A new Italian gourmet recipe to start our October intensive blog activity in a sweet way! (We have several things to share with you Italian food lovers this month, so stay tuned!).

Last week we blogged about the participation of Academia Barilla to the 26th American Wine and Food Festival, an LA gourmet event sponsored by Barilla that turned into an Italian food fest. We also distributed a press release about the event, you can also ready the press release on our blog.

Today we want to share with you one of the gourmet recipes prepared by Barilla Executive Chef Lorenzo Boni, Tortellini with White Truffle Butter Sauce. It sounds yummy, are you ready to go to the kitchen?

TORTELLINI WITH WHITE TRUFFLE SAUCE
A recipe by Chef Lorenzo Boni
(serves 6)

INGREDIENTS

- Barilla Tortellini, 1 pack (family size)
- Milk, 2 cups
- Parmigiano-Reggiano, 1 1/2 cups
- Bay Leaf, 1
- White Truffle Butter, 2 tablespoons
- Salt and White Pepper, to taste

PREPARATION

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.

In small sauce pan bring 2 cups milk and bay leaf to a simmer. Slowly add in Parmigiano cheese, melt gently. Process in a blander.

Once blended pour back in pan and toss in bay leaf. Season with salt and pepper.

Cook tortellini according to directions, drain and toss with the sauce.

Turn off heat and finish with White Truffle Butter and sliced white truffles.

Thank you Lorenzo for this new pasta recipe, we will publish more of your recipes soon!

Last Friday Academia Barilla announced with an official press release some gourmet news we have partially anticipated here on Italian Food Lovers over the last weeks: the launch of a new series of authentic Italian gourmet food products that enrich the existing Academia Barilla Italian gastronomy food line.

As we generally do here at the Academia Barilla press office, we republish the content of the press release while taking advantage of the blog publishing features to publish also the product pictures, so you can easily recognize them when you’ll see them on top shelves at the top gourmet food shops across the United States and the rest of the world!

We’ll also add direct links to each of the new Academia Barilla products at Academia Barilla online store, where you can order your gourmet specialties and get them delivered home in just two days!

Here we go with the first part of the press release (note: we split the press release in two posts as it was getting pretty long with all the images).

Academia Barilla launches new Italian gourmet food products to expand its authentic Italian food collection.

After launching the Giada De Laurentiis Selected by Academia Barilla Italian gourmet food celebrity collection, Academia Barilla presents a new range of authentic Italian regional food delicacies to bring to the gourmet table - the flavors and traditions of Emilia-Romagna, Liguria, Sardinia, Sicily and Tuscany.

Parma, Italy, September 12, 2008 - After the successful launch of the Giada De Laurentiis Selected by Academia Barilla Italian gourmet product line, designed together with Italian Chef, cookbook author and TV celebrity Giada De Laurentiis, Academia Barilla announces a new expansion of its Italian gourmet food product collection with the release of a number of new food specialty products. These new products include rare regional extra virgin olive oils, tasty sauces and pesto, delicious green olives, an herbaceous herb mix and creamy cheese spreads.

Extra Virgin Olives Oils

The first two products added to the Academia Barilla specialty food collection are two Italian olive oils that enrich the already large collection of Academia Barilla estate bottled Italian extra virgin olive oils.

The new 100% Italian Unfiltered Extra Virgin Olive Oil brings to dishes a very fresh taste, with strong undertones of green grass, Pachino tomatoes and oregano. 

100% Italian Unfiltered is the most natural extra virgin olive oil produced in Italy with innovative methods that surpass traditional centrifuge processes, leaving the oil’s original flavors and properties intact, with no sediments or pulp.

Academia Barilla also added a 100% Italian Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil, one of the few organic olive oils available made from 100% Italian, organic olives, that brings a mild taste to the table, with hints of ripe olive, grass and sweet almonds.

Sauces and Pesto

Academia Barilla’s Italian Tomato Sauce is made from premium quality, exclusive Italian Scarpariello tomato variety grown in the heart of Emilia-Romagna, Italy’s Food Valley.

With an incomparable fresh and sweet flavor enriched with extra virgin olive oil, this all-natural tomato sauce is a traditional, delicious recipe with an intense red color great for a variety of Italian pasta courses.

Another addition to Academia Barilla is a new Academia Barilla Pesto Genovese, a unique non-pasteurized fresh pesto made in the seaside town of San Remo in Liguria with the freshest basil of the Riviera, top quality extra virgin olive oil, Parmigiano Reggiano and whole pine nuts.

Introducing the new Academia Barilla’s bruschetta and pasta toppings!

