As you have seen from our latest post activity, we have been very busy both at Academia Barilla and at the Italian Food Lovers blog team. We didn’t forget about it, we are only late - so let us introduce you the ingredient of the month… for the month of June: strawberries!

Don’t worry, we won’t skip a month just because we are late, so expect another ingredient and recipe of the month post this month of July.

As usual, Chef Matteo Carboni from The Academia Barilla Culinary School offered to show how to make a gourmet dish, in this case a dessert, using a video recipe - we love this! So welcome today Matteo with a step-by-step preparation video on how to make a Strawberry Mousse with Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Modena.

As Matteo tell us in the video, the ingredients we will need are about 1 pound of fresh strawberries for 6 servings, plus fresh cream, mint, icing sugar, food gelatin and Traditional Balsamic Vinager of Modena (Matteo here uses Academia Barilla’s 25-years Balsamic, which you can find at the Academia Barilla online store.

After cleaning and cutting the strawberries, Chef Carboni put them in a blender, while preparing the gelatine using a bowl of warm water and food gelatin (1 pound of gelatin for 1.3 pounds of warm water approx).

While the gelatin soaks, Che Matteo heat on a stove a third of the strawberry puree, then simmers, adds the gelatine and waits to completely melt before adding the rest of the puree. 

While the strawberry mixture cools down, Chef Carboni whips the cream, then mix it with the pure and finally filles single serve molds with the final cream. Chef Carboni suggests to prepare the mousse in advance,as the molds need to refrigerate for at least one day.

Final presentation and tasty details: some slices of strawberries, mint leaves and the final Chef touch, a few drops of a Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Modena aged 25-years!

Buon Appetito from the Academia Barilla Culinary School and the Italian Food Lovers blogging team - Strawberry Mousse Forever!

It is official now - we have been talking about the new Academia Barilla line of Italian gourmet products signed by Italian Chef, cookbook writer and TV celebrity Giada De Laurentiis since last november, as we were very excited about it and couldn’t resist the temptation to anticipate the news (after all, this is a blog, we take some liberties as bloggers generally do).

So we introduced Giada’s product line a few months ago, then we tracked her book signing and other events, such as when Giada was featured as special guest of the month at Crate & Barrel, with a first preview and special limited distribution of the Giada De Laurentiis Selected by Academia Barilla line of Italian gourmet specialties.

Last Sunday June 29 Giada De Laurentiis and Academia Barilla organized a great cocktail party in NY as a collateral event for Fancy Food - don’t worry, we will blog about the event as soon as we get a couple of pictures and some gossip.

The NY event served also as an official Academia Barilla announcement of the nationwide distribution and availability of the new Italian gourmet food line (which is of course available also at the Academia Barilla online store) - a very official announcement, to the point that we broadcasted a press release to officialize the news.

You might have seen our press release online, republished via RSS by blogs and news aggregators who are into Italian food as we are, and now it is with great pleasure that we republish the press release also on our beloved Italian Food Lovers blog. The original version of the release is also available online at PRWeb, for our friends journalists and bloggers who need to download attachments and images.

Here we go (integral text from July 1st press release) -

Academia Barilla and Italian Celebrity Chef and Author Giada De Laurentiis Launch Italian Gourmet Line

Academia Barilla and Emmy nominated Italian celebrity chef and cookbook author Giada De Laurentiis launch a range of co-branded, specialty Italian food items for distribution in gourmet stores nationwide.

Bannockburn, IL (July 1, 2008) — Academia Barilla and Emmy nominated celebrity chef and cookbook author Giada De Laurentiis launch a range of co-branded, specialty food items for distribution in gourmet stores nationwide.

Giada De Laurentiis Selected by Academia Barilla® is Barilla’s first-ever gourmet celebrity product line, and offers food connoisseurs an authentic taste of Italy.  Products include Italian Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Balsamic Vinegar of Modena, Sicilian Hand-Harvested Sea Salt with Fresh Lemon Zest, and Giada’s Tuscan Herb Mix, all personally selected by De Laurentiis. Giada De Laurentiis Selected by Academia Barilla® will also be available online at the Academia Barilla online store beginning today, July 1, 2008.

