Last December a group of American students from NY Universities (Monroe College and Paul Smith College, NY) spent some time in Parma to study Italian Cuisine at the Academia Barilla Culinary Center .

The group of students were headed by Giacomo Berselli, President of the Marco Polo Foundation, the organization who sponsored the students’ trip to Italy. After spending 7 weeks in Otranto (Puglia) and 3 weeks in Ferrara (Emilia-Romagna), the students attended cooking classes at the Academia Barilla Culinary School in Parma for additional 2 weeks.

During their Parma residency the US students of the Marco Polo project studied the typical products of the Parma region, and attended classes of olive oil tasting, Parmigiano Reggiano and Prosciutto di Parma tasting, as well as Balsamic Vinegar of Modena and wine tasting. After theory and tasting classes in the morning the young Chefs spent some time researching Academia Barilla’s Gastronomic Library, with the support of the Library Curator Giancarlo Gonizzi and his team.
The afternoon were generally spent in the kitchen, trying dishes and recipes containing the ingredients the students have been working on all day, under the guidance of Academia Barilla Executive Chef Nicola Bindini and his Chef team.

To complete the students’ full immersion into the art of Italian gastronomy, Academia Barilla organized also culinary and gastronomy tours for the students, allowing them to discover the secrets of producers and farmers of authentic regional products, and to meet the countryside traditions and history of the Emilia-Romagna region, that certainly is a key ingredient of our traditional recipes.

At the end of the 2 weeks of classes the Academia Barilla Culinary School released to each student a certificate of completion of studies that, join with the other certificates awarded by the students at the other learning locations across Italy, would have grant them the formal recognition of the exams and classes by their respective original colleges (Monroe College and Paul Smith College, both in the NY State).

Here below a couple of testimonial notes from the Marco Polo students, as written on the Academia guest book, pictured here above with more Marco Polo testimonials:

“Thank you Barilla for such an informative 2 weeks. I enjoyed myself thoroughly would tell my family friends about this wonderful place. Thank you so much.”

“Ciao, this school has taught me that food to the Italian is religion and the kitchen is their church. Thank you Academia Barilla.”

To know more about the student program we interviewed Marco Polo Foundation President Giacomo Berselli who firmly says that “Academia Barilla is state-of-the-art of the Italian Cuisine“!

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Let’s start the New Year with a couple of Academia Barilla gourmet recipes, a New Year present sent in by Barilla USA Executive Chef Lorenzo Boni. Chef Boni proposes today a delicious pasta dish, spaghetti with fresh herbs and Academia Barilla Pecorino Gran Cru, followed by a simple but yummy artichoke salad, that make a perfect complement to the pasta dish.

Chef Lorenzo Boni suggests to prepare the artichoke salad in parallel, so that you can be ready to serve a complete light gourmet meal at the same time.

In this cooking session just for friends at the Barilla US headquarters, Chef Boni got some help from Academia Barilla Italian Culinary Specialist and Iron Chef Judge Mario Rizzotti, the guy with wearing in black in the pictures below, who couldn’t resist tasting during preparation!

Ready? Let’s go to the kitchen!

SPAGHETTI WITH FRESH HERBS AND ACADEMIA BARILLA PECORINO GRAN CRU

INGREDIENTS
(serves 4)

- 1 lb of Barilla spaghetti
- 1/2 cup of Academia Barilla Monti Iblei DOP extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 tablespoon of chopped mint
- 1/2 tablespoon of chopped marjoram
- 1/2 tablespoon of chopped chives
- 1 teaspoon of fresh rosemary
- 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
- 1 teaspoon chopped sage
- 1 tablespoons of chopped basil
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- 3/4 cup grated Academia Barilla Pecorino Gran Cru
- 1 tablespoon butter
- salt and pepper to taste

PREPARATION

Boil the pasta according to the directions on the box, but cook it for a 2-3 minutes under the recommended cooking time.

When the pasta is half way cooked, mix all of the herbs together in a small sauté pan with the Academia Barilla Monti Iblei extra virgin olive oil and garlic. Sauté for 1-2 minutes.

When the pasta is ready, drain it, saving 1 cup of the water the pasta was boiled in and add this 1 cup of water to the mixture of herbs in the sauté pan. Then add the drained pasta to the sauté pan and gently mix. Add salt and pepper to taste.

When the water turns into a creamy texture, turn the heat off, and stir in the 3/4 cup of grated Academia Barilla Pecorino Gran Cru and butter. Gently stir.

Plate the pasta and place a few thin shavings of the Academia Barilla Pecorino Gran Cru on the top.

Serve and enjoy!

ARTICHOKE SALAD

INGREDIENTS
(serves 4)

- 4 medium sized artichokes
- 1 medium lemon
- Academia Barilla Black Olive Sicilian Sea Salt
- 1/2 cup Academia Barilla Monti Iblei DOP extra virgin olive oil
- 4-6 ounces of shaved slices of Academia Barilla Pecorino Gran Cru
- pepper to taste

PREPARATION

Wash, clean (removing the outer layer) and cut the artichokes in half. Slice the lemon in half and squeeze the juice into a medium sized ceramic or glass bowl.

Remove the center of the artichoke and discard. With the remaining artichoke, slice thinly and place in the ceramic bowl (the lemon juice will keep the artichoke from discoloring). Mix the cut artichokes in the lemon juice and drain.

