Italian Food Lovers

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’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!

Last December 2, Academia Barilla partnered with Italian automaker and cultural icon Lamborghini for a special event that offered Barilla USA Executive Chef Lorenzo Boni the challenge of designing a VIP menu inspired by the most famous Lamborghini car models.

Luxury food pleasure meets luxury driving pleasure in this exclusive Academia Barilla-Lamborghini gourmet menu enriched with some of the most popular Academia Barilla products.

We believe that an exclusive gourmet menu like this would be the perfect choice also for any Italian food (and car) lover’s New Year’s Eve dinner menu, so we had Chef Lorenzo Boni provide all the recipes for your end-of-the-year cooking pleasure.

All right, you would have preferred the Lamborghini, we know… this is Italian Food Lovers, and we can surely offer you the food pleasure, but unfortunately not the driving pleasure…

Appetizer: Diablo
Octopus and Potato salad topped with Academia Barilla Monti Iblei extra virgin olive oil
Wine pairing: La Solatia Chardonnay 2005

Soup: Gallardo Spyder
Borlotti beans and Porcini mushroom soup with barley and Academia Barilla Toscano extra virgin olive oil
Wine pairing: Borgo Conventi Pinot Grigio 2006

Entree: Gallardo Superleggera
Ravioli filled with fresh Ricotta and Academia Barilla Parmigiano Reggiano topped with Academia Barilla Pecorino Gran Cru
Wine pairing: Ruffino ‘Il Ducale’ Toscana 2003

Main Course: Murcielago LP640
Pork tenderloin “bocconcini” wrapped in Academia Barilla Prosciutto di Parma drizzled with Academia Barilla Balsamic Must, accompanied with baby greens
Wine pairing: Lodola Nuova Vino Nobile di Montepulciano 2003

Dessert: Islero
Homemade biscotti Cantucci and Ciambella
Wine pairing: Ruffino “Serelle” Vin Santo 2003

Let’s start with the first recipe from Chef Lorenzo Boni’s Lamborghini menu; the dish is a classic Sicilian appetizer, Octopus and potato salad, inspired by the mighty Lamborghini Diablo.

OCTOPUS AND POTATO SALAD
(a recipe by Chef Lorenzo Boni)

INGREDIENTS

- 1 octopus 2 lbs approx
- 1 white onion
- 1 tablespoon chives
- 2 medium Idaho potatoes
- 1 lemon jus
- Academia Barilla Natural Sicilian Sea Salt with Black Olives to taste
- Academia Barilla Monti Iblei Extra Virgin Olive Oil to taste
- black pepper to taste

PREPARATION

Boil the octopus in salted water and onion for about 1/2 hour or until tender. Take the skin off and cut in small pieces.

Meanwhile cube the potatoes, boil in salted water. Combine with octopus, season with salt, pepper, chopped chives, lemon jus, oil.

Serve at room temperature.

WINE PAIRING TIPS

Enjoy this fresh entry salad with a Chardonnay, we suggest La Solatia Chardonnay 2005.

Sure you already know you shouldn’t drink and drive - we also advice not to eat and drive, especially if the dish is a superb appetizer like this, and you are driving a Lamborghini Diablo…

Next recipe from this menu (tomorrow) is the Borlotti beans and Porcini mushroom soup inspired by the Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder. Make sure not to miss it, subscribe to our RSS feed!

Last installment for the Academia Barilla Christmas Recipe Series, and time for a dessert. This post is about a classic Italian dessert, Zuppa Inglese (in English, English Soup).

We had some doubts about the translation of the name of this traditional Italian dessert into English, so we searched the Wikipedia that reports three different sources:

“The name translates literally in Italian as English soup and may in fact connote its similarly to English trifle. Others believe it is a dialectical corruption of the verb inzuppare, meaning to soup.” — Dictionary of Italian Food and Drink, John Mariani [Broadway Books:New York] 1998 (p. 286)

“A dessert invented by Neapolitan pastry cooks of Europe during the 19th century [sic]. Inspired by English puddings that were fashionable [sic] at the time, . . . ” — Larousse Gastromique, Completely Updated and Revised [Clarkson Potter:New York] 2001 (p. 1310)

“A dukedom, a country palace, and this rich dessert were among the many tributes bestowed on Lord Nelson by the grateful Neapolitans after his victory over Napoleon in the Nile in 1798. “English Soup,” as it was called, was the creation of an anonymous pastry cook smitten with the admiral, the English, and their spirit-soaked Trifles.” — The Horizon Cookbook and Illustrated History of Eating and Drinking through the Ages, American Heritage [Doubleday:New York] 1968 (p. 710)

We realized that Wikipedia doesn’t have the recipe for this yummy dessert, so we will definitely publish the Zuppa Inglese recipe there too!

