Italian Food Lovers

The new Academia Barilla Tuscan Soup and its yummy lentils, wheat and spelt (farro) mix we introduced with our latest post can be appreciate either as winter dish as well as summer recipe.

Try this gourmet recipe for a salad with season vegetables designed by the Academia Barilla Chef Team!

GRILLED VEGETABLE SALAD
A recipe by the Academia Barilla Chef Team
(serves 6)

INGREDIENTS

- 10 oz Academia Barilla vegetable and cereal mix
- 34 fluid oz water
- Academia Barilla Toscano extra virgin olive oil, to taste
- 1 round eggplant
- 1/2 yellow bell pepper
- 1/2 re bell pepper
- 1 zucchini
- 5 cherry tomatoes
- 1/2 red onion
- 2 oz mozzarella cheese
- salt to taste

PREPARATION

Pour the entire content of the vegetables and cereal bag of the Academia Barilla Tuscan Soup and the water in a boiling pot. Cook for 20 minutes mixing regularly.

Wash and dry all the vegetable, and slice them vertically to obtain slices 0.2 inches thick.

Chop the mozzarella into small cubes.

Grill each vegetable slice a couple of minutes for each side. Chop the red onion in thin slices, and the cherry tomatoes in quarters.

When the vegetable and cereal mix is cooked, eliminate the excess water.

Using a salad bowl mix zucchini, eggplants, red and yellow bell peppers, grilled sliced vegetables, mozzarella cubes, sliced onions and chopped tomatoes, and the Tuscan Soup’s cooked mix of vegetables and cereals.

Add oregano, extra virgin olive oil and salt to taste. Mix well and serve.

Buon Appetito from Academia Barilla and the Academia Barilla Chef Team!

Today we have the pleasure to introduce to you a new product from the Academia Barilla product line: Academia Barilla Tuscan Soup (Zuppa alla Toscana), an easy to prepare dish that instantly brings to your table all the Tuscan food tradition and authenticity.

The Tuscan Soup is innovative mix of vegetables and cereals with the flavor of Mediterranean aromatic herbs to fully enjoy the pleasure of Tuscan cuisine in just 18 minutes of preparation, to match one of the most traditional Tuscan food experiences with the fast pace of modern life.

Academia Barilla Tuscan Soup is prepared, as tradition requires, with simple and authentic ingredients: red and yellow lentils and healthy cereals such as wheat and spelt (farro), with no GMS or preservatives added.

You just have to mix the content of the 3 bags included in the package to bring Tuscany on your table. The first bag contains a mix of pre-cooked vegetables and cereals ready to be put in a pot, the second the Tuscan aromatic herbs, a key ingredient to replicate the full flavor of Tuscan gastronomy tradition, while the final bag comes with a mix onions, carrots, garlic and tomatoes, the traditional Italian soffritto.

We will soon share with you some gourmet recipes where you can use the Academia Barilla Tuscan Soup, but we would like to spend a few words today on the main ingredients of the new Academia Barilla soup: lentils and spelt.

Lentils probably are one of the first vegetable cultivated in scale in the human history: traces were found in Turkish archeological sites from 5,500 B.C. and also in Egyptian graves from 2,500 B.C.

In ancient world lentils have been a very valuable good, the Old Testament reports a Bible episode where Esau sells his birthrights to his younger brother Jacob in exchange of a bowl of lentil soup.

Today in the Italian food tradition lentils are associated with good luck and are a must in the New Year’s Eve traditional menus.

Spelt, also known as emmer wheat (farro), was the most popular cereal in Ancient Rome. Its preparation was considered to be sacred, and Numa Pompilio created a special holiday in honor of farro, Fornacalia. Roman sacred Vestals used spelt mixed with salt (a mix called “mola salsa“) for their sacrifices up to the 4th century A.C. Farro in Ancient Rome was also “libum”, a focaccia with no yeast also used for offers to Gods.

We’ll be back soon with a great recipe with the new Academia Barilla Tuscan Soup!