Italian Food Lovers

More Italian Easter recipes for your Easter Day menu. As we told you yesterday, the Easter Dove is one of they key symbols of the Italian Pasqua, both in religious iconography and in holiday food tradition.

Symbolizing both peace and the Holy Spirit, the Dove, has become the shape of the famous traditional Easter cake, Colomba Pasquale (Easter Dove), a classic dessert at any Easter meal in Italy. Here is the recipe for our Italian Food Lovers readers!

Ref: The source of the image above is Iginio Massari and Achille Zoia’s cookbook “Cresci - L’arte della pasta lievitata” (Grow - The art of baking dough), edited by Pavoni, and available at the Academia Barilla Gastronomic Library in Parma, Italy.

COLOMBA PASQUALE
(serves 8-10)

INGREDIENTS - for the dough

- 11.6 oz flour
- 1 oz yeast
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 8 oz of lukewarm milk
- 3 oz butter
- 1.3 sugar
- 4 egg yolks
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2.7 oz candy lemon zest finely minced
- 1/2 grated zest of fresh lemon

INGREDIENTS - for the syrup

- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 2 tablespoons water

OTHER INGREDIENDS

- flour to the base
- margarine to grease aluminum foil
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 oz sifted powdered sugar
- 1.4 oz peeled almonds
- 2 raisins

PREPARATION

Preheat the oven to 360 °F

For the dough

Place the flour in a large bowl, forming it into a mound. Add the yeast, sugar, 4 oz of lukewarm milk in the middle of the mound and knead the dough.

When completely incorporated, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rise in a warm place for 15 minutes so that the dough is puffy.

While the dough is rising, melt the butter in a small pan or microwave it in a microwave safe container. In another small bowl, beat the yolks with the sugar.

When the sugar is completely mixed with the yolks, add the melted butter to the mixture and mix. Add the mixture of the yolks, sugar and butter and the remaining milk and flour to the dough, and continue to knead vigorously until the dough is firm and compact, making sure it is not sticky.

Subsequently, add the fresh lemon zest and candied lemon to the dough, and form a ball. Set aside and let the dough rise for approximately 30 minutes in a warm place.

For the syrup

In a small pot, bring the 2 tablespoons of water and 2 tablespoons of sugar to a boil; remove from heat and let cool.

For the dough

When the dough is ready, divide it in half and make 2 rolls (approximately 7 to 8 inches in size). Shape each roll into a dove. You may also choose to place each roll in a dove-shaped mold.

Cover the dough and let each dove-shaped roll rise for about 20 to 30 minutes until each is double in size. When the dough is ready, brush the surface with the syrup mixture and sift the powdered sugar over the top. Top each dove-shaped roll with almonds, pressing them in slightly.

Add one raisin to each dove-shaped roll in order to make the eyes of the dove. To preserve the shape, wrap the cake with greased aluminum foil. Place the dove-shaped rolls in the preheated oven on the lower rack for 40 minutes.

When ready, gently remove the aluminum foil and allow the Colomba Pasquale cool before serving.

Buon Appetito and again Buona Pasqua from Academia Barilla!

The Italian Easter feast is the most symbolic of all Italian feasts. Although regional recipes and menus may differ depending on seasonal specialties and locality, the main essentials can be commonly found in almost every Italian Easter Day menu. Among them include eggs, lamb, and symbolic shaped breads.

Eggs are traditionally served in almost every dish, from soups to sweet breads, served on Easter Day to recognize that they represent rebirth and life. Another custom for Italians on Easter is to include lamb, grilled or roasted, on the menu to recognize and remember the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross. The Dove, symbolizing peace, has become the shape of the famous traditional Easter cake, Colomba Pasquale (Colomba means dove and Pasqua means Easter).

Today, we share with you the recipe for Lamb Chops with Basil Pesto, and tomorrow we’ll publish also the recipe for the classic Colomba Pasquale. Both entries will surely bring Italian gourmet highlights to your Easter Day menu.

Ref: The source of the image above is Valentino Marcattili’s cookbook “Il San Domenico di Imola - Estetica del cibo, le cantine, i sapori della tavola” (Imola’s St. Domenico - Food aesthetic, cantinas, the flavors of food), edited by Rizzoli, and available at the Academia Barilla Gastronomic Library in Parma, Italy.

