The Italian Easter feast is the most symbolic of all Italian feasts. Although regional recipes and menus may differ depending on seasonal specialties and locality, the main essentials can be commonly found in almost every Italian Easter Day menu. Among them include eggs, lamb, and symbolic shaped breads.

Eggs are traditionally served in almost every dish, from soups to sweet breads, served on Easter Day to recognize that they represent rebirth and life. Another custom for Italians on Easter is to include lamb, grilled or roasted, on the menu to recognize and remember the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross. The Dove, symbolizing peace, has become the shape of the famous traditional Easter cake, Colomba Pasquale (Colomba means dove and Pasqua means Easter).

Today, we share with you the recipe for Lamb Chops with Basil Pesto, and tomorrow we’ll publish also the recipe for the classic Colomba Pasquale. Both entries will surely bring Italian gourmet highlights to your Easter Day menu.

Ref: The source of the image above is Valentino Marcattili’s cookbook “Il San Domenico di Imola - Estetica del cibo, le cantine, i sapori della tavola” (Imola’s St. Domenico - Food aesthetic, cantinas, the flavors of food), edited by Rizzoli, and available at the Academia Barilla Gastronomic Library in Parma, Italy.

LAMB CHOP WITH BASIL PESTO
(serves 6)

INGREDIENTS
- 3 pounds lamb loin
- 2 cups packed fresh basil leaves
- 1/4 cup pine nuts
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- 2/3 cup Academia Barilla D.O.P. Monti Iblei Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 1/2 cup freshly grated Academia Barilla Pecorino Gran Cru
- Academia Barilla Natural Sea Salt with Black Olives, to taste
- freshly ground Pepper, to taste
- Academia Barilla 8-years Balsamic Must of Modena, if desired

PREPARATION

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Clean the lamb loin and slice it into chops.

Combine the basil, pine nuts, and garlic in a food processor and pulse until the mixture is coarsely chopped. Add the D.O.P. Monti Iblei extra virgin olive oil and process until fully mixed and smooth.

Transfer the pesto to a large mixing bowl and season with Natural Sea Salt with Black Olives and freshly ground pepper and stir in the freshly grated Pecorino Gran Cru.

Sprinkle the Lamb chops with Natural Sea Salt with Black Olives and freshly ground pepper.

In a large grill pan, heat 2 tablespoons of D.O.P. Monti Iblei extra virgin olive oil over high heat and place the chops in the skillet and cook just until brown, about 1-2 minutes per side.

Transfer the Lamb chops to a large baking sheet. Roast the lamb in the oven for about 15 - 25 minutes or until they are cooked to the desired doneness. When done, pull the Lamb chops out and let them rest for about 5 minutes.

Spread the pesto mixture over 1 side of each chop so that it is covered in a thin pesto layer.

Transfer the Lamb chops to a large serving platter and arrange the Lamb chops with the pesto side up.

CHEF TIPS

If desired, sprinkle with a little extra freshly grated Pecorino Gran Cru and with Balsamic Must vinegar for an intense and sweet finish.

Buon appetito, and Buona Pasqua from Academia Barilla!

Remember that all the gourmet ingredients of this recipes are available at the best gourmet specialty stores, and are also a click away from you, available at the Academia Barilla online store!

Academia Barilla’s Italian Culinary specialist Francesco Zimone is very busy this week with a series of gourmet tasting events in California.

We just received an email from Francesco, who was very excited about the success of last Monday’s dinner at the Palmeri Restaurant in Brentwood, LA.

Those who follow our blog with regularity already know that Academia Barilla partners Chef Ottavio Palmeri and his LA Restaurant for a series of themed Italian dinners that take place every first Monday of each month, with Chef Palmeri designing the entire menu getting inspiration from the Academia Barilla range of Italian gourmet products.

Let me quote Francesco for more details on last Monday’s dinner at Ristorante Palmeri.

Last night event at Palmeri was amazing, thank you so much for the support with recipes and the blog coverage.

The formula of the event is getting better and better. I was dressed in Academia Barilla Chef’s attire and we started dinner with a shot of Pomodorini pelati (peeled cherry tomatoes), black olive salt, Monti Iblei extra virgin olive oil and basil.

Next on the Palmeri menu was Pesce crudo con un tocco di Riviera Ligure (raw fish with Riviera Ligure extra virgin olive oil), followed by Involtino di melenzane (stuffed eggplant) with a touch of Monti Iblei extra virgin olive oil, Peperonata (Bell Peppers salad) and Involtino di pescespada (stuffed swordfish) covered with Balsamic Must (with additional Balsamic Must on a side for Balsamic tasting).

We closed dinner with one of Ottavio Palmeri’s top Sicilian specialties, a Cannolo Siciliano served with some Hand-Cut Pears with Balsamic Vinegar on the side.

Every client got great attention and then they left with a can of peeled cherry tomatos and a recipe. Everybody asked and signed on my business card the products they loved. I told everybody they could find the products at Bay City Stores and soon also at Bristol Farms - and Chef Palmeri already started working on next month’s menu!

If you live in the LA area you should absolutely try to join the Academia Barilla and Palmeri teams at the next gourmet dinner, scheduled for Monday April 1, 2008.

You can refer to our blog post from last month to get all the restaurant contact info, including a Google Map for your driving directions.

The ingredient of the month for February is Pumpkin, as suggested by our friends at the Academia Barilla Culinary School. Today Chef Matteo Carboni presents on video how to cook another simple but delicious pasta dish using our ingredient of the month: Pennette with Pumpkin, Bacon and Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Modena.