Academia Barilla Spicy Sicilian Cherry Tomato Topping and its mild version Sicilian Cherry Tomato Topping are two delicious succulent blends of naturally sun dried cherry tomatoes and chili peppers, from the small Sicilian town of Pachino, made following the authentic Sicilian recipe with local sweet tomatoes, fresh basil and hot chili peppers for the spicy version.

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We split the press release here to announce all the other exciting new Academia Barilla gourmet products at the next blog post! For more info about Academia Barilla and the new gourmet food products, please contact Stephanie Sette in the United States by calling +1 847-405-7564, US toll-free 866-772-2233, or emailing ssette@barilla-usa.com.

Stay tuned with Italian Food Lovers and Academia Barilla!

It is official now - we have been talking about the new Academia Barilla line of Italian gourmet products signed by Italian Chef, cookbook writer and TV celebrity Giada De Laurentiis since last november, as we were very excited about it and couldn’t resist the temptation to anticipate the news (after all, this is a blog, we take some liberties as bloggers generally do).

So we introduced Giada’s product line a few months ago, then we tracked her book signing and other events, such as when Giada was featured as special guest of the month at Crate & Barrel, with a first preview and special limited distribution of the Giada De Laurentiis Selected by Academia Barilla line of Italian gourmet specialties.

Last Sunday June 29 Giada De Laurentiis and Academia Barilla organized a great cocktail party in NY as a collateral event for Fancy Food - don’t worry, we will blog about the event as soon as we get a couple of pictures and some gossip.

The NY event served also as an official Academia Barilla announcement of the nationwide distribution and availability of the new Italian gourmet food line (which is of course available also at the Academia Barilla online store) - a very official announcement, to the point that we broadcasted a press release to officialize the news.

You might have seen our press release online, republished via RSS by blogs and news aggregators who are into Italian food as we are, and now it is with great pleasure that we republish the press release also on our beloved Italian Food Lovers blog. The original version of the release is also available online at PRWeb, for our friends journalists and bloggers who need to download attachments and images.

Here we go (integral text from July 1st press release) -

Academia Barilla and Italian Celebrity Chef and Author Giada De Laurentiis Launch Italian Gourmet Line

Academia Barilla and Emmy nominated Italian celebrity chef and cookbook author Giada De Laurentiis launch a range of co-branded, specialty Italian food items for distribution in gourmet stores nationwide.

Bannockburn, IL (July 1, 2008) — Academia Barilla and Emmy nominated celebrity chef and cookbook author Giada De Laurentiis launch a range of co-branded, specialty food items for distribution in gourmet stores nationwide.

Giada De Laurentiis Selected by Academia Barilla® is Barilla’s first-ever gourmet celebrity product line, and offers food connoisseurs an authentic taste of Italy.  Products include Italian Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Balsamic Vinegar of Modena, Sicilian Hand-Harvested Sea Salt with Fresh Lemon Zest, and Giada’s Tuscan Herb Mix, all personally selected by De Laurentiis. Giada De Laurentiis Selected by Academia Barilla® will also be available online at the Academia Barilla online store beginning today, July 1, 2008.

Giada De Laurentiis is host of two popular Food Network cooking shows, a co-host of NBC’s Today show, and author of three New York Times best-selling cookbooks, with two and a half million copies in print. Her most recent book, Everyday Pasta, was released in April 2007. A fourth cookbook, Giada’s Kitchen, will be in bookstores nationwide in Fall 2008. She is the granddaughter of famed Italian movie producer Dino De Laurentiis and legendary actress Silvana Mangano. 

Ms. De Laurentiis was the spokesperson for the Barilla Group’s U.S. Pasta division, appearing in print ad campaigns across the country for the past two years. Her ongoing relationship with the company through Academia Barilla is best described as a natural fit, as both are dedicated to the love of traditional Italian cooking with the best products and ingredients available.

As Giada De Laurentiis says, and reports on the back label of all Giada De Laurentiis Selected by Academia Barilla® products, “I was born in Rome, and I grew up in a large Italian family where the culture of food was an integral part of my life. My relationship with Academia Barilla is an obvious one, combining my love for traditional Italian cooking with the best ingredients available“.

About Academia Barilla - (note: we cut the boilerplate off as our readers already know Academia Barilla, but we leave the press contacts for the United States, just in case)

For more information, please contact Ms. Kim Sayid of Academia Barilla at 866.77.ACADEMIA or 847.405.7524. Visit also the Academia Barilla website and our Italian Food Lovers gourmet blog.

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