Italian Food Lovers

Last March 29 Academia Barilla Italian Culinary Specialist and Iron Chef judge Mario Rizzotti joint forces with the Share the Spirit Foundation in Chicago for a gourmet fund raising event aimed at learning and understanding all nuances about Italian extra virgin olive oil.

Educating Americans about real Italian food is what Mario Rizzotti does best. Mario loves to teach how to distinguish real Italian products from fake, including Parmigiano Reggiano cheese and Prosciutto di Parma, but he really loves to talk about Italian olive oil and balsamic vinegar of modena. Here is a previously published video of Mario with a few key tips on olive oil - enjoy!

We want to spend a couple of words on the Share the Spirit Foundation, as we strongly feel close to their mission. Share the Spirit was formed in 2003 to “provide help for those in need.” With the help of many contributors, the Foundation has collected thousands of dollars to help kids, families and those too ill to help themselves.

Among the charity activities organized by Share the Spirit in the last years, a close work with schools and social service agencies to provide funds to those who need a hand. Share the spirit has distributed thousand of socks to kids, and also bought hiking boots and scheduled outdoor camps for kids who have never had the opportunity to experience a summer camp. In 2005 Share the Spirit coordinated with the US troops in Iraq to distribute shoes to children in that area and in 2006, the Foundation became involved with efforts to assist families rebuilding after hurricane Katrina.

We really like Share the Spirit’s approach - they know charity work is a daily struggle, so their team vowed to coordinate the efforts of the Foundation with a personal challenge of their own team members, challenging themselves physically by hiking the Grand Canyon, walking the Colorado Trail and backpacking in the high country of the Sangre de Cristo mountains.

These activities are not also help Share the Spirit’s team member get trained to face other fund raising activities through sport, such as participating to the Avon Breast Cancer 3-day-walk, raising awareness and money for breast cancer - this was actually the moment when share the Spirit was born.

Last March 29, Academia Barilla teamed up with Share the Spirit, with a tasting event held at the Quartino Ristorante in downtown Chicago, and all proceeds from this event went to support the activities of the Share the Spirit Foundation.

While Mario Rizzotti was educating the crowd on authentic Italian food, Cicchetti Wine Bar was offering a gourmet buffet with finger food dishes such as assorted bruschette, Chef select salumeria, veal meatballs, eggplant parmigiana, passed assorted Neopolitan pizzas and house-made biscotti.

You can support the Share the Spirit Foundation, too. Just visit their website and try not to miss one of their upcoming events. You can also support the Foundation by making a donation - remember that Share the Spirit is a a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization, and your contribution is tax deductible.

Today April 7, as every first Monday of each month, Academia Barilla Italian Culinary Specialist Francesco Zimone will be backing up Chef Ottavio Palmieri for the now classic gourmet events at Palmieri Restaurant in Brentwood, Los Angeles Area.

Today Chef Ottavio Palmieri, here pictured with Italian Culinary Specialist Francesco Zimone, will present a brand new organic menu inspired by the flavors and tastes of Campania, the Southern Italian region whose capital town is Naples.

The Campania Organic Wine and Food Pairing dinner menu has been designed by Chef Palmieri, also with the help Academia Barilla’s range of Italian gourmet specialties. Let’s explore tonight’s menu:

Pane Cafone
Traditional Neapolitan crusty bread

Polpetielli Affogati
Baby octopus braised in Academia Barilla cherry tomatoes from “Campania”, garlic and parsley
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Caprese
“Bufalo Mozzarella Campana”; vine ripe tomatoes, basil and Academia Barilla extra virgin olive oil

Wine pairing: Lacrima Cristi Mastroberardino 2006 (white)

Gnocchi alla Sorrentina
Homemade potato “Gnocchi” with fresh mozzarella, basil and tomato
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Maccaroni A’ Genovese
Pasta tubes and beef braised slowly with onions

Wine pairing: Greco di Tufo Mastroberardino 2006 (white)

Spigola all’Acqua Pazza
“Mediterranean” Striped Bass poached with Academia Barilla cherry tomatoes and fresh herbs

Wine pairing: Lacrima Cristi Mastroberardino 2005 (red)

Braciole
Rolled beef with pinenuts, raisins, bread crumbs and cheese baked with tomato

“Ragu’” served with “ Gatto’ di Patate” made with Academia Barilla “Salametti”

Wine pairing: Aglianico Mastroberardino 2203 (red)

Pastiera
Grain and Ricotta cheesecake, candied orange and lemon peel, in a sweet pastry crust
Wine pairing: Homemade Limoncello

This Campania Organic Wine and Food Pairing menu sounds very interesting - and the price per person is interesting too, only 55$ per person (+tax and gratuity)!

The address is Palmieri Ristorante, 11650 San Vicente Blvd., Brentwood, Los Angeles CA - Google Map here below for your detailed driving directions to the restaurant. For your reservations please call Palmieri Ristorante at +1 (310) 442-8446.

The Auditorium of the Academia Barilla Culinary School in Parma, Italy, will host Gusti d’Autore (Author’s Tastes), three-days of evening events opening today, April 7, 2007, and presenting daily events until Wednesday April 9.

