Italian Food Lovers

We run out of recipes from the Chicago Botanic Garden’s Garden Chef Series and the Barilla Italian Cooking Weekend, at least for this year - next year we’ll make sure to have one of our bloggers from the Italian Food Lovers editorial team on site, so we can actually video the Chef demos and interview the Chefs (not while they demo, of course).

First of all, we would like to say thank you to Barilla USA’s Chef Lorenzo Boni, Trattoria N. 10’s Chef Doug D’Avico, Francesca Restaurants’ Executive Chef Laura Piper, Pinstripes’ Chef Mark Grimes and Mado’s Chef Rob Levitt for sharing their recipes with us. Thank you again, see you again on Italian Food Lovers!

Just to recap, this year we had the pleasure to publish on Italian Food Lovers recipes for 7 gourmet dishes. Did you try any of them at home? 

• Sautéed Wild Mushrooms Bruschetta
• Grilled Baby Octopus with Watercress Salad and Oranges
• Farfalle Piccolini Pasta Salad
• Linguine Fagottaro Pasta Salad
• Lobster Bread Salad
• Chicken Parmesan with Campanelle Pasta
• Grilled Peach and Prosciutto with Parmigiano-Reggiano and Bulsamic Must

Also, we have to say thank you to Stephanie Sette from the Academia Barilla USA Marketing Team (in the picture above) for getting all the content together for us (she does it all the time with the US events content, by the way) and of course also to Academia Barilla Italian Culinary Specialist Mario Rizzotti, who has been conducing several rounds of educational and tasting demos during the Barilla Italian Cooking Weekend.

In these pictures taken during the Barilla Italian Cooking Weekend Mario Rizzotti shares his Italian culinary knowledge with the show participants, teaching them how to professionally taste some of the best Italian gourmet products, such Italian extra virgin olive oils and traditional Italian cheese specialties such as Parmigiano-Reggiano and the several varieties of Pecorino, from Sardinian Pecorino Dolce to Pecorino Toscano DOP and Pecorino Sardo Gran Cru. Follow the link to see more pictures of Mario Rizzotti’s tasting demos at the Chicago Botanic Garden.

A final thank you goes of course also to all the guests and visitors and participated to the Chicago’s Chef show. If you liked the Italian cooking and Italian food culture you experienced at the Chicago Botanic Garden, you now you can find it also here on Italian Food Lovers all year round!

Also remember that you can experience the flavor and taste of Academia Barilla’s Italian gourmet food specialties all year round too, they are all available at the Academia Barilla online store, where you can also find Italian cookbooks, Chef tools, Italian gastronomy gift boxes and gift certificates!

Welcome back to Italian Food Lovers with more Chef recipes from the Barilla Italian Cooking Weekend at the Chicago Botanic Garden’s Garden Chef Series event earlier this year.

Today Chef Rob Levitt (pictured here below at the Chicago Botanic Garden’s event) of Chicago’s gourmet restaurant Mado shares with us an interesting gourmet recipe from the Italian gourmet event: Grilled Peach and Prosciutto Salad with Parmigiano-Reggiano and Balsamic Must! Ready? Let’s go to the kitchen!

GRILLED PEACH AND PROSCIUTTO SALAD WITH PARMIGIANO-REGGIANO AND BALSAMIC MUST
A recipe by Chef Rob Levitt
(serves 4)

INGREDIENTS

- 4 slightly under ripe peaches (free stone are best)
- 1 lemon, zest and juice
- 2 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
- Academia Barilla Unfiltered Italian Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 3 tablespoon Academia Barilla Natural Sea Salt
- 4 twists fresh cracked black pepper (or to taste)
- 7 tablespoon Academia Barilla Parmigiano Reggiano (shaved with a vegetable peeler)
- 4 paper thin slices Academia Barilla Prosciutto di Parma
- 8 tablespoon Academia Barilla Balsamic Must
- arugula leaves (optional)

PREPARATION

Light a charcoal or wood grill, and let the coals burn until you have a nice, even, medium heat.

Cut the peaches in half and remove the pits. Toss with the lemon zest, olive oil, thyme leaves, 2 tablespoon salt and pepper.

Place the peaches on the grill cut side down. Let them cook for about four minutes, or until they can be lifted easily from the grill and have nice lines charred into them (the grill marks are mostly aesthetic. If they stick a little, it’s ok, they will still get the smoky grill flavor we are going for).

Turn the peaches 90 degrees and let cook 2 more minutes. Turn over and let cook for 2 minutes.

Take the peaches off the grill and place in a bowl with the lemon juice and 1 tablespoon olive oil. Toss together and let cool.

Cut the peach halves into thirds, divide amongst 4 plates, and season with remaining sea salt.

Scatter the Parmigiano shavings over the peaches. Lay 2 Prosciutto slices over the peaches. If using, scatter the arugula leaves around the plate and drizzle with the remaining olive oil.

Drizzle with the Condimento Balsamico, and finish with a twist of black pepper.

Thank you Chef Levitt for sharing this yummy recipe with our readership! We look forward to having you as a blog guest again soon!