The dessert is composed by a base of spongy cake and a pastry cream, with the addition of a final liquid preparation that uses Alchermes (or Alkermes), a typical liquor from Florence prepared by infusing neutral spirits with sugar, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, vanilla, and other herbs and flavoring agents.

Its most striking characteristic is its vivid scarlet color, obtained by the addition of Kermes, hence its name. Due to the fact that Alchermes is also a strong anti-oxidant, it was considered a long life elixir (elisir di lunga vita) in Medieval Florence.

We will publish here below the three steps separately to help you spot the right ingredients for the right preparation.

ENGLISH SOUP
(serves 10)

PASTRY CREAM INGREDIENTS

- 4 cups milk
- 8 egg yolks and 1 whole egg
- 2 cups sugar
- 8 cups flour
- 5 oz dark chocolate

PASTRY CREAM PREPARATION

Boil the milk in a medium pot; at the same time, in a separate bowl, beat the eggs with the sugar. Add the flour and beat again.

Add the boiling milk and put it over the flame, and let boil, stirring constantly with the whisk. Let it cool quickly.

To add a little flavor try adding vanilla, rum, or chocolate, changing the proportions of flour, according to uses.

PAN DI SPAGNA INGREDIENTS

- 4 1/2 cups “00″ flour (double zero) (sifted)
- 1 cup potato starch
- 10 eggs
- 8 Eggs yolk
- 4 1/2 cups sugar

PAN DI SPAGNA PREPARATION

Beat the eggs with the sugar. Add the potato starch and sifted flour.
Put it in a greased pan with butter and flour and bake at 350 ° F.

BAGNA ALCHERMES INGREDIENTS

- 1 cup water
- 1 cup sugar
- 2.5 fl oz. Alchermes (liquor)

BAGNA ALCHERMES PREPARATION

Bring the water to a boil, melt the sugar in it; when it cools down, add the Alchermes.

FINAL DESSERT PREPARATION STEP

When the cream is ready, divide it in two bowls and add dark chocolate in one bowl.

Cut the sponge-like cake into slices of about 3 mm. In another pan, make a bottom with the cake and wet it with the liquid Alchermes mixture.

Spread a layer of yellow pastry cream, then a layer of sponge-like cake, and wet it again, add another layer of chocolate pastry cream, and another layer of wet sponge-like cake. Prepare 4/6 cream layers.

Let it rest in the fridge for at least 2 hours, then serve and enjoy.

We hope you enjoyed our Christmas Recipes Series, and got the complete Academia Barilla Christmas Menu: Chicken Galantine with Pistachio Nuts (appetizer), Herbs Tortelli (entree), Cotechino in Galera (main course), and today’s Zuppa Inglese (dessert), all traditional Italian recipes. Let us know if you prepared any of our recipes, we would love to hear from you, leave us a comment or your Christmas wishes below!

MERRY CHRISTMAS from Academia Barilla and Italian Food Lovers!

This month Academia Barilla committed to provide you with a full Christmas Gourmet menu and, after the Chicken Galantine (appetizer) and the Herbs Tortelli (entree), it is now time for our Christmas main course: Cotechino in Galera.

A typical Modena recipe, the Cotechino in Galera (its English translation would be Pig Hoof in Jail) is a meat roll made of beef and ham, wrapped inside a pig hoof, and cooked halfway in meat broth and red wine, usually Lambrusco. Here are ingredients and preparation steps.

COTECHINO IN GALERA
(a traditional Modena recipe)

INGREDIENTS

- 1 cotechino/ pig hoof approx. 13 oz
- 1 slice of veal (1/4″ height and about 11 oz weight)
- two slices of ham cut rather thick
- half onion
- 3 tablespoons oil
- broth and lambrusco to cover the meat roll

PREPARATION

Boil the cotechino (pig hoof) until it’s cooked halfway; let it cool, and then carefully remove the skin.

Lay the slice of veal and cover it with two thick slices of ham.

Place the cotechino in the middle and wrap it up firmly in the meat slice; stitch it with white thread.

In an earthenware, terracotta pot with high edges, brown the finely chopped half onion with three tablespoons of oil.

As it browns, add the meat roll, cover the meat roll with half the meat broth and half of the Lambrusco, just about to slightly cover the meat roll, not above. Cook slowly; keep covered for about 1 hour.

Remove the meat, cut the twine and slice the roll. Let the sauce thicken and the pour it over the cotechino and serve.

For the cotechino to boil and cook properly, it’s advisable to punch two or three points with the prong of a fork. Then wrap it in a wet canvas, binding the edges and place in cold water. In this way, simmer slowly; complete cooking time will take 1 1/2 to 2 hours, depending on the seasoning.

WINE PAIRING TIPS

Serve this robust main course with a robust red wine such as Lambrusco Ariola or Barbera Chiarlo.