Italian Food Lovers

Last week we blogged about the Marco Polo Foundation and the culinary school’s exchange program that allowed a dozen US students to spend 2 weeks at the Academia Barilla Culinary School in Parma, Italy.

Today we want to share with you one of the gourmet recipes the students have been challenged to prepare under the guidance of Academia Barilla Executive Chef Nicola Bindini: Passatelli pasta with prosciutto, rucola, cherry tomatoes and eggplants.

Ready? Let’s go to the kitchen!

PASSATELLI PASTA WITH PROSCIUTTO, RUCOLA, CHERRY TOMATOES AND EGGPLANTS
(a recipe prepared by the Marco Polo students at the Academia Barilla Culinary School)

INGREDIENTS:

For the Passatelli pasta:

- 10.58 oz. breadcrumbs
- 7.05 oz. Academia Barilla Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, grated
- 3.53 oz. Prosciutto di Parma
- 1.41 oz. white flour
- 6 eggs

For the sauce:

- rucola (arucola), 3 bunches
- 1 medium size eggplant
- 3.53 oz. Academia Barilla Cherry tomatoes
- 1.41 oz. peeled almonds
- 1.76 oz. Academia Barilla Parmigiano Reggiano, slivered
- Academia Barilla 100% Italiano Extra Virgin Olive Oil, to taste
- garlic cloves, to taste

PREPARATION
(preparation time 15’)

- Finely mince the prosciutto in order to avoid the meat from sticking in the holes of the utensil for the passatelli.

- Add the minced prosciutto to the other ingredients for the passatelli, and mix them together. Then form the mixture into balls, cover them with wrapper and leave in the fridge.

- Clean the vegetables, cut the tomatoes and take away the seeds. Cut the eggplant into small cubes and brown in a pan with olive oil.

- Put in a blender the rucola, the almonds, the parmigiano, the garlic and the extra virgin olive oil. Mix until creamy.

- Mix the cherry tomatoes with the eggplant and cook the passatelli in salted water or broth.

- Drain and season in a pan with the vegetables and the rucola pesto. Put into dishes and serve.

Let’s start the New Year with a couple of Academia Barilla gourmet recipes, a New Year present sent in by Barilla USA Executive Chef Lorenzo Boni. Chef Boni proposes today a delicious pasta dish, spaghetti with fresh herbs and Academia Barilla Pecorino Gran Cru, followed by a simple but yummy artichoke salad, that make a perfect complement to the pasta dish.

Chef Lorenzo Boni suggests to prepare the artichoke salad in parallel, so that you can be ready to serve a complete light gourmet meal at the same time.

In this cooking session just for friends at the Barilla US headquarters, Chef Boni got some help from Academia Barilla Italian Culinary Specialist and Iron Chef Judge Mario Rizzotti, the guy with wearing in black in the pictures below, who couldn’t resist tasting during preparation!

Ready? Let’s go to the kitchen!

SPAGHETTI WITH FRESH HERBS AND ACADEMIA BARILLA PECORINO GRAN CRU

INGREDIENTS
(serves 4)

- 1 lb of Barilla spaghetti
- 1/2 cup of Academia Barilla Monti Iblei DOP extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 tablespoon of chopped mint
- 1/2 tablespoon of chopped marjoram
- 1/2 tablespoon of chopped chives
- 1 teaspoon of fresh rosemary
- 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
- 1 teaspoon chopped sage
- 1 tablespoons of chopped basil
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- 3/4 cup grated Academia Barilla Pecorino Gran Cru
- 1 tablespoon butter
- salt and pepper to taste

PREPARATION

Boil the pasta according to the directions on the box, but cook it for a 2-3 minutes under the recommended cooking time.

When the pasta is half way cooked, mix all of the herbs together in a small sauté pan with the Academia Barilla Monti Iblei extra virgin olive oil and garlic. Sauté for 1-2 minutes.

When the pasta is ready, drain it, saving 1 cup of the water the pasta was boiled in and add this 1 cup of water to the mixture of herbs in the sauté pan. Then add the drained pasta to the sauté pan and gently mix. Add salt and pepper to taste.

When the water turns into a creamy texture, turn the heat off, and stir in the 3/4 cup of grated Academia Barilla Pecorino Gran Cru and butter. Gently stir.

Plate the pasta and place a few thin shavings of the Academia Barilla Pecorino Gran Cru on the top.

Serve and enjoy!

