L'Italie à table, the Italian gastronomic excellence show in Nice – Italian Cuisine

Truffles, oil, wine, pasta, desserts and much more along the Promenade des Anglais in Nice where the Italian food and wine excellences conquer the French.

Cured meats, cheeses, desserts, pasta and even wine: the list of quality products is long, the result of Italian gastronomic excellence, which could be tasted in Nice from last June 7th until 11th along the beautiful Promenades Des Anglais, scope of the Salone L''Italie à Table, an appointment under the European program Sistina, now in its 15th edition, in which small artisans have made tourists, passing customers and French catering professionals taste their products. A way to promote across the border niche productions of the highest level that could intercept the demand not only of tourists but above all of those who work with food every day, as chefs, owners of premises, wholesalers. "The idea came about 16 years ago," he explains Michele Palmieri, a young person in charge of the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Nice – when they were looking for a way to introduce some typical excellences of Piedmont and Liguria, the two regions closest to France, to the French market. It began with only references from the provinces of Cuneo, Imperia, Veneto and Emilia, to arrive at today where there are over forty exhibitors, they come from all over Italy and most of them have confirmed their participation for years ". A won bet therefore.

Cheeses, honey, oil and biscuits. All the Made in Italy excellences

Walking through the stands is like finding corners of Italy where accents mix with local products. Among the many exhibitors, the company Bonifazi, was one of the first to believe in the project of L''Italie à Table. It produces extra virgin olive oil from the early 1900s in the Umbrian countryside. The olives are the local ones, leccino, moraiolo and frantoio, the production remained artisanal, although over the years the numbers of the bottles produced have grown. Giuseppe Veglio produces his own Tuma d 'Fe on the hills of the high Langa, with milk produced by its 120 sheep that graze freely in the meadows. He has been coming to Nice for years. The cheese is made only from April to November, when the milk is rich in all the aromas and aromas of the field herbs. Once heated to 37 ° the sheep's rennet is added and then the toma remains to rest for two days. It is "caressed" with a pinch of light blue Sicilian salt, left to rest for another week and then it is ready to be tasted. At their first salon they are the owners of the Perfumed Experience Laboratory by Riolo Terme, a shop where ancient grains mix with seeds and spices to create recipes that have been handed down from generation to generation biscuits that smell of lavender, turmeric and hazelnuts, in which every bite is like a return to childhood.

Meeting with French cuisine

These benches at the L’Italie à Table salon are an opportunity to get to know those who really are behind the products they often use, without knowing their history. This is why Sebastien Perinetti, manager of the restaurant "Canon" in the center of Nice every year this fair is not lost for anything in the world. “I have always used many Italian, Ligurian and Piedmontese specialties above all – he tells us when we meet him – starting with oil, cheeses, polenta, which in the restaurant I propose combined with lamb and white beans from Pigna, another Italian specialty , a Slow Food presidium cultivated in the province of Imperia ”. And then the natural wines of Fornovo and the trombetta courgettes, typical Ligurian. In his restaurant the menu changes twice a day, "because – he explains – it depends on what the suppliers bring me: the fisherman, for example, arrives at 13. I know what I can offer my guests at that time". Attention to the highest quality products also for the restaurant L'atelier, by Stephane Chenneveau, who specialized in porridge, which in France they call Socca. He proposes it as a base on which he then serves fish, meat, vegetables and cheeses, and accompanies it with a good glass of wine (he has over 600 references between biodynamic and natural), often Italian. He also does not miss the L’Italie à Table show because, as he tells us, “we French are like you Italians, attentive to detail, always discovering new excellence to offer to our guests. And this is the right place to stay ”.

all you need to know to prepare them at the top – Italian Cuisine

They are made in U.S.A., but now they are also very popular with us. Of course, we had already explained the basic technique for preparing them. But that's not enough. Let's find out more about this must of the kitchen with stars & stripes. And above all: let's learn how to do it the perfect pancake!

The ingredients basic are the same as for the crêpes dough, but in reality it changes everything: the thin and ample ones, thick and fluffy the others, the consistency makes the taste completely different. The pancakes are high because there is inside the baking powder and / or baking soda (an irreplaceable ally in the kitchen). Another pair of sleeves are the blini, of Russian origin, which if they are more like American fritters rather than French wafers, have different ingredients for the dough, and in particular they use buckwheat.

In reality pancake variants are found a little in the kitchen of half the world, from Norway to Indonesia to Uganda. And certainly at least since the times of Ancient Greece. Indeed, it seems that from the archeology news of prehistoric pancakes…

Pancakes today they are no longer just breakfast. A little because the taste of "breakfast all day", that is breakfast at any time of the day, makes things worse, especially in summer. And then the merit is that they are a simple, tasty and truly versatile recipe. So, of course, the pancakes remain early morning classics, like those with fruit and honey, but also abounds savory versions, which can also be used as an aperitif / appetizer – see mini pancakes with cabbage, cream and salmon roe, or like a real one main course – for example those with asparagus. Obviously then there is the dessert: pancakes with wild berry sauce or dried fruit compote?

