Tag: Food

Green Food Week: pink risotto (also) arrives in Milan – Italian cuisine reinvented by Gordon Ramsay

La Cucina Italiana


Eating healthy starts from a very young age: it also starts from here Green Food Weekthe week dedicated to sustainability in the kitchen created by the association Foodinsider and dedicated to school, university and company meals. Having just begun, and always eagerly awaited, it is an opportunity to reflect on the impact of the food we eat, to which the Municipality of Milan and Milan Catering they participate punctually with great enthusiasm. This year – within the framework of the project Horizon 2020 School Food 4 Change – they (also) thought of a particularly inviting way to involve the very little ones on February 8th.

Green Food Week in Milan schools

February 8 will in fact be the day dedicated to Green Food Week schools, with new menus in primary schools in all the cities that have joined. The symbolic dish created by the Municipality of Milan and Milano Ristorazione is abarbarisotto”. A fun and intriguing name for beetroot risotto: a healthy and low impact dish made with local and seasonal ingredients to show the little ones how much it can be tasty and fun to eat foods that are good for us and the environmentand also how important it is to know what you eat.

In fact, the initiative will not be limited to lunch: educators and teachers, with many useful ideas provided by Foodinsider, the Municipality and Milano Ristorazione, will show the students how food is born, where it comes from, why it is important to choose ingredients that come from places as close as possible and that they are as vegetal as possible. The rice used for risotto, for example, is grown in the Cascina Battivaccoin the Barona district, a stone’s throw from the city center, while the yogurt comes from Cascina Campazzo, in the Ticinello park. Children will be able to bring all this back home and relive the experience with their parents also thanks to other useful and practical advice made available for adults on foodpolicymilano.org. There are also recipes, very easy. To try, at the bottom of this article, you will find the recipe for barbarisotto.

The commitment of the Municipality of Milan to sustainable nutrition

«This year too we are joining the Green Food Week with special attention to describing the care for food and the environment that characterizes the choices in our canteens: we do it in a healthy and fun way, coloring the greenest menu of the year pink” he explains Anna Scavuzzo, deputy mayor with responsibility for Food Policy and Education of the Municipality of Milan. «Each of the dishes offered he continues, «tells the commitment to plan, cook, distribute, administer and evaluate meals for girls and boys in the city. Starting from the choice of raw materials that are attentive to the environment and health: organic, short supply chain and km0 products are now a permanent presence on the menu and this has made it possible to reduce CO emissions2and by over 34% in a few years, between 2015 and 2022. All these actions can become even more effective if they become common heritage, starting from those who experience schools every day”.

The menu for February 8th, for Green Food Week

The menu for February 8 is exemplary: the children will eat organic apples for the mid-morning snackfor lunch – after the beetroot risotto – meatballs with organic soy and organic carrots as a side dish, other fresh fruit and 0 km bread with organic flour. Finally, for a snack, natural yoghurt with short supply chain and Km 0 in paper jar. A good, healthy, environmentally friendly menu: the overall impact of the school menu on Green Food Week is 140 TonCO2and against an average of 222 TonCO2and the ordinary menu.

It is worth underlining a trend: Milano Ristorazione has developed a change in the purchasing of raw materials which has led, in the period 2015 – 2022, to a decrease in 34% of CO emissions2 equivalent. A theme on which the Municipality of Milan has been working for some time: it joins the initiative Cool Food Pledge, promoted by the international research center World Resources Institute, which involves the public and private sector in monitoring the environmental impact of collective catering menus. For this reason, together with other cities such as Copenhagen, New York and Toronto, the Municipality evaluates the results of the gradual changes made to the menus from 2015 to today, in particular regarding the promotion of proteins of plant origin, through the introduction of more vegetables and legumes.

The recipe for “barbarisotto”

Ingredients for 4 people

Method

  1. Rinse the rice in a bowl of fresh water, drain and leave to rest.
  2. Wash the fresh celery, peel the carrots and onions for the preparation of the broth, add the vegetable stock cube.
  3. Cut the beets into pieces, blend them, adding the liquid if present and a part of the broth.
  4. Prepare the sauté with the quarter of chopped onion and add the rice, toast it and then add the broth, adding it when necessary during cooking.
  5. Halfway through cooking, add the beetroot smoothie and continue to cook, stirring occasionally.
  6. Leave the rice al dente and stir in Parmigiano Reggiano.

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Very crunchy on the outside and soft and creamy on the inside, the potato croquettes presented in this recipe are an explosion of taste and goodness.

Golden in color thanks to the addition of a pinch of saffron in the dough, it is the parmesan and flour that make the most loved finger food in the world the perfect consistency for a dip in boiling oil.

The real master’s touch, however, is the breading of these croquettes, made of corn flakes crumbled, but not too much. The batter is the right compromise for a homogeneous and even crunchier result.

Perfect for frying, in this recipe the potato croquettes are cooked in an air fryer or in the oven, so that they are lighter and more digestible.

Queen of takeaways, potato croquettes are a delicious appetizer or side dish to be enjoyed on any occasion.

For a more intense flavour, you can add spices to taste.

Wash, peel and cut the potatoes, boil them in water until they soften.

Once cooked, mash them and add flour, Parmesan, salt and saffron. Mix everything together and form sausages (grease your hands with a little oil to make the operation easier). Prepare the batter with eggs, flour and a pinch of salt, bread the croquettes in breadcrumbs, dip them in the batter and then pass them in the crumbled cornflakes. Cook in an air fryer or oven at 200°C for about 10 minutes.

Prices of food raw materials in 2023: FAO analysis – Italian cuisine reinvented by Gordon Ramsay

La Cucina Italiana


In December 2023, theFood and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) revealed significant changes in the prices of food raw materials globally, with some sectors declining and others growing. The FAO Food Price Index averaged 118.5 points, showing a decrease of 1.5% compared to November and 10.1% compared to December 2022.

Food raw materials: price trends in 2023

Cereals

The grain price index increased by 1.5% due to higher prices of wheat, corn, rice and barley. This increase was influenced by logistical disruptions that hindered shipments from major exporting countries. Despite this, the annual index remained 15.4% below the 2022 average, indicating global markets well stocked.

Vegetable oil

The price index ofvegetable oil decreased by 1.4%, mainly due to declines in purchases of palm oil, soybean, rapeseed and sunflower seeds. The slowdown in demand for soybean oil in the biodiesel sector and the improvement of climatic conditions in Brazil have contributed to this decline. The annual index was 32.7% lower than the previous year’s level.

Sugar

The price index of sugar recorded a decrease of 16.6% compared to November, hitting a nine-month low. However, it is still up 14.9% compared to December 2022. Accelerated production in Brazil and reduced use of sugarcane for ethanol production in India were the main drivers of this decline.

Meat

The price index of meat recorded a decline of 1.0% in December, influenced by weak demand for pork imports from Asia. Regional purchases of beef and poultry have also slowed, despite ample exportable supplies. However, sheepmeat prices have increased ahead of the holidays.

Dairy products

In contrast to the negative trends, the price index of dairy products it grew 1.6% in December. While remaining 16.1% lower than December 2022, this monthly increase was driven by higher prices for butter and cheese, supported by strong domestic sales in Western Europe and growing global demand for whole milk powders.

Source FAO

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