LAMB CHOP WITH BASIL PESTO
(serves 6)

INGREDIENTS
- 3 pounds lamb loin
- 2 cups packed fresh basil leaves
- 1/4 cup pine nuts
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- 2/3 cup Academia Barilla D.O.P. Monti Iblei Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 1/2 cup freshly grated Academia Barilla Pecorino Gran Cru
- Academia Barilla Natural Sea Salt with Black Olives, to taste
- freshly ground Pepper, to taste
- Academia Barilla 8-years Balsamic Must of Modena, if desired

PREPARATION

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Clean the lamb loin and slice it into chops.

Combine the basil, pine nuts, and garlic in a food processor and pulse until the mixture is coarsely chopped. Add the D.O.P. Monti Iblei extra virgin olive oil and process until fully mixed and smooth.

Transfer the pesto to a large mixing bowl and season with Natural Sea Salt with Black Olives and freshly ground pepper and stir in the freshly grated Pecorino Gran Cru.

Sprinkle the Lamb chops with Natural Sea Salt with Black Olives and freshly ground pepper.

In a large grill pan, heat 2 tablespoons of D.O.P. Monti Iblei extra virgin olive oil over high heat and place the chops in the skillet and cook just until brown, about 1-2 minutes per side.

Transfer the Lamb chops to a large baking sheet. Roast the lamb in the oven for about 15 - 25 minutes or until they are cooked to the desired doneness. When done, pull the Lamb chops out and let them rest for about 5 minutes.

Spread the pesto mixture over 1 side of each chop so that it is covered in a thin pesto layer.

Transfer the Lamb chops to a large serving platter and arrange the Lamb chops with the pesto side up.

CHEF TIPS

If desired, sprinkle with a little extra freshly grated Pecorino Gran Cru and with Balsamic Must vinegar for an intense and sweet finish.

Buon appetito, and Buona Pasqua from Academia Barilla!

Remember that all the gourmet ingredients of this recipes are available at the best gourmet specialty stores, and are also a click away from you, available at the Academia Barilla online store!

We love Wikipedia, maybe not as much as we love Italian food, but we really think Wikipedia is a priceless resource for all the Internet users, including us. We referenced Wikipedia sources and articles several times in our blog posts, and also pointed a link or two to a couple of topics we asked you to explore more in-depth.

Last month, while browsing the popular online encyclopedia, we realized that their editorial team always welcomes new contributors in many area yet to be fully covered - one of which is Italian cuisine.

We couldn’t resist the call and started by creating a basic profile for Academia Barilla, before started experiencing the pleasure of online collaboration and contributing to an article we linked to in recent times, right before Christmas.

Remember the Zuppa Inglese recipe we published as part of our Christmas Recipe Series?

In that blog post we actually used part of Wikipedia knowledge, when reporting about the origins of the dessert’s name. In order to pay back for the knowledge we got, we decided to publish the complete recipe of the Zuppa Inglese dessert on the same Wikipedia page, so that other Web users will be able to find it easily in the future.

We will definitely contribute more and more to the Wikipedia, and we’ll let you know when we do - but don’t worry, we made a commitment on sharing our premium content with you at Italian Food Lovers before sharing it with everybody else, so we’ll always be blogging here before publishing everywhere else on the web! Stay tuned with us!

At the same time, we think at the traditions in Italian cuisine to propose you the recipes for two traditional desserts: Home-made Cantucci (almond cookies) with Vin Santo, and a Lemon Zest Ciambella.

HOME-MADE CANTUCCI
(a recipe by Chef Lorenzo Boni)
INGREDIENTS

- 4 1/2 cups flour
- 10 tablespoons butter
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 large egg
- 2 large egg yolks
- 4 cups almonds, whole and unpeeled
- 2 cups Vin Santo wine, chilled

PREPARATION

Preheat oven to 350º F. Cream butter and sugar together, add remaining ingredients (except for the almonds) and mix together making sure to not over-mix. Add almonds and hand mix with a wooden spoon.

Place dough in a large zip lock bag. Cut tip of bag 1-1/2-inch wide. Squeeze dough onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet, making a rope, about 1 1/2-inches wide. Makes about 8 ropes.

Bake for 25 minutes. Remove from oven but leave the oven on.

Cool Cantucci on parchment paper lined baking sheet for about 10 minutes. When cool enough to handle, approximately 10 minutes, cut into 3/8-inch diagonal slices on cutting board. Do not allow Cantucci to cool completely before you cut or they will crumble.