Before switching to the main dish, that is the perfect pancake recipe, a couple of curiosity. Did you know that in England it is traditional to stuff oneself with pancakes on Shrove Tuesday, before the beginning of Lent? In fact, it's called … Pancake Day! Which actually falls twice a year: the other date is the 26 September (but January 28th is the party for those with blueberries !!!). North American tradition wants them to be enjoyed with it maple syrup, which was originally a drink prepared by the Algonquin Indians. The first pancake recipe as we know them today appeared in a 15th-century English cookbook.

And now: of course the challenge to churn out the best pancake in America it is always open and the supreme judgment of what the perfect recipe is is an eternal object of opposition. We found it. Research is counted in years, not hours … Here it is for you. The pancake is just perfect, because the simplicity of the recipe it's moving! The doses are for about 8 pancakes; the unit of measurement is US.

The perfect pancake

3 cups of flour
2.5 teaspoons of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt
2 tablespoons of sugar
2.5 cups of milk
2 eggs
85 grams of butter (at room temperature)

Mix all the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, salt, sugar. Separately, mix all the wet ingredients (milk, eggs, butter) to the point where the batter is nice and smooth. Keep the dry separated from the wet will ensure the softness of the pancake. Combine the two preparations and cook each pancake for 2 minutes on each side in a non-stick frying pan with a little butter. Each pancake is prepared with about a quarter cup of dough.

Et voila! Of course they exist alternatives for those who do not want or can eat milk rather than white flour? Galore!!! Cow's milk it can be substituted with great taste with that of goat. Or with a vegetable, for example the excellent one coconut milk. For the flour you can indulge – try first those of ancient grains, which are much more nutritious, or – at least in part – that of oats or the same buckwheat. For the egg can be used only egg whites, which are super-protein, with zero calories and represent the part of the egg that is best cooked (while the yolk would prefer to eat it raw). Of course, every variant of ingredients it also changes the taste pancake, but don't be shy about trying different recipes!

Carola Traverso Saibante
June 2019

DISCOVER THE COOKING COURSES OF SALT & PEPE

Because historically, chocolate is synonymous with love – Italian Cuisine

Have you ever wondered why chocolate is often associated with romance and love? The answer is in some significant stages of the history of chocolate, from the Aztecs to the launch of the first box of chocolates

What more romantic way to declare your love than by giving a box of chocolates, perhaps in the shape of a heart? Since ancient times, in fact, chocolate is associated with romance and passion and, since the mid-19th century, it has also become one of the essential symbols of the feast of Saint Valentine.

So let's go to find out what are the events that, over the centuries, have helped to consolidate this sweet tradition.

Chocolate, aphrodisiac and sinful food

For thousands of years, the indigenous cultures of Mexico and Central America have consumed the chocolate in the form of a bitter drink, named xocolātl. The Mayans and Aztecs used to grind cocoa beans and mix them with water, chilli and cornmeal to obtain a pleasantly creamy and frothy drink. At the time chocolate was especially appreciated as an energizing natural remedy, able to improve mood as well. The first to decree instead aphrodisiac properties was the legendary Aztec chief Montezuma II, known for asking cocoa beans from conquered peoples. The king believed that the drink could improve both military and sexual performance within his harem; it is said that in order to increase power and resistance he even drank 50 cups of hot chocolate a day and that in the harem had 50 young women.

It was 1519 when the Spaniards, captained by General Cortés, invaded Central America, defeating the Aztecs and bringing the popular drink to Spain.
THE'Spanish adaptation of the recipe included the addition of a sweetener (honey or, perhaps, cane sugar), vanilla (just discovered) and a pinch of cinnamon and black pepper. Soon the Spaniards were literally obsessed with it, to the point that the phenomenon attracted the interest of the Catholic Church, intent on making an investigation. Despite the widespread belief that chocolate has healing properties, such as lowering fever or the sensation of heat and humidity, European clerics condemned him as sinful and aphrodisiac food, able to instigate the faithful to perform promiscuous sexual activities. The intervention of the Church meant that the recipe for hot chocolate remained a national secret for almost a century. In fact, chocolate would have spread first in England and then in the rest of Europe, only after 1600.

Chocolate, a symbol of love

During the following century, chocolate continued to be associated with passion or lust until Anna of Austria, on the occasion of her engagement with King Louis XIII, gave him a gift of chocolate packaged in a decorated wooden box. After this episode, hot chocolate was considered a sort of elixir of love and spread rapidly in European aristocracy. The turning point in the history of chocolate, or what has made it commercially successful and that has made it an accessible, popular and universally associated food with romance, was the revolutionary invention of chocolates.

Johannes van Houten, a Dutch chemist, in 1828 invented the cocoa machine, which was a tool that finally allowed chocolate to be processed and solidified using molds. Starting in the mid-19th century, the chocolatiers perfected the chocolates creation process.
It is said that English Richard Cadbury, of the still famous Cadbury chocolate brand, was one of the first producers to have had the idea of linking these sweet little delights to Valentine's Day. An artist and a businessman, Cadbury was the first to launch decorated boxes of chocolates to give away on February 14th, suggesting not to throw the boxes to be able to save secret letters of love. The boxes of Victorian chocolates were a great success and the idea in the following century spread to most of the western world.

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