After proposing a couple of Italian cookbooks at the beginning of this week we browsed through Academia Barilla’s Gastronomic Library in Parma, in search of the perfect recipe for your Valentine’s Day dinner.

Impossible task, there are too many choices… we’ve found hundreds in our 7,000+ cookbook collection! But with the help of the Gastronomic Library team we managed to find a very good one.

Last year’s Valentine’s Day we delighted your senses and imagination with a series of aphrodisiac recipes, while this year we decided to focus on finding a recipe that is easy and fast to prepare, that is beautiful in presentation and that can be served as a finger food to begin the night well, and so you can avoid engaging with complicated table settings that might get in the way of setting up a romantic atmosphere.

This year our Valentine’s Day recipe is Cartoccio of Eggplant, with Cow’s milk Cheese, Thyme and Olives - a yummy and sensual dish we found in “La Cucina degli Innamorati” (Lovers’ Cuisine), by French cookbook writer Marianne Paquin.

Ready? Let’s go to the kitchen, this won’t take long to prepare!

CARTOCCIO OF EGGPLANT WITH COW’S MILK CHEESE, THYME AND OLIVES
(A recipe by Chef and cookbook writer Marianne Paquin)

INGREDIENTS
(serves 2)

- 2 tomini (soft cow’s milk cheese)
- 1 eggplant
- 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
- 2 stalks thyme
- 8 black olives
- salt and pepper to taste

PREPARATION

Preheat the oven grill. Cut the eggplant in thin slices, brush the slices of egg-plant with oil and place them on the grill rack with baking paper to be grilled.

Turn the slices as they start to get brown, and then take them out of the oven and let them cool. In the meantime, pre-heat the oven at 350 F.

Wrap the soft tomino with two slices of eggplant. Sprinkle it with thyme, salt and pepper. Tie the slices with a kitchen string.

Put the filled eggplant in a baking dish, add the olives, drizzle with the extra virgin olive oil and place into the oven for 10 minutes. The dish is now ready to be served!

Thank you to the Academia Barilla Gastronomic Library team for finding this recipe, and Happy Gourmet Valentine’s Day to all Italian Food Lovers - keep up with your love for Italian food as we do!

Today we would like to introduce a couple of interesting publication that can be of interest for our Italian Food Lovers readership.
The first one is The New Regional Italian Cuisine Cookbook, written by Reinhardt Hess, Cornelia Schinharl, and Sabine Sälzer.

Reinhardt Hess is a Munich-based Bavarian food and wine journalist who has a special love for Italian and other Mediterranean foods and cooking styles. Cornelia Schinharl is a food editor at Graf und Unser, a major German book publisher, the author of several cookbooks, and an expert on Italian cuisine. She lives in Munich and visits Italy often to discover new foods and new wines. Sabine Sälzer is a world renowned cookbook editor.

When food lovers open this cookbook they’ll find themselves on a lively excursion through eight distinct and innovative culinary Italian regions. It’s an illustrated, recipe-filled cookbook and a coffee table guide to Italy’s people and traditions, from the Alpine Piedmont area in the north to the southern island of Sicily.

The book is structured into separate chapter for each of the eight regions, each opening with a landscape photo followed by several photo-filled pages describing the region’s people, their way of life, and their locally-produced foods and wines. The rest of each chapter is devoted to the region’s recipes.

Two dozen or more recipes per region are introduced, each of them illustrated with plenty of photos, and presented in the typical Italian style for hearty five-course dinners. The authors present great ways to prepare and serve meats, fish, pasta, sauces, fruits, vegetables, soups, salads, and desserts, and also offer suggestions for regional wines that go perfectly with each delightful Italian meal.

Among the several reviews for this cookbook, a couple of them caught our attention. Mat Schaffer at the Boston Herald reviewed it as “… A pictorial tour of Italy, its culture and customs. It’s like a gastronomic visit to Italy.”, while the internationally renowned Chef and restaurateur Mario Batali defines it “Definitive in a way that few books attempt, the recipes in this beautiful tome reflect the delicious diversity all dancing under the umbrella of Italian food. This beautiful book captures (Italy’s) entire boot in its mellifluous magnificence.”

Published by the NY-based publisher Barron’s Books for its Educational Series, the book is available at major bookstore worldwide, and also online at this link.

We really like this cookbook, even if it skipped our beautiful Emilia-Romagna region during the virtual Italian gastronomic tour - as our readers know, Academia Barilla and the Academia Barilla Culinary School are headquartered in Parma, the heart of the Italian Food Valley.

If you want to add to your virtual gastronomy tour Parma’s culinary traditions, culture and recipes, we also strongly suggest to check out world-renowed Chef and cookbook writer Giuliano Bugialli’s “Parma, A capital of Italian Gastronomy“, Academia Barilla’s first venture as a publisher.

Giuliano Bugialli’s cookbook celebrates the art, culture and tradition of the city of Parma, an extraordinary mix that you can find in our traditional plates. The Parma cookbook contains dozens of typical local recipes explained through stunning pictures and detailed descriptions, and infuses gastronomy tradition with culinary innovation, according to the true spirit of Parma.

The cookbook is available online at the Academia Barilla online store. Its luxury hardcover makes it a perfect gift - maybe the right gift idea for next Valentine’s Day?

