Last Friday Academia Barilla announced with an official press release some gourmet news we have partially anticipated here on Italian Food Lovers over the last weeks: the launch of a new series of authentic Italian gourmet food products that enrich the existing Academia Barilla Italian gastronomy food line.

As we generally do here at the Academia Barilla press office, we republish the content of the press release while taking advantage of the blog publishing features to publish also the product pictures, so you can easily recognize them when you’ll see them on top shelves at the top gourmet food shops across the United States and the rest of the world!

We’ll also add direct links to each of the new Academia Barilla products at Academia Barilla online store, where you can order your gourmet specialties and get them delivered home in just two days!

Here we go with the first part of the press release (note: we split the press release in two posts as it was getting pretty long with all the images).

Academia Barilla launches new Italian gourmet food products to expand its authentic Italian food collection.

After launching the Giada De Laurentiis Selected by Academia Barilla Italian gourmet food celebrity collection, Academia Barilla presents a new range of authentic Italian regional food delicacies to bring to the gourmet table - the flavors and traditions of Emilia-Romagna, Liguria, Sardinia, Sicily and Tuscany.

Parma, Italy, September 12, 2008 - After the successful launch of the Giada De Laurentiis Selected by Academia Barilla Italian gourmet product line, designed together with Italian Chef, cookbook author and TV celebrity Giada De Laurentiis, Academia Barilla announces a new expansion of its Italian gourmet food product collection with the release of a number of new food specialty products. These new products include rare regional extra virgin olive oils, tasty sauces and pesto, delicious green olives, an herbaceous herb mix and creamy cheese spreads.

Extra Virgin Olives Oils

The first two products added to the Academia Barilla specialty food collection are two Italian olive oils that enrich the already large collection of Academia Barilla estate bottled Italian extra virgin olive oils.

The new 100% Italian Unfiltered Extra Virgin Olive Oil brings to dishes a very fresh taste, with strong undertones of green grass, Pachino tomatoes and oregano. 

100% Italian Unfiltered is the most natural extra virgin olive oil produced in Italy with innovative methods that surpass traditional centrifuge processes, leaving the oil’s original flavors and properties intact, with no sediments or pulp.

Academia Barilla also added a 100% Italian Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil, one of the few organic olive oils available made from 100% Italian, organic olives, that brings a mild taste to the table, with hints of ripe olive, grass and sweet almonds.

Sauces and Pesto

Academia Barilla’s Italian Tomato Sauce is made from premium quality, exclusive Italian Scarpariello tomato variety grown in the heart of Emilia-Romagna, Italy’s Food Valley.

With an incomparable fresh and sweet flavor enriched with extra virgin olive oil, this all-natural tomato sauce is a traditional, delicious recipe with an intense red color great for a variety of Italian pasta courses.

Another addition to Academia Barilla is a new Academia Barilla Pesto Genovese, a unique non-pasteurized fresh pesto made in the seaside town of San Remo in Liguria with the freshest basil of the Riviera, top quality extra virgin olive oil, Parmigiano Reggiano and whole pine nuts.

Introducing the new Academia Barilla’s bruschetta and pasta toppings!

Academia Barilla Spicy Sicilian Cherry Tomato Topping and its mild version Sicilian Cherry Tomato Topping are two delicious succulent blends of naturally sun dried cherry tomatoes and chili peppers, from the small Sicilian town of Pachino, made following the authentic Sicilian recipe with local sweet tomatoes, fresh basil and hot chili peppers for the spicy version.

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We split the press release here to announce all the other exciting new Academia Barilla gourmet products at the next blog post! For more info about Academia Barilla and the new gourmet food products, please contact Stephanie Sette in the United States by calling +1 847-405-7564, US toll-free 866-772-2233, or emailing ssette@barilla-usa.com.

Stay tuned with Italian Food Lovers and Academia Barilla!

Here we are finally with Barilla USA Executive Chef Lorenzo Boni, who we have called in at Italian Food Lovers by mistake a couple of days ago - sorry Lorenzo!

Chef Lorenzo Boni and his team have been the spine of the Barilla Italian Cooking Weekend at the Chicago Botanic Garden’s Garden Chef Series. Pictured here below, you can see Lorenzo in action during the cooking demo, surrounded by an attentive crowd and… the full range of Academia Barilla gourmet products, which are all available online at the Academia Barilla online store.

As “resident Chef” for Barilla USA Lorenzo proposed several recipes to the participants to the event, and we are glad to be able to share with you the first one today, an easy-to-prepare pasta salad: Farfalle Piccolini Pasta Salad.