Giada De Laurentiis is host of two popular Food Network cooking shows, a co-host of NBC’s Today show, and author of three New York Times best-selling cookbooks, with two and a half million copies in print. Her most recent book, Everyday Pasta, was released in April 2007. A fourth cookbook, Giada’s Kitchen, will be in bookstores nationwide in Fall 2008. She is the granddaughter of famed Italian movie producer Dino De Laurentiis and legendary actress Silvana Mangano. 

Ms. De Laurentiis was the spokesperson for the Barilla Group’s U.S. Pasta division, appearing in print ad campaigns across the country for the past two years. Her ongoing relationship with the company through Academia Barilla is best described as a natural fit, as both are dedicated to the love of traditional Italian cooking with the best products and ingredients available.

As Giada De Laurentiis says, and reports on the back label of all Giada De Laurentiis Selected by Academia Barilla® products, “I was born in Rome, and I grew up in a large Italian family where the culture of food was an integral part of my life. My relationship with Academia Barilla is an obvious one, combining my love for traditional Italian cooking with the best ingredients available“.

About Academia Barilla - (note: we cut the boilerplate off as our readers already know Academia Barilla, but we leave the press contacts for the United States, just in case)

For more information, please contact Ms. Kim Sayid of Academia Barilla at 866.77.ACADEMIA or 847.405.7524. Visit also the Academia Barilla website and our Italian Food Lovers gourmet blog.

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We are late with this recipe since we promised you, as well as Chef Tony Mantuano and wine expert Cathy Mantuano, our new guests at the Italian Food Lovers Chef Network, that this recipe would have been published last week, only that we have been really busy traveling around the world here at the Academia Barilla blog editorial team.

After the PKN conference in Parma, we had to head to NY for a big event - no anticipations about it, we’ll blog about it later!

Now it is finally time for the first recipe provided by Chef Tony Mantuano of Spiaggia, the top Italian restaurants and cafe in Chicago, Illinois. Wine expert Cathy Mantuano also sent us a great recipe for a classic Italian cocktail, so today you finally get both recipes! Here we go with the first one.

CRISPY PARMIGIANO FLATBREAD
A recipe by Chef Tony Mantuano
(makes 16 large pieces)

NOTES AND TIPS FROM THE CHEF

This cheesy flatbread is so satisfyingly crunchy and easy to make that you will want to bake it regularly. We recommend using a manual or electric pasta machine to roll out the dough for these crispy, paper-thin treats. Using a rolling pin will yield slightly thicker results. After just one bite you will understand why this is one of the most sought-after recipes in our restaurants.

INGREDIENTS

- 2 envelopes active dry yeast

- 11⁄2 cups warm water

- 2 tablespoons Academia Barilla extra virgin olive oil, plus more for brushing

- 4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

- 2 cups freshly grated Academia Barilla Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
- 1 teaspoon sea salt


PREPARATION

Combine the yeast and warm water in a small bowl and let sit until bubbly, about 5 minutes. Stir in the olive oil.

Put the flour and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the dough hook or in a large bowl. Pour in the yeast mixture and mix on low speed or with your hands until the water is absorbed and a shaggy dough is formed.

Knead the dough on a lightly floured board until the dough is uniform and smooth, 2 to 3 minutes. It will be slightly sticky.


Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces and shape into balls. Dust with flour and place on a floured cookie sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and let the dough rise in a warm place until doubled in size, 1 to 2 hours.


Preheat the oven to 425°F. 
Have ready 2 nonstick cookie sheets or grease regular cookie sheets with olive oil.
 Working with one dough ball at a time (cover the remaining dough with a moist kitchen towel until ready to use), dust the ball with flour and flatten with your hand.

Cut the dough in half and roll half the dough through a pasta machine with the rollers set midway apart. Dust the dough with flour if it becomes sticky. Reduce the space between the rollers one setting at a time until you have reached the last setting and the dough is a smooth, thin sheet.