We have introduced several times Academia Barilla’s Italian Culinary Specialist and TV Chef celebrity Mario Rizzotti, but we keep getting more and more content about his Italian food experience, and we want to share it with you.

Do you remember when we blogged about the “And they Came to Chicago: The American Italian Legacy”, the documentary produced by Chicago-based Modio Media? Now the documentary is available also on DVD and, if you are interested, you can order it online at the Modio Media’s site.

To better promote their documentary the guys at Modio Media published online some key video sequences, among which are a couple with our Mario Rizzotti, such as the one here below. Here Mario introduces Chicago Cooking instructors Dede Frank and Roseanne Pileggi, who teach a class on Italian-inspired cooking.

In this video Mario Rizzotti joins with them in the kitchen while they are preparing Linguine with Olive Oil, Capers, Lemon Zest and Anchovies - listen to the Chef tips from Dede and Roseanne, especially on how to make a perfect soffritto with the anchovies.

While hanging out in the kitchen, Mario offers his expert advice on how to taste extra-virgin olive oil, on avoid abusing garlic “not to kill food with it” as Mario says, or to pay attention to the cooking time of the pasta to make it “al dente”. Mario Rizzotti’s Chef tips include adding fresh Italian parsley and some bread crumbs at the end, “to add textures” as Mario explains.

Final note: the Italian extra virgin olive oil the Chef used in this recipe is Academia Barilla’s Monti Iblei, available also online at the Academia Barilla online store.

Buon appetito from Academia Barilla, and kudos to Modio Media for the great movie production!

The 1st Monday of the month at Palmieri Ristorante, in Brentwood, Los Angeles, is turning into a classic night for both LA residents and traveling gourmands. We already blogged about the gourmet menus prepared by Chef Ottavio Palmieri, but the Chef’s creativity never stops, so you can enjoy every week new dishes and a new menu concept designed by the Sicilian Chef.

Academia Barilla partners Palmieri Ristorante for the Wine and food pairing nights, that feature creative and traditional dishes put together by Chef Palmieri, with the help of Academia Barilla gourmet ingredients, every first Monday of each month including today, February 4.

Check out today’s menu, with the dishes’ names in Sicilian:

Pani (breads)

Semolina and Sesame seed bread

Pi N’Cuminciari (starters)

Brusciuvia
Vegetable soup with Fava, Garbanzo and Pinto beans, lentils, peas
Drizzled with “Academia Barilla” Sicilian extra virgin olive oil

Carpacciu di Pisci Spada chi Finocchi e Aranci
Smoked Swordfish “ Carpaccio”; Fennel and Orange salad sprinkled with Academia Barilla Orange sea salt from Sicilia

Wine pairing: Donna Fugata Anthilia 2006

Primi Piatti (pasta entrees)

Involtini di Pasta chi Milinciani
Spaghetti, smoked mozzarella, tomato sauce, Almond-basil Pesto, wrapped around sliced eggplant and baked in the wood-burning oven

Pasta ca’ Buttarga
Spaghetti with chili flakes, garlic and Academia Barilla Sicilian extra virgin olive oil, “Bottarga” and “Mollica”

Wine pairing: iGurrida Triumph Grenace 2002

Pisci (fish)

Involtini di Pisci Spada
Rolls Swordfish, “Piacentino Ennese”, bread crumbs, herbs, salmoriglio and caponata

Wine pairing: Sedaca 2005

Carni (meat)

Viteddu
Braised Veal medallion with eggplant, mozzarella, in a tomato and herbs sauce

Wine pairing: Tancredi Donna Fugata 2003

Cosi Duci (dessert)

Cannoli
Chest ”Mamma Dorotea” Tangy Orange flavored ricotta cheese and Pistacchios

Wine pairing: Ben-Rye 2006

Academia Barilla Italian Culinary specialist Francesco Zimone will be available on site for Italian culinary tips; ask him about the several ways to use the Academia Barilla Natural Sea Salts from Sicily, or other Academia Barilla products.

The dinner cover is $55.00 per person (+ tax & gratuity) and you’ll better book your table in advance by calling the Palmieri Restaurant at (310) 442-8446, as seats are limited.

The address is Palmieri Ristorante, 11650 San Vicente Blvd., Brentwood, Los Angeles CA - we provide a Google Map here below, so you can get accurate driving directions to the restaurant.

We would to introduce you to one of our recent partners, the Denver-based Cook Street.

Located in the historic LoDo district of Denver, Colorado, Cook Street is a world renowned Chef school which delivers culinary training by focusing on hands-on learning, menu preparation, palate development, wine education, and by building a rich appreciation for the culture, history and heritage of great cuisine.

The Cook Street School of Fine Cooking offers an accelerated Professional Food & Wine Career Program, recreational cooking and wine classes for students of all skill and experience levels.

Cook Street also provides online resources for those who are looking for more info about the culinary world, and offers a directory of trusted (friendly) links to several operators in the food industry under categories such as Books, Food&Wine, Kitchenware, Restaurant Equipment, Nutrition and more.

Italian Food Lovers has been listed within the cooking classes category, that we remind you we regularly run all year-long at the Academia Barilla Culinary School in Parma, Italy, and across the United States in partnership with several local US food organizations. We will soon publish on Italian Food Lovers the updated calendar of 2008 cooking classes at our Parma Culinary School.