Place Cantucci slices on their side onto the baking sheet. Return to oven and bake another 15 minutes, or until crisp and golden in color.

Allow to cool and become crisp before serving. Dip Cantucci in additional chilled Vin Santo wine as the perfect ending to a fine meal.

WINE PAIRING TIPS

Cantucci are traditionally enjoyed dipped in Vin Santo, a traditional sweet but strong wine on its way to be a liquor. If you want to try one of the best Vin Santo around (and available on the US market), we suggest to try Ruffino “Serelle” Vin Santo.

LEMON ZEST CIAMBELLA
(a recipe by Chef Lorenzo Boni)

INGREDIENTS

- 2 lbs 3/4 oz flour
- 10 1/2 oz sugar
- 3 whole eggs
- 3 1/2 oz. butter
- 7 oz. baking powder
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped lemon zest
- milk, enough to thin
- 1/3 cup Marsala wine
- optional powdered sugar

PREPARATION

Preheat an oven, on convection to 375 F.

Weigh the ingredients. Begin by mixing the sugar and softened butter, add the eggs, and mix until combined well.

In a separate bowl mix the flour and the baking powder. Stir the flour mixture into the egg butter mixture to form a thick batter. Thin with the Marsala wine and a touch of milk.

Prepare a disposable plastic pastry bag by cutting a diagonal (biased) hole that when the batter is squeezed out will be about three inches wide. Pipe the dough/batter onto baking sheets with parchment paper.

Be sure to make individual cakes about 12 inches long, about 3 inches wide. Leave a 3 inch gap in between.

Place in the oven and bake until risen and slightly browned. About 15 to 20 minutes.

Remove the pans from the oven and place on a cooling rack. Once cool, sprinkle the top with powdered sugar for better results, then cut into a desired shape.

Serve with a glass of cold milk.

WINE PAIRING TIPS

Maybe a glass of cold milk instead?

=)

We hope you enjoyed our end-of the year gourmet menus for Christmas and New Tear’s Eve. Next year we will publish more and more recipes, Chef tips and culinary stories.

Happy 2008 to you all from the Academia Barilla Chefs Team!

Today we introduce the recipe for the Maserati Murcielago LP640 - no, you won’t be able to prepare in your kitchen the Italian car that turned into a legend, but you will be certainly able to cook an awesome main course for the New Year’s Eve dinner, that Barilla USA Executive Chef Lorenzo Boni designed getting inspiration by the Lamborghini line of vehicles to create the Academia Barilla - Lamborghini NYE gourmet menu.

After introducing the Lamborghinis of the last posts and their respective recipes, today Chef Lorenzo Boni proposes to celebrate the Lamborghini Murcielago with Pork Tenderloin “bocconcini” wrapped in Academia Barilla Prosciutto di Parma, drizzled with Academia Barilla Balsamic Must and accompanied with baby greens.

Yummy, let’s go immediately to the kitchen!

PORK TENDERLOIN BOCCONCINI WRAPPED IN PROSCIUTTO DI PARMA, DRIZZLED WITH BALSAMIC MUST, AND ACCOMPAINED WITH BABY GREENS
(a recipe by Chef Lorenzo Boni, inspired by Lamborghini Murcielago LP640)

INGREDIENTS

- 2 pork tenderloins
- 12 slices of Academia Barilla Prosciutto di Parma
- 1/2 bottle Academia Barilla Balsamic Must
- one sprig rosemary
- 2 cloves garlic
- baby green salad, 1/2 lb
- Academia Barilla Monti Iblei extra virgin olive oil to taste
- Academia Barilla Natural Sea Salt with Black Olives to taste
- black pepper to taste

PREPARATION

Cut pork tenderloin in small 2 oz pieces (bocconcini, in Italian), individually wrap them with prosciutto, securing with toothpicks.

Cook on both side until pink in the middle. Meanwhile reduce the balsamic with rosemary and garlic until it thickens up a little. Cool down.

Before serving the tenderloin on a bed of baby green salad, seasoned with natural sea salt, black pepper and olive oil, drizzle the balsamic reduction over the top.

WINE PAIRING TIPS

Red wines from Tuscany generally are a good choice with pork and red meats, try Lodola Nuova Vino Nobile di Montepulciano 2003 for best gourmet results.