Italian Food Lovers

Spring is in the air (and on our plates!) A look at three great springtime recipes found in the Academia Barilla Gastronomic Library.

Spring has sprung here in Italy, and it is no more evident than at the market. The stalls of radicchio and other bitter, winter greens are slowly disappearing, making way for next season’s fashions. What joy can be found in the arrival of tiny, tender fava beans, crisp radishes, spring onions and strong fragrance of fresh garlic. Read more…

One of the best Christmas presents Academia Barilla received this Season has been an article from the leading economy magazine The Economist, who dedicated a page of its paper magazine (as well as a web page) to the Academia Barilla Gastronomic Library in Parma, Italy, defining BIGAB’s mission as Food for thought
.

The Economist tells how “a pasta-maker gets a taste for books“, describing the Gastronomic Library’s collection of over 8,500 cookery books in more than ten languages, and nearly 5,000 menus and scores of old prints showing food in various phases of preparation.

The Economist’s journalist quotes BIGAB’s Director Giancarlo Gonizzi and the Dewey decimal system he adopted to classify the collection, besides the cultural activities scheduled at BIGAB with students (from Parma’s university, but also US visiting students) and with Parma’s city authorities. The article mentions that the library has begun digitizing its contents and plans to make them available online. Read more…

Before we all forget the Thanksgiving weekend and the nice warm time we had with our families and friends, we want to share something else we found at BIGAB, the Academia Barilla Gastronomic Library in Parma, Italy.

With more than 8,000 titles of gastronomy art, italian and international food culture, and everything cuisine, BIGAB is also proud to treasure culinary and recipe books, hand-written volumes and rare gastronomy treats, some of them dating back to the 16th century.

At the beginning of last year Academia Barilla and BIGAB acquired an historic and rare menus collection we already blogged about, and thanks to our BIGAB friends we managed to select two special historic menus from the collection that are in tune with the Season: Historic Thanksgiving Menus from the US Embassy in Rome’s official Thanksgiving dinners in 1927 and 1929.

The US Embassy in Rome booked for the events a very exclusive locations in Rome such as the Hotel Excelsior, in the heart of Via Veneto that, with the cinema industry boom 30 years later, would have become the heart of the Roman Dolce Vita.

A special VIP dinner followed by a gala dance, as in the Thanksgiving 1927 event, and of course plenty of gourmet food, American gourmet reinterpreted by the Italian Chefs at the Excelsior.

This last picture, from the Thanksgiving 1929 menu, doesn’t really show how precious the invitation is - the US flag crossing a missing flag (the Italian flag, that unfortunately has been lost before BIGAB’s acquisition) is a real little flag with the actual pole and flag fabric!

Also the menu is balanced and, of course, gourmet American: Ox tail, Cheese Straws and Tomato Soup, followed by Turbot Washington, and Stuffed Turkey with a side of Cranberry Sauce, Excelsior Potatoes, Texas Salad, and Asparagus Chantilly. Roosevelt Mandarines, the traditional Pumpkin Pie and Fruits closed the gala dinner and, we are sure, opened the gala dance as in the previous Thanksgiving event!

Now that we posted this last Thanksgiving post we can look forward and start getting in the Christmas mood!

Happy Thanksgiving from Academia Barilla and Italian Food Lovers! We wish you and your families a nice and warm family day around some of the best traditional and innovative culinary eats of the year (at least in the United States, as in Italy we have several occasions to indulge in gourmet food all along the year!).

As you have noticed, this week we celebrated Turkey Day proposing a lot of gourmet recipes from our Italian Food Lovers Chef Network, but none of them with turkey! Well, we published a recipe for the tratitional Thanksgiving roasted turkey, but we left our guest Chef free to propose alternative, innovative Thanksgiving recipes.

Today we have with us Chef Doug D’Avico of Trattoria n. 10 in Chicago with a new Thanksgiving gourmet creation: Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Cinnamon and Orange Zest. Ready? let’s go to the kitchen!

SWEET POTATO GNOCCHI WITH CINNAMON AND ORANGE ZEST
A recipe by Chef Doug D’Avico
(serves 4-6)

INGREDIENTS

- 3 lbs light fleshed Sweet Potatoes
- 1/8 cup good quality ricotta, drained
- 1/8 cup Academia Barilla Pecorino Gran Cru, grated
- 1 ea large egg
- 1/2 tablespoon Academia Barilla Sicilian Sea Salt with Orange Zest
- 1/4 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 tablespoon nutmeg
- 3-4 cups unbleached all purpose flour
- 1 orange
- 1 medium size leek, white part only
- 2 tablespoon cinnamon-sugar mixture
- 3 tablespoon european style butter
- 2-3 tablespoon Academia Barilla Riviera Ligure Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- some fresh herbs for plate garnishing

PREPARATION

Take the 3 sweet potato, wash the outside well and bake in a 375 degree F oven till soft to the touch, remove from the oven and let cool. When the potatoes are cool enough to handle remove the skins and put the flesh though a potato ricer to break up any large clumps and place into a large enough bowl to mix all the ingredients in.