Transfer to a cutting board and cut in half on an angle into large pieces so that 2 will fit on a cookie sheet. The pieces should each be approximately 4 inches wide and 12 inches long. Roll and cut the remaining half in the same manner as the first.

Place the rolled dough on the cookie sheets. Brush lightly with olive oil, sprinkle with about a quarter of the cheese, and bake until golden brown, 12 to 14 minutes. Let cool on a rack before serving.

Repeat this process with the rest of the dough balls, rolling and baking until all the dough is used. Stored in an airtight container, the flatbread will keep for up to 2 days.


Buon appetito from Chef Tony Mantuano, Academia Barilla and Italian Food Lovers!

Please see next blog post for Wine expert Cathy Mantuano’s recipe.

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We are back with our new Guest Chef and wine expert for the Italian Food Lovers Chef Network, Chef and partner of Spiaggia Tony Mantuano and wine expert Cathy Mantuano.

We interviewed via email Tony and Cathy, and asked them a couple of questions about their Chef and wine experience and their love for Italian food.

Chef Tony Mantuano wanted to be a Chef because he “loves to cook“, as simple as that. According Chef tony Mantuano, “the secret of being a top Chef is being smart enough to know to leave out an ingredient. The most important ingredient in any dish is the one you leave out“, he said to us.

Chef Tony Mantuano’s favorite food is Cape Cod Potato Chips and his favorite cooking style is “Regional Italian food that respects tradition“. His definition of Italian cuisine is “Food that has respect for Italian culture and tradition“, while his definition of Italian gourmet is “Traditional food presented in a modern fashion for today’s palate“.

Check out this video we found on Google Video, if you want to get more Italian Chef insight, knowledge and philosophy from Chef Tony Mantuano!

We also interviewed wine expert Cathy Mantuano, and she told us that her favorite food is “pasta because there are so many kinds of pasta and so many different sauces and preparations for it“, while talking about her cooking style she stated that she is “a fan of any cuisine that uses fresh, seasonal products as a base for its dishes. I like spicy dishes, as in Thai and Chinese food. I also like Japanese food. I love the spices of Middle Eastern cuisine“.

When asked about her definition of Italian cuisine Cathy Mantuano said that “Italian cuisine highlights top quality ingredients in season, prepared simply, using few ingredients“, while her definition of Italian gourmet is “freshly picked produce, handmade pasta, farm raised poultry and meat, artisanal cheese, estate wines“.

As we reported on our latest post, Cathy and Tony Mantuano are co-authors of the Italian cookbooks “Wine Bar Food: Mediterranean Flavors to Crave with Wines to Match” and “The Spiaggia Cookbook: Eleganza Italiana in Cucina“, both available online at Barnes and Noble’s and Amazon.com’s online stores. Wine Bar Food is also available at CrateandBarrel.com.

Some of the recipes from Cathy and Tony’s cookbooks feature Academia Barilla products (as well as in their Chicago restaurants Spiaggia, Café Spiaggia, and Private Dining Rooms of Spiaggia) and we got permission from the authors to share with you some of their Italian gourmet creations - so here we go with the first one… only that we want to publish the recipe on a clean new post, so you can print it and take it with you to the kitchen - stay tuned for the recipe post coming up tomorrow!

We have the pleasure today to introduce a new Guest Chef for the Italian Food Lovers Chef Network. We will continually introduce a new Guest Chef each month, while the Chefs already introduced will keep sending us one recipe per month, each month! Wow, by the end of the year this will be a top Chef recipe bonanza, and of course we all love it!

This month we won’t only introduce renowned Chef Tony Mantuano, but also wine expert Cathy Mantuano. James Beard award-winning chef Tony Mantuano is Chef and Partner of Spiaggia, the only 4-star Italian restaurant in Chicago! Chef Mantuano and wine expert and wife Cathy recently released a new cookbook titled Wine Bar Food that features Academia Barilla products in the book!!! They also are running a casual dining café-restaurant called Café Spiaggia that complements the recently launched exclusive shoreside Private Dining Rooms of Spiaggia. And there will soon be an event with Zagat next month!

