Category: recipes of Italian cuisine

Valley of the Temples: the Wine Route is born – Italian Cuisine

In the lands of Nero d'Avola, in the shadow of the temples of Agrigento, the Wine and Flavors Route is born, to promote a new tourist offer that focuses on the oenological and olive-growing heritage of this corner of south-western Sicily

The association – officially presented during an official ceremony held in the heart of the Archaeological Park – brings together 14 cellars, 6 oil mills and different farms is accommodation facilities in the province of Agrigento and Caltanissetta.

At the head of the association Wine and flavors route of the Valley of the Temples There are Fabio Gulotta, as director, e Luigi Bonsignore as president: "In Italy, on average, 17 million tourists arrive, attracted by the food and wine sector, of which 90% are for wine, generating economic flows of around five billion euros. The South perceives less than 7% that from Lazio down is spread in eight other regions, all the rest remains confined between Tuscany, Piedmont and Trentino Alto Adige. The difference is not only in the numbers, but in the different marketing strategies, which is why the first real goal of this association will be to make incoming. These lands are very suitable for the production of Nero d'Avola and it is no coincidence that our wines represent the best expression of varietal. Our mission ", concludes the director," will not only be to bring this grape into fashion, but link it to the Valle dei Templi brand and to all the monumental and landscape beauties found along the 250 kilometers of road ".

And it is precisely in the name of the Valley of the Temples that lies the true strength of the newly formed Strada del Vino, considering both its attractive potential (from 550 thousand visitors in 2012 to 950 thousand registered in 2018) and the strong link with wine production since ancient times: in fact there are two structures that in the first century. B.C. were intended for processing grapes. Not to mention the Diodoros project launched by the CVA Canicattì Cooperative which the Park Authority entrusted with managing the 4 hectares of Nerello Mascalese, Nerello Cappuccio and Nero d'Avola under the Tempio di Giunone vineyard: part of the proceeds from the sale of the wine produced (about 3 thousand bottles a year) are used for redevelopment of the Valley.

In 2020, on the occasion of the celebrations for the 2600 years from the foundation of the city of Akragas (Agrigento), the first traveling event along the Via Sacra, or a wine tour focused on the Nero d’Avola through the associated wineries that will take place in the first weekend of June. In view of this date, the Wine Route is already at work for the installation of clean energy arranged along the route and at the associates for charging cars, bikes and electric scooters.

The member companies of the Valle dei Templi Wine Route are: Milazzo, Baglio del Cristo of Campobello, Cva Canicattì, Vitivinicola Lombardo, Sicania Winery, Baglio Bonsignore, Tenute Cuffaro, Prince of Aragona, Bagliesi Vito, Morreale Farm, Azienda agricola Giuseppe Camilleri, Val Paradiso, Lombardo wines agricultural society, Farm Vella Gabriella, Luna Sicana, Farm Salamone, Grottarossa Wines, Agricultural Company Carla Sala, Agricultural Company Relais Terre di Zaccanello and Fattoria Vassallo.

For more information: www.stradadelvinovalledeitempli.it

How to prepare a perfect batter: two recipes – Italian Cuisine

One with eggs (suitable for fish and vegetable tempura), the other without. And then the advice to make it perfect

With very few ingredients and a few minutes you can prepare an extraordinarily crunchy batter to wrap vegetables, fruit or fish.

In order not to be too heavy or worse, too greasy, you must, however, follow some small precautions.

Here, then, are our suggestions for preparing the perfect batter.

You can follow two recipes: one with eggs and one without

The first is faster and goes well with delicate preparations such as fish and vegetable tempura.
Instead, the batter with eggs is perfect with cheese or fruit.

For the batter without eggs you simply have to mix 100 gr of flour with 240 ml of very cold gaseous liquid by hand. You can use water or beer. Add the liquid paste flush until the consistency is as thick as you wish. Add salt or sugar depending on the type of preparation.
For a very light batter, replace the 00 flour with rice flour.
Then you can simply pass the vegetables cut into strips or the fish into the batter and fry in hot oil.