ARTICHOKE SALAD

INGREDIENTS
(serves 4)

- 4 medium sized artichokes
- 1 medium lemon
- Academia Barilla Black Olive Sicilian Sea Salt
- 1/2 cup Academia Barilla Monti Iblei DOP extra virgin olive oil
- 4-6 ounces of shaved slices of Academia Barilla Pecorino Gran Cru
- pepper to taste

PREPARATION

Wash, clean (removing the outer layer) and cut the artichokes in half. Slice the lemon in half and squeeze the juice into a medium sized ceramic or glass bowl.

Remove the center of the artichoke and discard. With the remaining artichoke, slice thinly and place in the ceramic bowl (the lemon juice will keep the artichoke from discoloring). Mix the cut artichokes in the lemon juice and drain.

Add the Academia Barilla Monti Iblei DOP extra virgin olive oil, a few pinches of Academia Barilla Black Olive Sicilian Sea Salt and pepper to taste.

Plate the artichoke salad and place a few shavings of the Academia Barilla Pecorino Gran Cru on top.

Serve and enjoy!

Today’s recipe from the Academia Barilla / Lamborghini New Year’s Eve gourmet menu by Chef Lorenzo Boni is a traditional entree: Ravioli with Academia Barilla Pecorino Gran Cru and Veal sauce.

Barilla USA Executive Chef Lorenzo Boni designed the entire menu taking inspiration from Lamborghini vehicles to create each dish, and today’s ravioli are inspired by the sporty Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera.

RAVIOLI WITH ACADEMIA BARILLA PECORINO GRAN CRU AND VEAL SAUCE
(a recipe by Chef Lorenzo Boni)

INGREDIENTS for the pasta

- 1 lb flour
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 egg
- water

INGREDIENTS for the filling
- 1 lb ricotta
- 1/2 cup Academia Barilla Parmigiano Reggiano, grated
- 1 tablespoon parsley, chopped
- salt and pepper to taste

INGREDIENTS for veal sauce

- 2 lbs veal bones
- 3 stalks celery
- 1 carrot
- 1 onion
- 1 quart white wine
- black pepper to taste

VEAL SAUCE PREPARATION

Brown the veal bones in the oven at 450F, adding chopped vegetables.

Let brown, deglaze with wine and reduce to half, add 1 quart of water and let cook until reduced again.

Filter through a thin colander. If needed, thicken up with a little corn starch.

RAVIOLI PREPARATION

Prepare the dough and let rest for a few hours.

Prepare the filling by mixing all the ingredients.

Make the ravioli about 1 inch diameter.

Cook in salted water. Sauté with butter and a little chicken stock.

Serve with shaved Academia Barilla Pecorino Gran Cru and reduced veal sauce drizzled on top.

WINE PAIRING TIPS
You need a good red wine to fully enjoy these delicious ravioli. You should try Ruffino ‘Il Ducale’, Toscana 2003.

More Lamborghini-inspired New Year’s Eve recipes will ride our blog tomorrow, with Chef Lorenzo Boni’s triumphal NYE main course: Pork tenderloin “bocconcini” wrapped in Prosciutto di Parma, drizzled with Balsamic Must and accompanied with baby greens. Tomorrow’s dish is inspired to the massive Lamborghini Murcielago LP640, an icon in the history of automotive.

Don’t speed. Don’t tailgate. Don’t drink and drive. Stay tuned with Italian Food Lovers!

Quick note for all the Italian food lovers in the Miami Area - this weekend Academia Barilla Italian Culinary Specialist Costantino Cicchelli will represent Academia Barilla at Laurenzo’s 22nd Holiday Food, Champagne & Wine Tasting, the now classic pre-Christmas gourmet event in North Beach Miami. Here below a picture of last year’s event.

Costantino Cicchelli will be your cheese tasting host at Laurenzo’s Italian Gourmet Market in Miami next Saturday December 8th, offering to the Miami gourmands samples of Pecorino Dolce, Pecorino Gran Cru, as well as some tasting and cooking tips on how to use the new line of Academia Barilla Natural Sea Salt.

Ask Costantino about the Academia Barilla VIP program, he will be glad to give you detailed info, and sign you in. We will be talking soon about the Academia Barilla VIP program, too.

Laurenzo’s 22nd Holiday Food, Champagne & Wine Tasting is an evening event, starting at 7.30pm, and closing at 10.30pm.
We suggest to buy the entry tickets in advance, as they are sold at $44 advance, $55 at the door - call +1 (305) 945-6381 to get your advance tickets before the event goes sold out!

