as Lynn Novo or Frank DiMaria, who is organizing a new VIP tour from Chicago, Illinois.

Over the next few weeks we will publish a series of blog posts that will help recreate the experience, albeit in a virtual way, proposed by the Academia Barilla VIP tour organized and guided by Frank DiMaria. For the moment, we anticipate that there will be a lot of cooking, but also visits to local artisan food producers, Medieval castles, the Ferrari Museum, and guided tours to the historic and monument beauties of the cities of Parma and Bologna.

Stay tuned for the next blog posts. If you want to book or get more info on this specific Academia Barilla VIP tour, please call Frank DiMaria at all +1 847-965-0672 or email frankdimaria@comcast.net to reserve your space!

There is no better symbol for summer than a watermelon, at least in Italy where its sweet and juicy pulp refreshes million of Italians (plus all the tourists) every summer - in July and August you can even buy watermelon by the slice in many public squares and beaches across Italy!

The Italian name for watermelon is anguria, but in Central Italy it is also called cocomero while in the South people calls it melone. No matter the name, everybody loves the juicy watermelon in summertime!

This is why we picked up a very summer-ish recipe for this Ferragosto (the Italian public mid-summer holiday on August 15) which is fresh, easy to prepare, and mostly made out of watermelon.

We browsed the Academia Barilla Gastronomic Library and found a cookbook by Italian celebrity Chef Gianfranco Vissani, “Il Vissani - 400 recipes in 100 menus proposed by Gianfranco Vissani” (2002, RAI Radiotelevisione Italiana Editions).

Our Ferragosto recipe of choice here at Italian Food Lovers definitely is Watermelon Chill with Sugar Grate, a recipe proposed by Chef Vissani and based on the very popular Sicilian summer dessert Gelo di Mellone. Ready? Let’s go to the kitchen!

WATERMELON CHILL WITH SUGAR GRATE

A recipe by Chef Gianfranco Vissani
(serves 4)

Preparation: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 45 minutes

INGREDIENTS

- 21 oz Watermelon
- 5.3 oz Icing sugar
- 2.8 oz Dark chocolate grains
- 3.5 oz Sugar
- 1 fl oz Water

PREPARATION

Using a food processor, blend the watermelon into a fine pulp. Then, slowly mix in the icing sugar.

Distribute the watermelon mix into cups, decorate with the dark chocolate grains and let it store in the fridge until it has reached the right consistence (approximately one hour).

When the watermelon mix is ready, decorate with an abundant amount of icing sugar on top.

To prepare the sugar grinds cook the sugar with water until it reaches a temperature of 200°F. Continue cooking until it has caramelized.

Place the pot into a container filled with cool water in order to stop the cooking process. Then spread the caramel onto parchment paper.

Using a fork, shape some crossed stripes obtaining a grind made of sugar. Put the sugar grind on top of the watermelon chill and serve.

Happy and fresh Ferragosto to all Italian food lovers from our blog team and from the Academia Barilla Gastronomic Library!

Celebrate Father’s Day behind the grill. Invite your friends, your neighbors and, most of all, your father for a Mediterranean BBQ that will surely make your dad happier than getting him another tie or pair of socks!

This BBQ recipe has been published this week on the Academia Barilla newsletter, a great news channel that delivers once a month Italian culinary news, recipes and Italian gastronomy culture to thousands of email subscribers - all Italian food lovers should subscribe to it, so here is the direct link to sign up to receive it.

We always have plenty of gourmet content for our blog, so we rarely republish here articles and news already broadcasted by our newsletter. But this month the Mediterranean BBQ recipe is too catchy, and we strongly believe that there isn’t anything better than a BBQ for a family reunion, specially during this nice season.

The Chef Team of the Academia Barilla Culinary School shared with us a barbequing recipe for grilled assorted meats and skewers with a brand new seasoning, Academia Barilla’s Sapori Italiani Herb Mix, the key element that gives the touch of Italian taste to this recipe adding a special Mediterranean flair to your BBQs and every day cooking.

Sapori Italiani Herb Mix is available at the Academia Barilla online store.

MEDITERRANEAN MIXED GRILL HERB BBQ
(serves 4)

INGREDIENTS

- 1 lb. spareribs
- 1/2 lb. sausage
- 5 oz. turkey breast
- 4 chicken breasts
- 5 oz. fresh bacon
- 1 red pepper
- 1 onion
- 10 oz. lamb cutlets / rib chop
- 2.5 oz. Academia Barilla Sicilian Unfiltered Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 1/2 oz. Academia Barilla Sapori Italiani Herb Mix
- 1.7 oz. Academia Barilla Balsamic Vinegar of Modena aged 3 years
- lemon juice from 1 fresh lemon
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 branch rosemary
- salt to taste

PREPARATION

Mix 1 oz of extra virgin olive oil and a pinch of Academia Barilla’s Sapori Italiani Herb mix in a large bowl.