Wait, wait, too much info, let’s start introducing both our new Guest Chef and wine expert.

Chef Tony Mantuano, as reported on his bio published on the Spiaggia Restaurant site, “loves green, fruity olive oil, rare Italian cheeses, woodsy porcini mushrooms and the riches of Italian gastronomy“, which he considers “every day specialties“.

After spending one year in Italy back in 1983, learning all he could about traditional Italian cooking and working at a number of Guide Michelin-rated restaurants near Milan and on the Tuscan coast in Viareggio, Chef Tony Mantuano learned to prepare regional specialties that few Americans had ever experienced.

When Chef Mantuano opened Spiaggia Restaurant in 1984, he was widely acclaimed as a trailblazer of fine Italian cuisine, with reviews from the Chicago Tribune calling Spiaggia “the best high-end Italian restaurant between the coasts” and describing the Italian restaurant as “a jewel” and the food as “spectacular“.

While operating also his family’s restaurant, Mangia, in his native Kenosha, Wisconsin, Chef Mantuano took Spiaggia for a new spin in 2000, reshaping the restaurant’s traditional menu into “an exemplar of contemporary Italian cuisine,” with signature dishes such as Crescenza Cheese-Filled Pasta Pillows with Parmigiano-Reggiano, Brown Butter, Rosemary and Garlic, or the Succulent Roasted Turbot with Sunchoke Puree, Porcini Mushrooms and Veal Mushroom Sauce.

Tony Mantuano is the author, with co-author and wife Cathy Mantuano, of “The Spiaggia Cookbook: Eleganza Italiana in Cucina” (Chronicle Books 2004, awarded as one of the twenty-five best cookbooks of 2004 by Food & Wine). He also has appeared nationally on CNN and PBS, is a regular contributor to the local ABC, CBS and FOX affiliates in Chicago, and has been a guest on popular food talk shows, such as “The Frank DeCaro Show” and “Food Talk with Rocco DiSpirito.”

In 2004, Zagat Survey awarded Spiaggia the “Best Italian Restaurant in Chicago” and the restaurant was named one of the Top five in Chicago by Chicago Magazine. Chef Mantuano also received Chicago Tribune’s “Good Eating Award” and James Beard Foundation’s Best Chef: MidWest Award in 2005.

The recent launch of the fashionable Cafe Spiaggia, in the heart of the Magnificent Mile in Chicago, brought the dimension of the neighborhood cafe sanctuary and casual dining room in the fast pace of Michigan Avenue, creating a new well-known neighborhood Chicago favorite.

Chef-Partner Tony Mantuano and wine expert Cathy Mantuano, their cookbooks and their restaurants get plenty of rave reviews from the likes of Forbes blogs, Chicago Sun Times, Food & Wine, Condé Nast Traveler on Concierge.com, Epicurious.com and OpenTable.com.

Spiaggia’s address is One Magnificent Mile (on the corner of Michigan and Oak) - 980 North Michigan Avenue, Level 2, Chicago, Illinois 60611 - Google Map for your driving directions here below.

For more info on Tony Mantuano please check Spiaggia’s and Cafe Spiaggia’s web pages.

If you are interested in the Italian cookbooks published by Tony and Cathy Mantuano, you can purchase them online at Barnes and Noble and Amazon.com. Wine Bar Food is also available at CrateandBarrel.com.

Or, if you live in the Chicago Area and can’t wait to catch up in person with Tony and Cathy, they have a book signing and demo scheduled on July 2nd beginning at 2 p.m. as part of the Taste of Chicago. They will be located outside the Zagat pavilion signing copies and showcasing recipes from Wine Bar Food - save the date!

This is getting quite long for a blog post, so we cut it here to introduce to you wine expert Cathy and Chef Tony Mantuano with their first gourmet recipe tomorrow!