Mix all the ingredients, except for the flour, into the sweet potato and combine well with your hand.
Take 2 cups of the flour and fold into the sweet potato mix half a cup at a time, making sure the flour is thoroughly incorporated before adding the next 1/2 cup. Check the dough it should be a little sticky, if it is too wet add a 1/4 cup more flour and mix. Wrap and let rest in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.

After resting take the remaining flour and use some to dust the work surface. Take the dough out of the bowl and place on the floured surface, sprinkle a little more flour over top and knead a few times so you can handle the dough.

Flatten the dough out to about 3/4 of an inch and cut strips every 3/4 of an inch and then roll each strip a little bit to round out the corners, set a side and finish the rest of the dough. Use a little more flour if the dough starts to stick to the table. Use a damp towel to cover the dough strips while you work.

Have a corn meal coated tray ready to store the gnocchi’s on after they are cut. Using a small knife cut the strips into 3/4 inch pieces and you can use either the back of a fork or a gnocchi board to roll the gnocchi off of or just take your finger and poke a little indentation into each one and then place on the corn meal coated tray.

Finish the batch and then freeze the gnocchi or cook and serve.

To serve bring a large pan of salted water to a boil. In the mean time while you are waiting for the water to boil, remove the root end of the leek and cut the leek on a bias about 1/4 of an inch thick until you get to the green part, discard or use for homemade stock. Separate the layers of the leek and wash under cold water to remove any sand set aside.

Using a zester, zest 1 orange and set a side. Preheat a 12 inch sauté pan and warm over medium heat, when hot add 1/2 the butter and add the washed leeks to the melted butter, do not let the butter burn, and cook for about 3-5 minutes or until the leeks are tender season with a little salt and pepper and remove from the pan set aside. Remove the pan from the heat.

Check the seasoning in the pot of boiling water and adjust with the salt to taste. When the water is at a rolling boil add the gnocchi and stir well so they don’t stick to the bottom of the pan. They will take about 5-8 minutes and are usually done about 30 seconds after they start floating. Just before they are done put the large sauté and back on the fire over medium high heat.

Drain the gnocchi and add to the sauté pan with the remaining butter. The pan should be nice and hot as you will want to add a little bit of color to the gnocchi. Cook for about 3 minutes then add the cooked leeks and cook for 2-4 more minutes and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar and add the orange zest and mix well, pour into a serving bowl and garnish the plate with fresh herbs, just before serving drizzle the Academia Barilla olive oil over the whole dish. Serve immediately. You can serve some extra Academia Barilla Pecorino Gran Cru on the side.

Thank you Chef D’Avico for this yummy Thanksgiving recipe. Thanks again also to Chef Tony Mantuano and Chef Mark Grimes for the gourmet recipe shared with us this week. Thank you also to our friends at BIGAB, the Academia Barilla Gastronomic Library, for providing us with the traditional Thanksgiving roasted turkey recipe!

And again, Happy Thanksgiving to all Italian food lovers from Academia Barilla and our Italian Food Lovers blog team!

After publishing Chef James McNair’s Chicken Breast stuffed with Herbs and Cheese recipe a couple of days ago, we offer you today another chicken recipe from the same “Chicken” cookbook we received from the Academia Barilla Gastronomic Library.

The cookbook is written by Chef James McNair for San Francisco’s Chronicle Books and the images in this post, as in the previous post, are by photographer Patricia Brabant.

Today’s recipe is Chicken Scaloppine with Lemon and Capers Sauce, a poultry variation on a traditional Italian veal preparation.

Ready? Let’s cook it!

CHICKEN SCALOPPINE WITH LEMON AND CAPERS SAUCE
A recipe by Chef James McNair
(serves 4-6)

INGREDIENTS

- 6 boned and skinned chicken breast halves
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
- salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 2 to 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 to 2 teaspoons drained capers
- 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
- thin lemon slices for gamish
- parsley leaflets, preferably flat-leaf Italian type, for gamish

PREPARATION

Discard the tendons and any connecting tissue or fat from the chicken breasts; separate the little fillet and use it for another purpose or leave it attached and tuck it under the larger muscle. Leave small breasts whole; slice thicker ones in half horizontally.

Place breast pieces between 2 sheets of waxed paper and pound with a mallet or other flat instrument to a uniform thickness of about 1/8 inch. Set aside.

Heat the oil and 2 tablespoons of the butter in a sauté pan or skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken scallops and sauté, turning once, until browned, about 4 to 5 minutes total cooking time. Remove chicken to a warm platter, season to taste with salt and pepper, and reserve.

Add the lemon juice and capers to the pan and heat, scraping the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to loosen browned bits. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and stir until melted. Stir in the minced parsley and pour the sauce over the scallops.

Garnish with lemon slices and parsley leaflets.

Thank you again BIGAB, and of course thank you also to celebrity Chef James McNair for this gourmet recipe.