For the batter with eggsinstead, you will need 1 medium egg, 80 g of 00 flour, 100 ml of milk.
Divide the yolk from the albumen.
Beat the egg yolk with an electric whisk and add the very cold milk and the sifted flour and continue stirring.
Whisk the egg white until stiff with the mixer and add it to the rest, stirring from top to bottom.
Add salt or sugar depending on the type of preparation.
Dip the ingredients to be fried in the batter and then cook a few pieces at a time in boiling seed oil. Drain on absorbent paper before serving.
Someone also adds a pinch of baking powder, but if well mounted the egg white will not be necessary.

Here are our best batter-based recipes

10 ways to prepare the omelette – Italian Cuisine

The omelette is a jolly dish that appeals to adults and children and lends itself to a thousand reinterpretations. Here are 10 possible ways to cook it and … eat it

If you have many guests for dinner and want to surprise them with something unusual, prepare an omelette for the second. It is generally considered a poor dish, but we want to ennoble it with different ingredients than usual and new combinations.

No great difficulty except to be able to turn it without breaking it.
In this regard, we advise you to cook it in the oven if you want to be sure that it is beautiful to serve. Choose a round baking dish, cover it with parchment-dampened baking paper and pour the mixture inside. It should be cooked at 180 ° for about 15-20 minutes.
The consistency will be slightly less soft and more spongy, but the taste remains the same.

Before attempting to prepare these recipes, we suggest that you set the amount of eggs per person.
Calculate two eggs each or even one if the eggs are very large.
If you want a fairly high omelette choose a small and large frying pan. Do not make the mistake of cooking the omelette in a pan that is too large because the result would be rather a crepe.
For all this info, however, we refer you to the guide on the perfect cooking of the omelette.
For the rest, let your imagination run wild.

Here then10 omelettes that you must try

1 – Mint and pine nut omelette

A fresh and fragrant recipe perfect for the summer. It should be served warm, almost cold. Just add diced goat ricotta, chopped mint leaves and toasted pine nuts to the beaten eggs.

2 – Greek omelette

We called it that because inside it has the typical Greek cheese, feta. It is prepared by mixing the egg feta with crumbled feta and basil leaves and thinly sliced onion with the mandolin. It can be served with a salad of cherry tomatoes and black olives.

3 – Omelette with potatoes and mozzarella

A recipe that children love very much. Just mix in the egg mixture some thin slices of boiled potatoes, cubes of mozzarella and chopped parsley with a knife.

4 – Salmon omelette

A somewhat sophisticated recipe that you can bring to the table as finger food. It is prepared by mixing the eggs with the smoked smoked salmon, the dill and the chives. You can accompany it with sour cream and boiled potatoes.

5 – Raw vegetable omelette

Instead of cooking all the vegetables before pouring them into the eggs, we cut them into small pieces and cook them directly in the omelette. Then add a courgette, a chopped carrot and half onion with the egg mixture and then all the aromatic herbs you prefer, such as parsley, mint and basil.

6 – Omelette and speck omelette

A dish not too light, but very greedy. Just add to the eggs some speck in strips or cubes and coarsely crumbled zola.

7 – American omelette

We called it that because like everything that comes from the States it is rich and abundant. It is prepared by sautéing the sausage cut into pieces, pancetta, champignon mushrooms and peas in a pan. When the sauce is cold, add the mozzarella cubes, small spinach leaves and halved cherry tomatoes to the eggs. If you want, you can also add canned corn.

The three recipes that follow are sweet and therefore you have to add a few tablespoons of sugar to the egg mixture. They should be cooked in a pan with a knob of butter instead of oil.

8 – Omelette with blueberries and maple syrup

This recipe is very reminiscent of American pancakes. It is prepared by mixing fresh blueberries with eggs and served with a generous amount of maple syrup, or if you prefer honey.

9 – Omelette with apples

An omelette that is very reminiscent of the Kaiserschmarren, a typical dessert of the South Tyrolean tradition. We prepare it simply by adding to the egg mixture lightly caramelized apples in a pan with raisins, cinnamon, lemon zest and a little butter and sprinkle with rum. It is served with vanilla ice cream and a sprinkling of cinnamon.

10 – Omelette with ricotta and macaroons

A rich and delicious dessert, perfect to serve with whipped cream next to it. It is prepared by adding ricotta, white chocolate drops and crumbled macaroons to the beaten eggs.