Gusti d’Autore is promoted by Academia Barilla in partnership with the City of Parma, and with the support of BIGAB, Academia Barilla’s Gastronomic Library.

The event proposes three days dedicated to Italian gastronomic culture. Each evening will see the participation of several VIPs of the “Italian food scene” who will discuss stories, curiosities and new culinary tendencies while hands-on culinary demos will take place in front of the public.

The first evening will be dedicated to discussing “Cucina Low-cost” (Low-cost cuisine), Tuesday evening will be stage to a culinary round table on “Tradizione e Innovazione” (Tradition and Innovation), while Wednesday, the closing night, will be a soirée dedicated to “Parma ieri, oggi e domani” (Parma yesterday, today and tomorrow).

All the guests participating to the three days event are Italian gourmet experts, ranging from gastronomy experts to food journalists and top Chefs:

• Camillo Langone, who writes about restaurants and literiture for several Italian newspapers (”Il Foglio”, “Il Giornale”, “La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno”, “Il Domenicale”, “Panorama”);
• Paolo Marchi (Cuisine), a chef “manqué” who has been writing food columns (”Cibi Divini”, “Affari di Gola”) for the daily newspaper “Il Giornale” in the last 12 years. Marchi is also founder and editor of “Identità Golose” (Gourmet Identities), an international congress of haute cuisine held in Milan every January.
• Luigi Cremona, a gastronomy lover from Cremona who cooperates with the italian Touring Club in the editing of many Restaurants and Wines Guides. Cremona is also the Director of the oenologic magazine “Spirito DiVino“, and has been awarded as “Journalist of the Year” at the 2007 Wine Oscars.
• Davide Cassi, a Professor a of Molecular Gastronomy and a member of the Italian Kitchen, is very keen on the science of cooking. Editor of several scientific texts in Statistical Mechanics, Cassi’s research concerns fractals, gastronomy and the scientific theory of graphs. In the last 15 years Cassi applied his research on physics of complex systems to gastronomy. Cassi directs the Laboratory of Food Science, the only facility of its kind in Italy, which develops and experiences, both scientifically and gastronomically, new cooking techniques. He also authored, with Chef Bocchia, the book “The estemporaneo ice cream and other inventions” (Il gelato estemporaneo e altre invenzioni gastronomiche), the first manual on molecular cooking.
• Andrea Grignaffini, cuisine academician, after working with Luigi Veronelli at L’Etichetta and being curator at Cose Buone Publishing for the last 10 years, today is the Creative Director at Spirito DiVino magazine. Italian pioneer in cigar journalism, he’s been part of the L’Espresso restaurant guidebook directive committee since 1998. He also works with Gazzetta di Parma newspaper and Tv Parma, while teaches Tasting methodology at Parma’s University of Gastronomic science.
• Massimo Bottura is the top Chef at Osteria La Francescana, a restaurant located in the historic center of downtown Modena. Awarded with 2 Michelin stars, Bottura makes large use of unusual flavors or ingredient combinations, creating recipes that are a journey through tradition, innovation and the unexpected. His formulas and dishes are made of classic and contemporary ingredients, let alone a combination of simple and complex cooking techniques. Always open to new interpretations of the Italian culinary art, he claims that “the important thing to me is to achieve a balance between form and color to captivate the eyes of the customers. Then comes the balance among texture, temperature and flavor to please the palate.”

The three gastronomic evenings will take place on April 7, 8 and 9, and will be open to the public between 9pm and 10.30pm with free entrance, and performed at the Auditorium of the Academia Barilla Culinary School at the Barilla Center, Largo Calamandrei, in Central Parma. Google Maps here below for easy driving directions.

Seating is limited, so reservations are highly recommended. Call +39 0521 264.060 or send an email at info@academiabarilla.it to book your seat at Gusti d’Autore.

Napa Valley in Los Angeles? You may think this is not possible, and certainly it would be impossible if it wasn’t for our friends at Learn About Wine, who have been promoting Wine Culture in the Los Angeles area for the last few years.

This is not the first time Academia Barilla partners Learn About Wine (LAW) for a food and wine tasting event in Southern California, as some of our blog readers can recall.

Academia Barilla’s Italian Culinary Specialist Francesco Zimone is always ready to join our friends at LAW to set up a tasting event with some of our delicious Italian food specialties.

Tomorrow, Friday March 7, between 7.30pm and 9.30pm PST, Francesco will be joining again Learn About Wine for a special event in Culver City, Los Angeles, where Napa Valley wines will meet gourmet food.

The list of Napa Valley wines available for tasting is impressive, and if you are a wine lover who lives in the area you should try not to miss this event. Check LAW’s website for the full list of Napa Valley wines available at the event, that you can enjoy while tasting samples of Academia Barilla’s Italian extra virgin olive oils and Balsamic Vinegars of Modena.

The address for the Learn About Wine event is HD Buttercup in Culver City, 3225 Helms Ave at Venice Blvd. A Google Map to the event is provided here below for your driving direction needs.

Entry fee is $60 per person / $100 per couple (online only), while TASTE Members pay only $48 (find more info about the very valuable LAW membership programs at LearnAboutWine.com).

Get your ticket in advance, as entry fee at the door will rise up to $75 per person. For more information and booking you can also call Learn About Wines at (+1) 310-451-7600.