Italian Food Lovers

Happy Thanksgiving from Academia Barilla and Italian Food Lovers! We wish you and your families a nice and warm family day around some of the best traditional and innovative culinary eats of the year (at least in the United States, as in Italy we have several occasions to indulge in gourmet food all along the year!).

As you have noticed, this week we celebrated Turkey Day proposing a lot of gourmet recipes from our Italian Food Lovers Chef Network, but none of them with turkey! Well, we published a recipe for the tratitional Thanksgiving roasted turkey, but we left our guest Chef free to propose alternative, innovative Thanksgiving recipes.

Today we have with us Chef Doug D’Avico of Trattoria n. 10 in Chicago with a new Thanksgiving gourmet creation: Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Cinnamon and Orange Zest. Ready? let’s go to the kitchen!

SWEET POTATO GNOCCHI WITH CINNAMON AND ORANGE ZEST
A recipe by Chef Doug D’Avico
(serves 4-6)

INGREDIENTS

- 3 lbs light fleshed Sweet Potatoes
- 1/8 cup good quality ricotta, drained
- 1/8 cup Academia Barilla Pecorino Gran Cru, grated
- 1 ea large egg
- 1/2 tablespoon Academia Barilla Sicilian Sea Salt with Orange Zest
- 1/4 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 tablespoon nutmeg
- 3-4 cups unbleached all purpose flour
- 1 orange
- 1 medium size leek, white part only
- 2 tablespoon cinnamon-sugar mixture
- 3 tablespoon european style butter
- 2-3 tablespoon Academia Barilla Riviera Ligure Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- some fresh herbs for plate garnishing

PREPARATION

Take the 3 sweet potato, wash the outside well and bake in a 375 degree F oven till soft to the touch, remove from the oven and let cool. When the potatoes are cool enough to handle remove the skins and put the flesh though a potato ricer to break up any large clumps and place into a large enough bowl to mix all the ingredients in.

Mix all the ingredients, except for the flour, into the sweet potato and combine well with your hand.
Take 2 cups of the flour and fold into the sweet potato mix half a cup at a time, making sure the flour is thoroughly incorporated before adding the next 1/2 cup. Check the dough it should be a little sticky, if it is too wet add a 1/4 cup more flour and mix. Wrap and let rest in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.

After resting take the remaining flour and use some to dust the work surface. Take the dough out of the bowl and place on the floured surface, sprinkle a little more flour over top and knead a few times so you can handle the dough.

Flatten the dough out to about 3/4 of an inch and cut strips every 3/4 of an inch and then roll each strip a little bit to round out the corners, set a side and finish the rest of the dough. Use a little more flour if the dough starts to stick to the table. Use a damp towel to cover the dough strips while you work.

Have a corn meal coated tray ready to store the gnocchi’s on after they are cut. Using a small knife cut the strips into 3/4 inch pieces and you can use either the back of a fork or a gnocchi board to roll the gnocchi off of or just take your finger and poke a little indentation into each one and then place on the corn meal coated tray.

Finish the batch and then freeze the gnocchi or cook and serve.

To serve bring a large pan of salted water to a boil. In the mean time while you are waiting for the water to boil, remove the root end of the leek and cut the leek on a bias about 1/4 of an inch thick until you get to the green part, discard or use for homemade stock. Separate the layers of the leek and wash under cold water to remove any sand set aside.

Using a zester, zest 1 orange and set a side. Preheat a 12 inch sauté pan and warm over medium heat, when hot add 1/2 the butter and add the washed leeks to the melted butter, do not let the butter burn, and cook for about 3-5 minutes or until the leeks are tender season with a little salt and pepper and remove from the pan set aside. Remove the pan from the heat.

Check the seasoning in the pot of boiling water and adjust with the salt to taste. When the water is at a rolling boil add the gnocchi and stir well so they don’t stick to the bottom of the pan. They will take about 5-8 minutes and are usually done about 30 seconds after they start floating. Just before they are done put the large sauté and back on the fire over medium high heat.

