More recipes from our Italian Food Lovers Chef Network. After yesterday’s wrongly attributed recipe, here is a new recipe from Chef Doug D’Avico of Trattoria N. 10 in Chicago.

Chef D’Avico today shares with us another recipe from the Chicago Botanic Garden show: Grilled Baby Octopus with Watercress Salad and Oranges. But since Chef D’Avico is also a Guest Chef participating to the Italian Food Lovers Chef Network, this time we file this post under the Chef Network category.

GRILLED BABY OCTOPUS WITH WATERCRESS SALAD AND ORANGES
A recipe by Chef Doug D’Avico
(serves 8)

INGREDIENTS

- 2 lb Tenderized baby octopus
- 4 limes, juiced
- 1 cup Academia Barilla Monti Iblei Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 1/8 tablespoon Crushed Red Chili Flake
- 2 tablespoon Italian Flat Leaf Parsley, chopped
- 1 tablespoon Rosemary, no stem, chopped
- Fresh Ground Black Pepper, to taste
- 1 Bunch Hydro or Organic Watercress, Trimmed
- 1/2 Head washed Radicchio leaves
- 2 Oranges, segmented and juices saved
- 1/4 cup Toasted pine nuts
- Academia Barilla Sea Salt flavored with Blood Orange, to taste

PREPARATION

Remove the head and beak from the octopus and put into a metal bowl.

To make the dressing, take the juice from the limes, olive oil, chili flake and chopped parsley and rosemary, combine and season to taste. 

Pour one third over the octopus and cover. Refrigerate for a couple of hours. Before grilling, drain any liquid off the octopus so you don’t cause a flare up on the grill.

You can season the octopus before you grill it. Grill the octopus over a medium high heat and weight it down a little bit so it gets a little bit of char.

To serve, arrange the watercress and radicchio in the center of a serving platter. Cut the octopus up in small pieces and pile in the center of the greens. Garnish the plate with the pine nuts and orange segments. Drizzle the salad

With the rest of the dressing, add a little bit of the Monti Iblei olive oil and fresh ground pepper, and a pinch of Academia Barilla Sea Salt flavored with Blood Orange. Serve.

Thank you Chef D’Avico for this new recipe and sorry again for yesterday gaffe!

We look forward to having you again as guest at our Italian Food Lovers Chef Network!

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!

Academia Barilla Italian Culinary Specialist and Iron Chef Judge Mario Rizzotti is back on TV for another educational session on how to recognize authentic traditional Italian cheeses from fakes.

TV Host Vince Gerasole invited Mario Rizzotti for a special extra insight on CBS2 Chicago’s popular food show Table for Two. You can watch the entire video segment from the TV show at this link - we couldn’t embed it, but we got some screenshots for you, and we can summarize the Italian food insight and tips shared by Mario Rizzotti at the show.

Mario started presenting Parmigiano Reggiano, the king of cheeses, as something totally different from what you get “in the green can”, as asked by Vince Gerasole. Parmigiano Reggiano, tells Rizzotti, has more than 900 years of history, as recorded by historic menus and publications. Parmigiano Reggiano is entirely made of specially-fed cows in the area of Parma, and shouldn’t be confused with “Parmesan cheese“, a sort of mass production product for the export markets.

To recognize the authentic Parmigiano Reggiano, as Mario Rizzotti reminds, it is enough to check the external part of the wheel, that must feature the “Parmigiano Reggiano” original print all around.

But the major revelation about the authenticity of the product comes with the tasting. Parmigiano Reggiano must be cut into blocks (chunks) to fully appreciate its crunchiness and sandiness, the latter created by the amino-acids released by the proteins of the high-quality milk used for its production.

The quality of the ingredients and its rich flavor make Parmigiano Reggiano a great choice for many applications: grated or shaved on pasta, as an aperitivo with a glass of wine and, as told by Mario Rizzotti, also as a “munchie” for young babies aged 6 months, because of the good milk, that carries great calcium and protein for kids.

Academia Barilla Italian Culinary Specialist Mario Rizzotti also introduced other Italian regional cheeses, focusing on all the varieties of Pecorino (Romano, Toscano, Sardinian, Sweet), the popular cheese made of sheep’s milk cheese.

To counterbalance the tasting of Parmigiano Reggiano, Mario Rizzotti invited TV Host Vince Gerasole to taste Academia Barilla’s Pecorino Gran Cru, which is the first sheep’s milk cheese produced with the same production technique and aging process used for Parmigiano Reggiano, making it… the king of sheep’s milk cheeses!

You can find Academia Barilla’s Parmigiano Reggiano (both in wedges or as a whole wheel) and Pecorino Gran Cru at the Academia Barilla online store, and at the best gourmet food and specialty stores in the United States.

If you want to catch up with Mario Rizzotti, you have two choices: check your local listing to see him in action as a Judge for Iron Chef America, or meet him in person for an Italian food demo at the Barilla Italian Cooking Weekend at the Chicago Botanic Garden this weekend!

This is definitely the best time of the year to visit the Chicago Botanic Garden. The mild climate, the summer light and the awesome settings of the garden’s landscapes surely invite for a day of nature exploration and discovery, long walks, bike rides, or to enjoy one of the many learning workshops and events offered by the Chicago Botanic Garden.

This is also the time of the year when, among the other events and attractions, the Botanic Garden also presents the Garden Chef Series, a lineup of top Chefs with a full calendar of cooking demos every Saturday and Sunday starting the last week of may, and closing the first week of October.

Barilla America, the presenting sponsor for the 2008 Garden Chef Series, will showcase the Barilla Italian Cooking Weekend, a weekend of Italian cooking programs and special giveaways at the Regenstein Fruit & Vegetable Garden this Saturday, July 26 and Sunday, July 27. Barilla USA and Academia Barilla sponsored also last year’s edition of the Garden Chef Series - you might remember our blog posts from last year’s edition.

This year, Barilla USA Executive Chef Lorenzo Boni, Academia Barilla Italian Culinary Specialist Mario Rizzotti, the participating Chicago top Chefs and their respective teams, will give demonstrations using fresh Italian ingredients such as those found in the Fruit & Vegetable Garden.

Among the participating Chefs is Chef Doug D’Avico, who is already participating in our Italian Food Lovers Chef Network.

In addition to plant and recipe giveaways, the Barilla Italian Cooking Weekend will offer family activities and tastings of gourmet olive oil, balsamic vinegar, pasta, traditional Italian cheeses and other Italian gastronomy delights.

The event is free but seating is limited, so please make sure to arrive early.

The Chicago Botanic Garden is easy to find, located approximately 20 miles north of Chicago at 1000 Lake Cook Road in Glencoe, Illinois. Google Map below for driving directions.

We have already received a number of gourmet recipes from the Chefs of the Barilla Italian Cooking Weekend that we will be sure to share with you after the event.

So be ready for yummy dishes and top Chef tips for the preparation of Farfalle Piccolini Salad, Sautéed Wild Mushroom Bruschetta, Crescenza Ravioli with Parmigiano Reggiano and Truffle butter sauce, Lobster Bread Salad, Chicken Parmesan with Campanelle Pasta and more - all on our Italian Food Lovers blog, stay tuned!