Here is the transcription of the video recipe prepared by Chef Matteo Carboni, so you can print it to have it at reach while cooking.

PENNETTE WITH PUMPKIN, BACON AND TRADITIONAL BALSAMIC VINEGAR OF MODENA

INGREDIENTS
(4 servings)

- Barilla Penne Rigate pasta, 12 oz.
- brown onion, to taste
- pumpkin, 8.5 oz.
- smoked bacon, 7 oz.
- Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Modena aged 12 years, to taste
- Academia Barilla Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated, to taste
- black pepper, to taste
- parsley, to taste
- rosemary, to taste
- garlic, 1 clove
- Academia Barilla Monti Iblei Extra Virgin Olive Oil, to taste
- salt, to taste

PREPARATION
(preparation time: 30 minutes)

Peel and remove the seeds from the pumpkin. Cut into cubes of about 1 cm/0.5 inch each side.

Place the discards of the pumpkin, the onion, and a little salt in a pan and cover with water until it boils. When the vegetable is cooked, whip until you obtain a cream.

First cut the smoked bacon into pieces of about 3mm in length and then cut in Julienne style. Mince the rosemary, garlic and parsley.

Put a pan on medium heat, add a drop of oil and fry the pumpkin adding salt and pepper to taste.

Remove the pumpkin from the pan, add the smoked bacon and cook until browned. Add garlic and rosemary to the bacon and pumpkin and after 2 minutes of cooking, add the pumpkin cream.

In plenty of salted boiling water cook the pasta, drain and add with the previously prepared sauce.

Add the minced parsley, plate the pasta and drizzle with Traditional Vinegar of Modena before serving.

Buon appetito from the Academia Barilla Culinary School!

And of course, here is the video version of this recipe.

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Chef Central, the NY and NJ-based superstore for Chefs located in Hartsdale, NY and Paramus, NJ, is celebrating this month the Annual Italian Month.

Defined “…the most amazing place - a ‘Toys R Us’ for cooks…” (Chef Alton Brown) and “…a 15,000 square foot paradise for cooks…” (Epicurean Magazine), Chef Central also hosts a calendar of events, that this month include also two free gourmet tasting events with Academia Barilla.

Join Academia Barilla’s Italian Culinary Specialist Rosario Procino at Chef Central Hartsdale, NY on Wednesday February 20, or in Chef Central Paramus, NJ, on Saturday February 23. If you live in the North-East of the United States you might not want to miss this event dedicated to Italian cuisine.

The directions to the Chef Central superstores are here below, with a Google Map to help you with personalized driving directions:

Chef Central Paramus, NJ
Paramus Towne Square 240 Route 17 North Paramus, NJ 07652
(between Buy Buy Baby & Circuit City)

Store Phone: (201) 576-0100
Store Hours: Mon – Sat 9:30 a.m. – 9:30 p.m.
Closed Sunday

Chef Central Hartsdale, NY
45 South Central Avenue Hartsdale, NY 10530

Store Phone: (914) 328-1376
Store Hours: Mon – Sat 9:30 a.m. – 9:30 p.m.
Sun 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.

Rosario Procino will be all day available during store hours to give you his best specialist advice on some of the most delicious Italian gourmet products from Academia Barilla, such as the Academia Barilla range of Italian extra virgin olive oils, balsamic vinegar products, or the newly released line of hand-harvested gourmet sea salts from Sicily.

If you cannot attend the event at Chef Central just follow our blog, we’ll be reporting about other events across the United States hoping you’ll be able to catch our never-stopping team of Italian Culinary Specialist.

If you can’t wait for the next academia Barilla tasting event, just go ahead and visit us at our online store, where you can find a full range of Italian specialty food products as well as gourmet gift ideas.

Academia Barilla and Italian Chef, cookbook writer and TV celebrity Giada De Laurentiis started the New Year with a great announcement that we actually anticipated on this blog: the launch of a new product line of high quality, authentic Italian gourmet food products.

Giada De Laurentiis, a long-time friend of Academia Barilla, designed in partnership with us an exclusive gourmet product line of authentic Italian specialty food that opens, of course, with an Italian classic: 100% Italian Extra Virgin Olive Oil, made exclusively with olives from Italy.

The gourmet product line goes further with a Balsamic Vinegar of Modena obtained from gently cooked grape must, grown and processed solely in the Modena area, and an hand-harvested, all-natural Sicilian Sea Salt with Fresh Lemon Zest that comes from a combination of the pure Sicilian sea water and the freshest lemons grown under the sun of Sicily, in the middle of the Mediterranean.

The “Giada for Academia” product line gets its cherry on the pie with Giada’s Tuscan Herb Mix, a mix of refined appetizing herbs that brings to your dishes tastes and aromas you can only find in the gourmet hills of Tuscany.

All these products are available through exclusive distribution at the Crate & Barrel stores in the United States.

Crate & Barrel made of Giada’s line the highlight of the month, as she presented the Academia Barilla gourmet food line alongside other hand-picked kitchen items from the Crate & Barrel catalogue, featuring Giada as cover star.

If you don’t live close to a Crate & Barrel Store, you can request their catalogue online, and then proceed to place your order from the web when you’ll have the catalogue (you will have to report a catalogue code to be able to place your order). Don’t forget to add to your Crate&Barrel order the new Academia Barilla / Giada De Laurentiis gourmet products!

We will be updating you soon on the availability of Giada’s products outside the US, or through the Academia Barilla online store – and, promised, we will publish some new gourmet recipes from Giada soon!