Add the Academia Barilla Monti Iblei DOP extra virgin olive oil, a few pinches of Academia Barilla Black Olive Sicilian Sea Salt and pepper to taste.

Plate the artichoke salad and place a few shavings of the Academia Barilla Pecorino Gran Cru on top.

Serve and enjoy!

This is a traditional Christmas Eve first course from Parma, our hometown in Italy. I hope you will enjoy it with your family and gourmet friends.PASTICCIO DI LASAGNE DI MAGRO DELLA VIGILIA

(FISH AND MUSHROOM CHRISTMAS EVE LASAGNA)

Serves 12 to 15

INGREDIENTS

For the pasta:
- 3 cups of unbleached, not enriched all-purpose flour
- 3 extra-large eggs (or 4 medium ones)
- 3 extra-large egg yolks (or 4 from smaller eggs)
- 1 tablespoon of warm water
- Salt to taste (optional)

To parboil the pasta:
- coarse grained salt
- 2 tablespoon olive oil

For the Mushroom Sauce:
- one ounce dried porcini mushrooms (try to get the originals imported from Italy, which are way far tastier then the authentic Italian porcini mushrooms)
- 2 ounces (4 tablespoon) of unsalted butter
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 1 cup of non-fat chicken broth, preferably homemade

Hot to make a traditional Balsamella (a Parma variation of the Bechamel Sauce, also known as Besciamella):
- 4 ounces (8 tablespoons) of unsalted butter
- 6 tablespoons of unbleached, not enriched all-purpose flour
- 4 cups of whole milk
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- Freshly grated nutmeg to taste
- 1 cup of freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano (as for the porcini mushroom, try to get the original Italian parmesan cheese for better gourmet results)

For the fish stuffing:
- 1 and ½ pounds of fresh sole fillets, cut in halves
- 1 lemon cut in halves
- Coarse-grained salt
- 1 cup of unbleached, not enriched all-purpose flour
- 3 ounces (6 tablespoons) of unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- ½ a cup of dry white wine

OK, here we go with the preparation and cooking –

Prepare the pasta into a layer, and then cut it into 6-inch squares.

Parboil the pasta squares, one at the time, in salted boiling water for a few seconds, then transfer the pasta to cool for a few seconds in a bowl with cold water and two tablespoons of olive oil.

Then drain the pasta and arrange the pasta squares to rest on lightly wet cotton towels, making sure the pasta squares do not touch each other. Cover the pasta with a second layer of dampened cotton, which will be he bed for the second layer of pasta. Repeat until all the pasta is parboiled and resting on the towels. Make sure to cover the last layer of pasta with a final wet cotton towel.

Now let’s prepare the Mushroom Sauce for our Pasticcio di Lasagne.

Soak and re-hydrate the dried porcini mushrooms for half an hour in a water-filled (3 cups) bowl. Drain the mushrooms making sure there is no more sand or dirt on the stems, and filter the soaking water through several layers of paper towels into a small ball to filter out the sand.

Melt the butter in a medium skillet over medium heat, add the mushrooms, season them at taste with salt and pepper and cook for ten minutes, adding the mushroom soaking water or the broth as necessary to maintain the mushrooms soft, while maintaining always very little sauce in the skillet.

Prepare the balsamella with the ingredients above (same process as classic béchamel crème), ad salt, pepper and nutmeg, and transfer it into a glass bowl.
Add the grated cheese, mix well, press over the sauce a piece of buttered parchment paper to prevent a skin from forming, and let the sauce rest in the refrigerator until needed.

We can now let’s work on the sole stuffing.

Soak the sole fillets for half an hour in cold water with the lemon halves squeezed and coarse salt to taste. When the fillet are ready drain them, rinse them, pat them dry and flour them evenly.

Place a second skillet with 6 tablespoons of butter and an additional tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat. When the butter is completely melted, add the sole fillets, season them with salt and white pepper and sauté for 30 seconds.

Turn the fillets over, season again and add the wine, cooking for two minutes until it evaporates, then transfer the content of skillet onto a serving platter to cool completely, for about half an hour.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and use a tablespoon of the butter to lightly butter a 15½ by 10½ inch jelly roll pan.

It is time to assemble the dish.

Cover the bottom of the buttered pan with the squares of precooked pasta, allowing the pasta to hang out over the edges all around the pan of about 1 inch.

Arrange over the pasta half of the sautéed fish, a tablespoon of their juices and half of the cooked mushrooms. Add another layer of pasta squares, covering only the inside of the pan (no edges). Cover the pasta layer with half of the balsamella, then lay another layer of pasta, and the remaining fish and mushrooms. The next layer of pasta squares will be covered by the remaining balsamella.

Fold the hanging pasta pieces inward in the jelly roll pan, in order to cover the balsamella. A final layer of pasta squares will cover it all.

Arrange the remaining two tablespoons of butter, cut into pats all over, and bake in the pre-heated oven for 15 minutes.

When removed from the oven, let the Pasticcio della Vigilia rest for a few minutes before serving it, cut into squares. No extra cheese is needed, and everyone will say: “Hey, the Pasticcio della Vigilia! It must be Christmas Eve!”.

Enjoy it. Merry Christmas from Academia Barilla.