Drain the gnocchi and add to the sauté pan with the remaining butter. The pan should be nice and hot as you will want to add a little bit of color to the gnocchi. Cook for about 3 minutes then add the cooked leeks and cook for 2-4 more minutes and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar and add the orange zest and mix well, pour into a serving bowl and garnish the plate with fresh herbs, just before serving drizzle the Academia Barilla olive oil over the whole dish. Serve immediately. You can serve some extra Academia Barilla Pecorino Gran Cru on the side.

Thank you Chef D’Avico for this yummy Thanksgiving recipe. Thanks again also to Chef Tony Mantuano and Chef Mark Grimes for the gourmet recipe shared with us this week. Thank you also to our friends at BIGAB, the Academia Barilla Gastronomic Library, for providing us with the traditional Thanksgiving roasted turkey recipe!

And again, Happy Thanksgiving to all Italian food lovers from Academia Barilla and our Italian Food Lovers blog team!

We run out of recipes from the Chicago Botanic Garden’s Garden Chef Series and the Barilla Italian Cooking Weekend, at least for this year - next year we’ll make sure to have one of our bloggers from the Italian Food Lovers editorial team on site, so we can actually video the Chef demos and interview the Chefs (not while they demo, of course).

First of all, we would like to say thank you to Barilla USA’s Chef Lorenzo Boni, Trattoria N. 10’s Chef Doug D’Avico, Francesca Restaurants’ Executive Chef Laura Piper, Pinstripes’ Chef Mark Grimes and Mado’s Chef Rob Levitt for sharing their recipes with us. Thank you again, see you again on Italian Food Lovers!

Just to recap, this year we had the pleasure to publish on Italian Food Lovers recipes for 7 gourmet dishes. Did you try any of them at home? 

• Sautéed Wild Mushrooms Bruschetta
• Grilled Baby Octopus with Watercress Salad and Oranges
• Farfalle Piccolini Pasta Salad
• Linguine Fagottaro Pasta Salad
• Lobster Bread Salad
• Chicken Parmesan with Campanelle Pasta
• Grilled Peach and Prosciutto with Parmigiano-Reggiano and Bulsamic Must

Also, we have to say thank you to Stephanie Sette from the Academia Barilla USA Marketing Team (in the picture above) for getting all the content together for us (she does it all the time with the US events content, by the way) and of course also to Academia Barilla Italian Culinary Specialist Mario Rizzotti, who has been conducing several rounds of educational and tasting demos during the Barilla Italian Cooking Weekend.

In these pictures taken during the Barilla Italian Cooking Weekend Mario Rizzotti shares his Italian culinary knowledge with the show participants, teaching them how to professionally taste some of the best Italian gourmet products, such Italian extra virgin olive oils and traditional Italian cheese specialties such as Parmigiano-Reggiano and the several varieties of Pecorino, from Sardinian Pecorino Dolce to Pecorino Toscano DOP and Pecorino Sardo Gran Cru. Follow the link to see more pictures of Mario Rizzotti’s tasting demos at the Chicago Botanic Garden.

A final thank you goes of course also to all the guests and visitors and participated to the Chicago’s Chef show. If you liked the Italian cooking and Italian food culture you experienced at the Chicago Botanic Garden, you now you can find it also here on Italian Food Lovers all year round!

Also remember that you can experience the flavor and taste of Academia Barilla’s Italian gourmet food specialties all year round too, they are all available at the Academia Barilla online store, where you can also find Italian cookbooks, Chef tools, Italian gastronomy gift boxes and gift certificates!

More recipes from our Italian Food Lovers Chef Network. After yesterday’s wrongly attributed recipe, here is a new recipe from Chef Doug D’Avico of Trattoria N. 10 in Chicago.

Chef D’Avico today shares with us another recipe from the Chicago Botanic Garden show: Grilled Baby Octopus with Watercress Salad and Oranges. But since Chef D’Avico is also a Guest Chef participating to the Italian Food Lovers Chef Network, this time we file this post under the Chef Network category.

GRILLED BABY OCTOPUS WITH WATERCRESS SALAD AND ORANGES
A recipe by Chef Doug D’Avico
(serves 8)

INGREDIENTS

- 2 lb Tenderized baby octopus
- 4 limes, juiced
- 1 cup Academia Barilla Monti Iblei Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 1/8 tablespoon Crushed Red Chili Flake
- 2 tablespoon Italian Flat Leaf Parsley, chopped
- 1 tablespoon Rosemary, no stem, chopped
- Fresh Ground Black Pepper, to taste
- 1 Bunch Hydro or Organic Watercress, Trimmed
- 1/2 Head washed Radicchio leaves
- 2 Oranges, segmented and juices saved
- 1/4 cup Toasted pine nuts
- Academia Barilla Sea Salt flavored with Blood Orange, to taste

PREPARATION

Remove the head and beak from the octopus and put into a metal bowl.