Cut the turkey breast, sausage, bacon, red pepper and the onion into 1 inch chunks, add them to the mixture and toss to coat evenly. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate, allowing to marinate for 8 hours before grilling.

While the ingredients for the skewers are marinating, brush the chicken breasts with 1.5 oz of extra virgin olive oil, some lemon juice and season with Sapori Italiani herb mix. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate, allowing the chicken breasts to marinate for 8 hours before grilling.

Layer the lamb cutlet between plastic wrap and flatten them gently with a rolling pin or mallet. Place the ribs in a large dish so that they all fit in a single layer. Pour over the Balsamic Vinegar of Modena and sprinkle with 1 clove minced garlic and 1/2 a bunch of chopped rosemary. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate, allowing to marinate for 8 hours before grilling.

Using the remaining 1 clove minced garlic and remaining half of the rosemary, season the spareribs. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 8 hours.

When the marinating time is over, remove all items from the refrigerator. Make sure to spear the skewer ingredients (turkey breast, sausage, bacon, red pepper and the onion in 1 inch chunks) onto wooden or metal skewers, alternating the ingredients for taste and color.

About 30 minutes before beginning to barbecue, preheat the charcoal grill to 350 degrees. Prepare the charcoals according to the directions on the grill for barbecuing.

Cook the assorted meats until they are perfectly grilled to your liking.

Remember to salt the meat only at the end.
Buon appetito!

How about making this Father’s Day BBQ perfect, by adding to the present Chef gift ideas such as a traditional Chef’s jacket, that you can order also in a customized version with your dad’s name, or a traditional Chef’s hat would perfectly match the jacket.

Other gift ideas for a gourmet dad? Have you seen the latest gift ideas such as the Pinzimonio set (fits perfectly a BBQ), a set of Cheese Lover’s knives, or even just a gift certificate from the Academia Barilla online gourmet store?

Happy Father’s Day from Academia Barilla and Italian Food Lovers!

Millefoglie is the Italian version of the French pastry Mille-feuille, meaning “thousand leaves” which is a layered cake which can be filled in delicious several ways.

As described by the Wikipedia, other names for Millefoglie around the world are Mille-feuille (French), Napoleon (U.S.), vanilla slice, cream slice or custard slice (Commonwealth), all to describe a pastry made of several layers of puff pastry alternating with a sweet filling, typically pastry cream, whipped cream or jam. You can find the dessert name also written as “millefeuille” and “mille feuille“.

At the Academia Barilla Culinary School we thought this could be a perfect gourmet dessert to celebrate Mother’s Day, so we asked Chef Matteo Carboni to share with us the recipe, and also to prepare the dessert for us, so we could have some pictures, too (that, by the way, we uploaded also on Wikipedia).

We also took a small video of the preparation, available on YouTube and other video spaces, and of course embedded also here below in this post.

Ready for the recipe? Let’s go to the kitchen!

STRAWBERRY AND CHANTILLY MILLEFOGLIE
(serves 4)

INGREDIENTS

- puff pastry, 1 pound
- chantilly cream, 1 pound
- strawberries, 1/2 pound
- sugar (for decoration), to taste
- icing sugar (for decoration), to taste

INGREDIENTS FOR THE PASTRY CREAM

- fresh cream, 1.7 oz
- milk, 10 oz fl
- egg yolks, 2
- sugar, 1.7 oz
- white flour, 0.7 oz
- vanilla stick, 1/2

PREPARATION

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Unfold 1 puff pastry sheet and gently roll out into a piece of 12 inches with a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface.

Put it into a large baking sheet, previously buttered and prick all over with a fork. Trim edges of pastry with a knife.

Cut each sheet into rectangular of 3 x 1.5 inches. Sprinkle sugar on and then bake the sheet in the heated oven at 350° F until pastry is puffed and golden (approx 15 minutes).

Let it cool on racks. Aside, prepare the Chantilly Cream.

Boil the milk. Whisk egg yolks and sugar, add the flour and keep mixing.

Pour in part of the hot milk in order to obtain a smooth cream. Aromatize with vanilla stick and add the remaining milk very slowly.

Cook over moderate heat and keep mixing until thickened. Then let it cool quickly.

Whip the cream and add it to the Chantilly Cream.

In the serving plate , spread over one puff pastry cake base, part of the cooled pastry cream.

Cover it with a second puff pastry cake base.

Decorate the top and the plate with cubed strawberries, and icing sugar.

Check out our video below for more preparation details!

CHEF TIPS

Add few drops of Academia Barilla Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Modena aged 25 years on the top for maximum gourmet results. You can easily find it at our online store.

Happy Mother’s Day from Academia Barilla and Italian Food Lovers!