Tag: conquers

Music at sunset conquers the salt marshes of Marsala – Italian Cuisine

The appointment with "‘ in Scurata … cunti and canti at sunset "is also renewed for 2020, in collaboration with the Cantine Pellegrino that celebrate 140 years since its foundation

The sun goes down, the curtain rises. And the magic finally begins. Everything is ready in that Marsala for the 2020 edition of the summer festival 'In Scurata … stitches and songs at sunset, the event in memory of the actor and director Enrico Russo which for the third year will bring music and art directly to the sea, with the famous salt pans of the Sicilian city as a backdrop for the concerts and theatrical performances scheduled. Eleven events that will mark the calendar of this strange summer 2020, starting from the concert that on July 30 will see the musician of Trapani Sinforosa Petralia on the piano: an opportunity that will also allow you to celebrate 140 years of Cantine Pellegrino, the historic main partner winery of the event.

Theater and music in the time of the coronavirus

The production and organization of the Scurata is edited by MAC, the City of Marsala Cultural Artistic Movement which after 3 years of intense work was officially established on May 28th, despite the numerous difficulties linked to the pandemic. The purpose of this new institution is and will be to combine efforts to promote local culture, with particular attention to the live show, hit at its foundations in 2020 by the health emergency. So the program of events of the Scurata it becomes a precious chance of revenge and rebirth. In addition to the inaugural concert for piano, therefore, we also find on the calendar The evening of miracleson August 4th, tribute to Lucio Dalla wanted by the Carpe Diem Association, with the musical direction of Fabio Gandolfo. But also the world premiere of Sciara, first update, the theatrical text taken from the historical novel by Franco Blandi, which reports the reconstruction of the family affairs of Francesca Serio, mother of the trade unionist Salvatore Carnevale barbarously killed by the mafia on May 16, 1955. The complete list of events, together with the link to buy tickets online, is available on MAC official Facebook page.

An anniversary dedicated to Sicilian wine

The saline that will be transformed into a stage for the shows of the festival will take the name of Teatro a mare Albarìa Pellegrinor, in homage to the last – and elegant – rosé born in the Cantine Pellegrino house. The 2020 edition of the Scurataon the other hand, it will also celebrate the history and success of this great Sicilian winery, founded in Marsala in 1880 by Paolo Pellegrino, a notary by trade, a winemaker by passion. Six generations and 140 years later, Cantine Pellegrino can boast an annual production of over 5 million bottles, exported all over the world to bring the flag of Sicily high, very high on international tables. A goal that – as the company itself underlines – is combined with an increasing attention to the territory, both on the research and sustainability front as well as on the enotourist and cultural one.

Friarelli: the bitter that conquers – Italian Cuisine

In Puglia it is turnip greens, in Rome i broccoli, in Tuscany the robberies and in Sicily i mazzareddra. Instead in Naples they are for everyone friarielli. And it is with this name that they also landed at north, mainly through the dense and widespread network of pizzerias Neapolitan.

But What are exactly the friarelli? To answer this question, let's start frometymology (controversial) of their name. There are those who say it comes from Castilian "Frio-grelos" (ie winter broccoli) and who from Neapolitan "Frijere" (ie frying), in honor of the traditional way in which they come cooked. Already this double interpretation sums up the identity of these vegetables: friarielli are the most developed part of white turnip, widespread, cultivated and cooked in Italy south central.

Typical of the winter season, like all turnip greens, the broccoli taste pleasantly bitterish which makes them perfect for softening sweetness and "fatness" of many meats, starting from sausages pork with which they form acoupled winning e beloved. And that's exactly it binomial who introduced them to the north, where he is not there by now pizzeria who does not offer pizza stuffed with sausages is friarielli.

Choose the right ones

A good plate of broccoli starts with a good one expense. Better to choose those with stems more thin, crispy and rich in water, and with small ones inflorescences tightly closed, as if they were a bud, and colored dark green.

The ideal is to eat them fresh. But, if desired, they are preserved for 3 days in the refrigerator, wrapped in paper bags or micro-perforated food bags. Before putting them in the refrigerator, better clean, eliminating the most worn leaves.

Once in the kitchen, you can prepare them as required by the Neapolitan tradition, that is fried in a pan with garlic, olive oil and chili pepper. But the broccoli can also be cooked in more ways light. A good solution is to cook them a vapor or stew, keeping an eye on the timer. Indeed, the cooking they must be short otherwise the rich and beneficial is sent up heritage of vitamins and antioxidants that they bring as a dowry. Once cooked, the broccoli can be seasoned with extra virgin olive oil and a sprinkle of lemon or they can be mixed with sweet ingredients, such as fruit shoal or dried (raisins, pine nuts and pumpkin seeds recommended), so from stemperarne the bitter taste.

Coupons on the plate
Friarielli are a great cooking classic bell, in which they are cooked in many ways, all appetizing. Sauteed with extra virgin olive oil and chilli are a side dish delicious. It is easy to prepare: just wash them well, eliminate the stems more fibrosis and leathery and the leaves larger, but retaining them inflorescences because they are the most part tasty. Sauté in a pan with a bottom of garlic and chilli that enhances its flavor, the broccoli become a seasoning healthy, tasty and superfast for both pasta (perfect if you choose the typical southern formats, such as orecchiette) or for the risotto.