To make the dressing, take the juice from the limes, olive oil, chili flake and chopped parsley and rosemary, combine and season to taste. 

Pour one third over the octopus and cover. Refrigerate for a couple of hours. Before grilling, drain any liquid off the octopus so you don’t cause a flare up on the grill.

You can season the octopus before you grill it. Grill the octopus over a medium high heat and weight it down a little bit so it gets a little bit of char.

To serve, arrange the watercress and radicchio in the center of a serving platter. Cut the octopus up in small pieces and pile in the center of the greens. Garnish the plate with the pine nuts and orange segments. Drizzle the salad

With the rest of the dressing, add a little bit of the Monti Iblei olive oil and fresh ground pepper, and a pinch of Academia Barilla Sea Salt flavored with Blood Orange. Serve.

Thank you Chef D’Avico for this new recipe and sorry again for yesterday gaffe!

We look forward to having you again as guest at our Italian Food Lovers Chef Network!

We did a terrible mistake at the Italian Food Lovers Editorial Team. We got a bulk of very good content from the Chicago Botanic Garden’s Chef show, and we messed up with recipes and their attribution to the Chefs participating to the Barilla Italian Cooking Weekend.

Yesterday we published a recipe for a yummy Sautéed Wild Mushroom Bruschetta, and we said it was a recipe from Barilla USA Executive Chef Lorenzo Boni, while the recipe is actually from Chef Doug D’Avico from Trattoria N. 10 in Chicago, a friend and Guest Chef at the Italian Food Lover Chef Network.

Chef D’Avico, pictured here above with Stefanie Sette from the Academia Barilla USA Marketing Team, participated to the Garden Chef Series at the Chicago Botanic Garden and shared with us two recipes he performed at the Chicago show: the Sautéed Wild Mushroom Bruschetta, and a yummy Grilled Baby Octopus with Watercress Salad and Oranges that we’ll publish very soon - stay tuned!

We apologize to Chef D’Avico for the mess, and also of course to all our readership and, last but not least, to Chef Lorenzo Boni, who also sent us a couple of recipes that we will publish in the next days.

At this point, we’ll republish the recipe again, also with the image sent us by Stephanie with the actual dish prepared by Chef D’Avico in Chicago.

SAUTEED WILD MUSHROOM BRUSCHETTA

A recipe by Chef Doug D’Avico
(serves 4)

INGREDIENTS

- 8 oz Wild Mushrooms, cleaned and trimmed of any fibrous ends
- 1/2 ea Medium sized sweet onion, julienne
- 3 tablespoon Unsalted Butter
- 2 fl oz Academia Barilla Riviera Ligure Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 3 fl oz Sweet Marsala
- 1 cup Heavy Whipping Cream
- 1 ea Good quality Baguette
- Academia Barilla Pecorino Sardo, shaved
- 1 tub Truffle Spread
- Fresh thyme leaves for garnish
- Sea salt to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper to taste

PREPARATION

Pre-heat a 12” sauté pan over med high heat till hot. Add the cleaned mushrooms and tablespoon of the butter and cook till the mushrooms are soft and are starting to release their water. Cook for 3 minutes longer and then add the sliced onions.

Add the remaining tablespoon of butter, season with a little salt and pepper and continue cooking for 3-5 minutes over the med high heat and cook till the onions start to caramelize. Do not burn.

You want to cook the mushrooms and onions till the liquid is all most evaporated. Remove the pan from the heat and add the Marsala carefully as the alcohol will catch on fire when you return it to the stove.

Reduce the Marsala by 2/3 and then add the cream. Bring to a boil and reduce to a sauce consistency, about 2 to 3 minutes. Check the seasoning and remove from the heat keeping the sauce warm till ready to use.

Cut 8 pieces of bread from the baguette about 1/2 inch thick on a 45 degree bias.