FARFALLE PICCOLINI PASTA SALAD
A recipe by Chef Lorenzo Boni
(serves 4)

INGREDIENTS

- Barilla Farfalle Piccolini pasta, 1 package
- Academia Barilla Monti Iblei extra virgin olive oil, 4 tablespoons
- 1 ripe avocado
- Cherry tomatoes, 2 pints
- Red onion, julienne, 1 cup
- Pine nuts, 1 tablespoon
- Academia Barilla Pecorino Sardo Gran Cru, grated, 1 cup
- Basil, 5 leaves
- Lemon juice from 1 lemon
- Salt, black pepper, to taste

PREPARATION

Cook pasta according to directions, drain one minute prior to the lowest cooking time; drizzle with a little oil in order to prevent the pasta from sticking together and allow it to cool down flat on a sheet tray.

Meanwhile, sauté the onion with 1 tablespoon of oil. Set aside.

Slice the tomatoes in half, season with salt and let drain in a colander.

Sauté the pine nuts over medium heat till lightly brown.

Dice the avocado. Combine all the ingredients with pasta, season with salt and pepper.

Allow the salad to rest for half hour at room temperature before serving.

Thank you Lorenzo for sharing with us your pasta salad recipe - we’ll publish more recipe of yours soon again!

We did a terrible mistake at the Italian Food Lovers Editorial Team. We got a bulk of very good content from the Chicago Botanic Garden’s Chef show, and we messed up with recipes and their attribution to the Chefs participating to the Barilla Italian Cooking Weekend.

Yesterday we published a recipe for a yummy Sautéed Wild Mushroom Bruschetta, and we said it was a recipe from Barilla USA Executive Chef Lorenzo Boni, while the recipe is actually from Chef Doug D’Avico from Trattoria N. 10 in Chicago, a friend and Guest Chef at the Italian Food Lover Chef Network.

Chef D’Avico, pictured here above with Stefanie Sette from the Academia Barilla USA Marketing Team, participated to the Garden Chef Series at the Chicago Botanic Garden and shared with us two recipes he performed at the Chicago show: the Sautéed Wild Mushroom Bruschetta, and a yummy Grilled Baby Octopus with Watercress Salad and Oranges that we’ll publish very soon - stay tuned!

We apologize to Chef D’Avico for the mess, and also of course to all our readership and, last but not least, to Chef Lorenzo Boni, who also sent us a couple of recipes that we will publish in the next days.

At this point, we’ll republish the recipe again, also with the image sent us by Stephanie with the actual dish prepared by Chef D’Avico in Chicago.

SAUTEED WILD MUSHROOM BRUSCHETTA

A recipe by Chef Doug D’Avico
(serves 4)

INGREDIENTS

- 8 oz Wild Mushrooms, cleaned and trimmed of any fibrous ends
- 1/2 ea Medium sized sweet onion, julienne
- 3 tablespoon Unsalted Butter
- 2 fl oz Academia Barilla Riviera Ligure Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 3 fl oz Sweet Marsala
- 1 cup Heavy Whipping Cream
- 1 ea Good quality Baguette
- Academia Barilla Pecorino Sardo, shaved
- 1 tub Truffle Spread
- Fresh thyme leaves for garnish
- Sea salt to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper to taste

PREPARATION

Pre-heat a 12” sauté pan over med high heat till hot. Add the cleaned mushrooms and tablespoon of the butter and cook till the mushrooms are soft and are starting to release their water. Cook for 3 minutes longer and then add the sliced onions.

Add the remaining tablespoon of butter, season with a little salt and pepper and continue cooking for 3-5 minutes over the med high heat and cook till the onions start to caramelize. Do not burn.

You want to cook the mushrooms and onions till the liquid is all most evaporated. Remove the pan from the heat and add the Marsala carefully as the alcohol will catch on fire when you return it to the stove.

Reduce the Marsala by 2/3 and then add the cream. Bring to a boil and reduce to a sauce consistency, about 2 to 3 minutes. Check the seasoning and remove from the heat keeping the sauce warm till ready to use.

Cut 8 pieces of bread from the baguette about 1/2 inch thick on a 45 degree bias.

Toss the bread with a little splash of olive oil, salt and pepper. You can toast the bread in a hot oven or grill for a couple of minutes to warm the bread.

Next smear some of the Pecorino Sardo cheese on each piece of bread and sprinkle a few fresh thyme leaves on top.