Friarielli can also be used to stuff omelettes, savory pies or to prepare flans, salty muffins. And they are also tasty with i clams (like squid) and with cod. Another very successful combination is the one with the burrata, whose savory taste is milky softens the bitterness of the broccoli.

Good for health

The friarielli belong to the large family of the Brassicaceae and therefore, like all cabbages, have great benefits on health because they bring minerals, vitamins and phytonutrients which are useful for to prevent many diseases e detoxify the body. The best known effect is that cancer, which is due to glucorafanin: our body transforms it into sulforano, a compound capable of contrasting cell tumor and to fight L'Helicobacter pylori. Friarielli are also an excellent source of indole-3-carbinol useful in prevention of tumors breast, uterus and prostate. This compound also gets better the functions of the liver and therefore participate in power detox of friarielli. An effect to which the rich contributes kit of phytonutrients, such as gluconasturtin and glucobrassicin, which help remove the toxins body. Finally, the broccoli are an excellent one source of fibers, which not only favor the correct functioning of theintestine but they also help to control the level of the sugars in the blood. That's why also the broccoli contribute to "Sugar detox".

Only caveat: do not overdo the seasonings, to prevent turnip greens from becoming indigestible.

Manuela Soressi
April 2018
updated in March 2020
by Barbara Roncarolo

Rocket, bitter salad with many virtues that conquers everyone – Italian Cuisine

Until the 1980s it was one vegetable humble and unpretentious. Then it became "Trendy" and soon it became so ubiquitous as to transform the "Arugula" in an emblem of Italian cuisine known throughout the world. "Resized" excesses of some years ago, when there was no dish in which it was not inserted, today the rocket salad still remains one of the most popular "salads", so much so that every year the Italian spend over 3 million euros to buy it. And the first rocket could soon arrive protected from the EU: it is the one cultivated in the plain of the Sele who requested the PGI (Protected Geographical Indication). From this area of Salerno comes the 73% of all the rocket produced in Italy: 400 thousand tons per year, purchased from over 18 million of consumers and 40% destined for theexports. To confirm that the "arugula" also likes out of theItaly.

The bitter that conquers
But why is rocket so successful? For many reasons. The first is the flavor: its bitter note gives a decisive touch to the "usual" mixed salads, manages to "degrease" meat dishes (as shown by a great classic such as bresaola with rocket and grain), contrasts in a very pleasant way the sweetness of the fresh cheeses (an example: the piadina with stracchino or squacquerone and rocket), and it ennobles even the simplest of Capri or pizzas. Beyond taste, there are many others good reasons to choose the rocket. Like the environmental ones: compared to others crops, requires less water and fewer treatments in the field. And also on the front nutritional offers many benefits.

Many virtues (often unknown)
If the science today it has not yet confirmed those effects aphrodisiacs that they attributed the ancients, however it brought to light other properties of the rocket. Consuming this salad with a slightly taste spicy many benefits are obtained: being rich in minerals, of vitamins and di fibers, has a diuretic, mineralizing, anti-aging and detoxifying effect. Between vitamins stand out TO, precious for the health of the eyes, and the C, which boosts the immune system and is antioxidant. This last effect is enhanced by the presence of chlorophyll, which fights free radicals, in addition to favoring the production of Red blood cells. Instead among the minerals stands the potassium : how many know that a pound of rocket contains more than the same amount of banana (470 and 350 mg respectively)? The rocket can even contain twice as much footballof milk, but the high presence of phytates reduces its absorption, making it less available for l'body . In any case it can be considered an aid to reach the daily doserecommended of this important mineral. Like all vegetables with taste bitter, also the rocket is beneficial for the liver : favors the release of a greater quantity of bile and facilitates the elimination of salts that could determine obstructions or liver fatigue. The effect detoxalso extends to the intestine: being rich in a prebiotic fiber, theinulin, counteracts the proliferation of bad bacteria that favor, even the increase of weight. All with very few calories : only 28 per ounce.

A wild ingredient (even in a sweet version)
Visas i benefitsof the rocket, it is worth consuming more often . Which is not at all difficult (or unpleasant) since it is an ingredient jolly which can be added to many recipes, from salads to pasta or spelled, with sandwiches. It is very pleasant combined with vegetables and sweet tubers, like carrots, peas and potatoes. Freshly cooked it is perfect on carpaccio and salads, strips of meator fish, and is enhanced by a lemon and pepper vinaigrette White , or with a sauce of yogurt and garlic. The rocket can also be used as a basis for an unusual pesto and for detox smoothies. Try the centrifuged obtained with 2 handfuls of rocket, 2 failures of shoots of wheat and two oranges. To increase its effects benefits on the line and on the intestine the rocket is consumed along with foods rich in probiotics like fermented milks: so the number of bacteria increases "Good" and its effectiveness is strengthened. A fresh and original idea? There fruit saladof watermelon and rocket to be seasoned with lemon, mint and a few drops of balsamic vinegar.

Manuela Soressi
March 2019

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