Toss the bread with a little splash of olive oil, salt and pepper. You can toast the bread in a hot oven or grill for a couple of minutes to warm the bread.

Next smear some of the Pecorino Sardo cheese on each piece of bread and sprinkle a few fresh thyme leaves on top.

Arrange 2 pieces of bread per plate and divide the mushroom sauce over the four plates. Drizzle a small amount of the olive oil over each plate and few thyme leaves and serve immediately.

Thank you Chef D’Avico for this easy-to-prepare gourmet recipe, and sorry again!!!

We will publish the second recipe from Chef D’Avico at the Chicago Botanic Garden’s Garden Chef Series soon!

Welcome back to the Italian Food Lovers Chef Network! Today our Guest Chef Doug D’Avico from Trattoria N. 10 in Chicago, shares with us another gourmet recipe: Polenta with Ragu of Crayfish, Tomatoes and Curry.

As you might remember, Chef D’Avico’s favorite food is seafood, so it was no surprise that he sent us this fish gourmet creation, after sharing with us the recipe for a mouthwatering Octopus Carpaccio.

We are also very curious to taste Chef D’Avico’s gourmet twist in Italian cuisine, due to the strong and spicy presence of curry in a traditional Italian dish such as polenta, a classic alternative to pasta from Northern Italy, made of boiled cornmeal.

Are you ready for cooking? You can print this recipe or take your laptop to the kitchen, here we go!

POLENTA WITH RAGU OF CRAYFISH, TOMATOES AND CURRY
A recipe by Chef Doug D’Avico
(serves 4-6)

INGREDIENTS
For the polenta:

- 1/2 cup organic course ground corn meal
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 3 tablespoon Academia Barilla 100% Italian organic extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/4 cup grated Academia Barilla Parmigiano Reggiano

For the sauce:

- 1 lb. cleaned and cooked crayfish tails
- 4 oz. fresh corn kernels, cut off the cob or use frozen
- 4 oz. pancetta or smoked bacon, diced small
- 1/2 small sweet onion, cleaned and thinly sliced
- 1 clove of garlic, chopped
- 1/2 cup dry white Wine
- 1/2 tablespoon curry powder
- 28 oz. can Academia Barilla Peeled Cherry Tomatoes
- 2 tablespoon butter
- kosher salt, to taste
- freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- crush red chili flakes, just a pinch
- marjoram leaves, for garnish

PREPARATION

First start the polenta, bring the water and chicken stock to a boil. While constantly stirring, slowly add the polenta to the boiling liquid, this way you will not form any lumps. Reduce the heat to a simmer. Be careful as to not splat the hot liquid as it could cause a severe burn.

You will have to stir often so that the polenta cooks evenly and to prevent it from burning on the bottom of the pot. The polenta will take around 45 minuets and will be finished when the polenta has the consistency of oatmeal.

Next add the olive oil and Parmigiano, season to taste with salt and pepper. Drizzle a little bit of oil on top so a skin does not form and cover till ready to serve.

While you are making the polenta you can start the ragu. In a 2 quarter sauce pan, render out the pancetta until it starts to brown. Drain off half of the fat and add the garlic and onions. Using a med heat you are going to brown the onion to form the sauce without burning them.

After the onions are browned, add the curry and the white wine. Bring to a boil and reduce the wine by a third.

Crush the tomatoes with your hands and add to the sauce, add the corn, bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium and stir then cook until the sauce reduces by a third or is about the consistency of a tomato sauce. Make sure you are stirring the sauce often so that nothing sticks to the bottom of the pan and burns.

When the sauce is at the right consistency add the butter and season with salt and pepper to taste. At this point you can adjust the curry taste or add a small pinch of crushed red chilies and add the crayfish. Bring to a boil to heat the crayfish check the flavor one more time and simmer for 2-3 minuets and then get ready to serve.

To serve, make sure your polenta is still warm by stirring in the oil on top and rechecking your seasoning. Divide between the serving plates and then spoon the ragu over the polenta. Garnish with some fresh marjoram leaves and serve.

Buon Appetito from Chef Doug D’Avico, Academia Barilla, and Italian Food Lovers!

Thank you Chef Doug, we look forward to get other gourmet recipes and top Chef tips in the next months!