Arrange 2 pieces of bread per plate and divide the mushroom sauce over the four plates. Drizzle a small amount of the olive oil over each plate and few thyme leaves and serve immediately.

Thank you Chef D’Avico for this easy-to-prepare gourmet recipe, and sorry again!!!

We will publish the second recipe from Chef D’Avico at the Chicago Botanic Garden’s Garden Chef Series soon!

As you know from our previous posts, Academia Barilla and Barilla USA brought the Italian cooking style to the Chicago Botanic Garden last week, participating to (and sponsoring) the Chicago Botanic Garden’s Garden Chef Series with a full Barilla Italian Cooking Weekend.

As promised, we have plenty of recipes for you, shared with us by the Barilla Chefs and other Top Chefs participating to the Italian Cooking Weekend. Our first recipe from the event is from Barilla USA Executive Chef Lorenzo Boni, a quick and easy to prepare Sautéed Wild Mushroom Bruschetta.

For those who don’t know what a bruschetta is, here is a link to the Wikipedia, where you can discover more on this century-old dish. Bruschetta is a food whose origin dates to at least the 15th century from central Italy.

It consists of grilled or toasted bread rubbed with garlic and topped with extra-virgin olive oil, salt and pepper. Variations may include toppings of spicy red pepper, tomato, vegetables, beans, cured meat, and/or cheese; the most popular American recipe involves basil, fresh mozzarella, and tomato. Bruschetta is usually served as a snack or appetizer.

As reported by the Wikipedia, the noun “bruschetta” is from the verb in the Roman dialect “bruscare,” meaning “to roast over coals”, and it is referred to the whole dish, not just to the topping as in the American current meaning.

In the Italian tradition, when olives are taken to the local mill for pressing in November or December, the olive producers typically take some country bread with them and, when the first oil emerges from the press, they toasts a bit of the bread on a grill to sample the oil with. The next step is rubbing the toasted bread with garlic and adding a pinch of salt.

Barilla USA Executive Chef Lorenzo Boni has some interesting suggestions for a gourmet twist in the traditional bruschetta, a version that has been deeply appreciated by the participants to the Barilla Italian Cooking weekend at the Chicago Botanic Garden.

Ready? Let’s go to the kitchen!

SAUTEED WILD MUSHROOM BRUSCHETTA
A recipe by Chef Lorenzo Boni
(serves 4)

INGREDIENTS

- 8 oz Wild Mushrooms, cleaned and trimmed of any fibrous ends
- 1/2 ea Medium sized sweet onion, julienne
- 3 tablespoon Unsalted Butter
- 2 fl oz Academia Barilla Riviera Ligure Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 3 fl oz Sweet Marsala
- 1 cup Heavy Whipping Cream
- 1 ea Good quality Baguette
- Academia Barilla Pecorino Sardo, shaved
- 1 tub Truffle Spread
- Fresh thyme leaves for garnish
- Sea salt to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper to taste

PREPARATION

Pre-heat a 12” sauté pan over med high heat till hot. Add the cleaned mushrooms and tablespoon of the butter and cook till the mushrooms are soft and are starting to release their water. Cook for 3 minutes longer and then add the sliced onions.

Add the remaining tablespoon of butter, season with a little salt and pepper and continue cooking for 3-5 minutes over the med high heat and cook till the onions start to caramelize. Do not burn.

You want to cook the mushrooms and onions till the liquid is all most evaporated. Remove the pan from the heat and add the Marsala carefully as the alcohol will catch on fire when you return it to the stove.

Reduce the Marsala by 2/3 and then add the cream. Bring to a boil and reduce to a sauce consistency, about 2 to 3 minutes. Check the seasoning and remove from the heat keeping the sauce warm till ready to use.

Cut 8 pieces of bread from the baguette about 1/2 inch thick on a 45 degree bias.

Toss the bread with a little splash of olive oil, salt and pepper. You can toast the bread in a hot oven or grill for a couple of minutes to warm the bread.

Next smear some of the Pecorino Sardo cheese on each piece of bread and sprinkle a few fresh thyme leaves on top.

Arrange 2 pieces of bread per plate and divide the mushroom sauce over the four plates. Drizzle a small amount of the olive oil over each plate and few thyme leaves and serve immediately.

Thank you Lorenzo for this easy-to-prepare gourmet recipe. We will publish more of your recipes from the Chicago Botanic Garden’s Garden Chef Series soon!