Address to Laurenzo’s Italian Gourmet Market and the 22nd Holiday Food, Champagne & Wine Tasting is 16385 W Dixie Hwy, Miami, FL 33160 - here is a Google Map to make things easier for you and help you with driving directions. See you in North Beach!

View Larger Map on Google Map

The Verdi Festival 2007, dedicated to the famous Italian opera composer and director Giuseppe Verdi by the City of Parma, Italy, closed yesterday October 31, after a month-long of opera shows and collateral events dedicated to the Italian Maestro.

The Festival has has been a triumph, not only because all the shows, including some of the most famous Italian Operas such as La Traviata, Aida, Rigoletto and Luise Miller, were sold out; the collateral events, in which Academia Barilla was fully involved, have been looked after and talked about as some of the most precious moments of the Festival.

The gourmet side of the Festival has been crafted to art, also in honor to Maestro Verdi, who was a notorious gourmet foodie - if he were among us now, sure he would be reading Italian Food Lovers!

Giuseppe Verdi, son of an osteria owner, knew several traditional recipes and is known for giving detailed instructions to her lifetime cook Ermelinda Berni, so that she could excel in both cooking and presentation.

Academia Barilla, who dedicates part of its commitment in the promotion of traditional Italian gastronomy, created in 2004 the first and more comprehensive Gastronomic Library in the world, with more than 8,000 titles (same of which very rare and dating back to the 17th century) dedicated to the Italian food culture, but actually embracing a worldwide knowledge on culinary, gastronomy, and food culture.

Giancarlo Gonizzi, the responsible and creator of Academia Barilla’s Gastronomic Library, honored Giuseppe Verdi at the Verdi Festival with a dedicated exhibition of traditional recipes from the Verdi times, that actually got prepared and presented to the Festival guests by amazing Chefs of the Academia Barilla Culinary School.

Academia Barilla Chef Roberto Ronzoni, here in the picture, guided a team of gourmet Chef from the Culinary school to prepare incredible historic menus for the Verdi Festival, including typical dishes known to be among the Maestro’s favorites.
Reporter Maria Celeste Crucilla’, from the popular Italian magazine Oggi, wrote a very nice article last week about the historic menu created by the Academia Barilla team for the Verdi Festival.

Among the several creations of the Academia Barilla team for the Verdi Festival, we would like to talk about three of them, Verdi’s favorite dishes: Mortified Wild Duck (Faraona Mortificata), Flan with Spalla Cotta (Flan with Cooked Ham), and Cacio Bavarese (Bavarian Cheese Dessert).

The Mortified Wild Duck (Faraona Mortificata) gets its name from the fact that the Faraona (Wild duck) would have been hung from his feet for a few days to macerate, before getting stuffed with Parmigiano-Reggiano, eggs, crumbled bread, Prosciutto di Parma, Italian parsley, basil, salt and pepper.

Flan with Spalla Cotta (Flan with Cooked Ham) definitly was the Maestro’s favorite dish. The flan is made with Parmigiano-Reggiano, and the ham, in the traditional recipe, is the typical “Spalla di San Secondo“, a special cut from the pork’s shoulder that is generally served in thin slices.

Giuseppe Verdi was so passionate about this dish that he would always bring it as a present to his close friends, and teaching them how to make it according to the traditional recipe. In a letter from April 27, 1872, to his friend Conte Oprandino Arrivabene, Giuseppe Verdi gives all the instructions on how to cook the ham at its best:

“Before cooking it on the fire, you must take most of the salt off, just leave the ham for two hours in water. Then boil it on fire, in a pot filled with water. Slow-flame cook it for 6 hours, then leave it resting in his soup until cold. When cold, take the ham from the pot, dry it, and eat it”.

Cacio Bavarese (Bavarian Cheese Dessert) is also known as The Bishop’s Flan, and traditionally made with finger biscuits (Savoiardi, try the Pavesini, also a classic main ingredient for Tiramisu’, at our online shop). Savoiardi get soaked in white wine from the Parma hills and Ron, then alternated with vanilla-chocolate cream and cherry marmalate. To be served with a zabaglione cream like your (Italian) mother used to make!

See you at the next Verdi Festival in Parma, October 2008! We will be surely talking a lot about it next year, as we did this year!