Tag: fresh

Fresh pasta without eggs – Italian Cuisine

Place the flour in a bowl, add the salt and gradually pour the hot water in the center, mixing it initially with a fork.
Once you have filled all the water, start kneading with your hands.
Knead for at least 5 minutes, folding the dough over itself several times.
Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let it sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes.

Take back the cake, soften it quickly if necessary, then divide it into 2 (or more) parts and start spreading it with the pasta machine.

Once the various sheets are obtained, choose the shape you want to obtain: I have created papardelle.

Fresh pasta without eggs is ready: all you have to do is cook it and then dress it to taste. Usually it takes 6/8 minutes to cook.

Cheeses: better fresh or seasoned? – Italian Cuisine

In addition to the different taste and texture, each variety has its own nutritional characteristics and brings different benefits. Find out what to choose with the help of a nutritionist

The cheese has always been a main food of the Mediterranean gastronomic tradition. Fruit of ancient rural traditions, besides being a real excellence of our table, consumed in the right quantities ensures many benefits. It is an excellent source of calcium and vitamin D, important for combating bone fragility and the risk of osteoporosis. Moreover, it brings so many noble proteins, indispensable for the health of the muscles and for the correct functioning of the organism in general. He then has good doses of vitamin A, useful for eyesight and skin. There are different types and finding your way around is not easy. Besides the different taste and texture, each variety has its nutritional characteristics. For example, is it better to choose fresh or seasoned cheeses? Let's see with the help of the doctor Valentina Schirò, nutritionist biologist specialized in food science, what are the differences and how to exploit them at the table to the advantage of line and health.

Seasoned they have more protein

Both fresh and seasoned cheeses are good sources of high biological value proteins, that is rich in all nine essential amino acids useful for muscle building. «Compared to the fresh ones, however, the cheeses matured, in particular those based on cow's milk, contain them in greater quantities. Furthermore, they are more rich in vitamins and minerals, ”explains nutritionist Valentina Schirò. They then have another advantage. Grana, parmesan, pecorino and other mature cheeses can also be eaten by those who are lactose intolerant. In fact, with the maturing process, lactose, the sugar naturally contained in milk is present in fresh ones, is reduced enough to be present in small traces. Compared to the fresh ones, the seasoned ones have more fat and salt, which when consumed in excess promote high and overweight pressure. The advice is not to abuse it, eating them twice a week and limiting it to a portion of 50 grams .

Fresh they have less fat and calories

Ricotta, stracchino and other fresh cheeses compared to the seasoned ones provide a lower caloric intake and are more suitable for those on a diet provided, however, that they are consumed in the right quantities. «You can eat a maximum of twice a week limiting yourself to a portion of 100 grams for ricotta and 80 grams for all the others. One of their advantages is that they are composed of 80% water and provide less calories and sometimes less fat, as in the case of ricotta or primosale .

How to combine them at the table

To avoid the risk of getting fat, the advice "is to always read the information on the label, focusing in particular on the content of fat and sodium (salt), preferring the varieties that contain smaller quantities and eating them at most a couple of times a week and comuqnue as an alternative to eggs, meat and fish. Furthermore, to limit the intake of excess cholesterol, which is harmful to the health of the heart and arteries, whether fresh or seasoned, it is advisable to always accompany them to a nice portion of vegetables, which provides many fibers that help to lower the levels of "bad" cholesterol (LDL) and to raise the "good" (HDL) and promote satiety which helps to limit consumption ".

Making fresh pasta at home: our advice – Italian Cuisine

Tagliatelle, vermicelli, lasagne. But also pizza and biscuits. All the shapes of fresh pasta and our advice to make it right

Prepare at home fresh pasta egg is always a moment of great satisfaction, for two reasons: the first, because in doing it, the pasta, you relax more than in one hour of gym, the second, because the result increases our self-esteem more than a sitting by the psychoanalyst. So no hesitation, because there are no contraindications. Or maybe just one, time.

knead

To make fresh egg pasta you need to observe a strict rule: an egg for every ounce of flour. And then knead at least ten minutes, to obtain a smooth and homogeneous dough. Start by placing the fountain flours. In the middle place a pinch of salt, a drop of oil and the eggs, which you will slam slowly with a fork, starting to incorporate the flour. With the hands incorporated all the flour and knead the dough with energy, at least for 10 minutes, so that the dough becomes smooth and compact. Wrap it at this point in a sheet of foil and refrigerate for an hour before using it. Roll out the dough with a rolling pin, preferably on a wooden board, and then put it in the machine, roll out the dough to obtain the desired thickness. Remember to flour the pastry to prevent the paste from sticking to the surface. Be careful to keep the sheets ready in a dry place, to prevent the pasta from sticking, until it is time to cook it.

Tortellini, cappelletti, tagliatelle & Co

Once you have prepared the pasta, you can cut it into the format you want most. For tagliatelle, tagliolini or pappardelle, roll the dough on itself and then with a sharp knife cut the rolls of the chosen size: 5 mm for tagliatelle, 3 mm for tagliolini and 2 cm for pappardelle. If you need the pastry for lasagna, cut the rectangles of dough as large as the pan you will use. For cappelletti or ravioli cut with the appropriate tool of 4 × 4 pasta squares which you will then fill at your leisure.

How to store fresh pasta

Fresh pasta should be consumed as soon as possible. If you want, you can freeze from raw: place the dough on a tray covered with flour, put everything in the freezer to make it harden. After an hour, remove the tray, put the now cured dough in a food bag, better if already portioned, and put back in the freezer. If necessary, remove the dough and throw it still frozen in boiling water.