Tag: good

Pesto cold pasta, good every day – Italian Cuisine

The best solution to quickly prepare a fresh and tasty dish with pasta and pesto, two things that make our hearts beat

Pesto pasta par excellence is the delicious trofie served with green beans and potatoes, just like in Liguria. But now that it's summer and we want cold dishes, we can take inspiration from the traditional recipe and give us some unforgettable and refreshing basil bite. The secret to making it always perfect is to add the pesto to our cold pasta just before serving: the stay in the refrigerator of a pasta already seasoned with pesto would lead to the oxidation of the basil and a consequent blackening of the sauce. Keep this in mind and … free your imagination!

Traditional pesto

To prepare the pesto following the traditional recipe serve seven ingredients. To flavor 500 grams of pasta: 50 grams of Genoese Basil DOP, 45 grams of Parmigiano Reggiano PDO aged at least 24 months, 15 grams of Sardinian Pecorino aged ten months, five tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, two cloves of sweet garlic, two tablespoons of Pine nuts and a handful of coarse salt.

After the ingredients, you have to think about tools: a marble mortarit's a wooden pestle. For those without it, you can also use the blender but the result will not be the same. However, one of the fundamental rules is to proceed fairly quickly: over time the basil oxidizes and becomes bitter.

We start by pounding garlic with a few grains of salt, then the pine nuts are added. Continue to pound until the three ingredients are completely blended. At this point, add the basil leaves a little at a time, after having washed and gently dried them. crushing them with the pestle against the walls with a rotary movement to the left and turning the mortar in the other direction. Finally add the Parmesan and pecorino, mix and finally add the oil evenly.

Cold is fine with …

Cold boiled potatoes cut into cubes, pitted black olives, seeded tomatoes, cherry mozzarella, provola cubes, speck cubes, peppers, courgettes and grilled aubergines.

Our pesto cold pasta

how to choose the good one. Things to know – – Italian Cuisine

Variety of olives, climate, agronomic techniques and careful processing after harvesting. The factors that influence the good quality of an oil they are numerous and start from the field, a bit like it happens with wine, with which it has many affinities. Unlike this, however, the wordings allowed on the label of extra virgin are few and for the consumer it is difficult to orientatethe products on the market. "For example, you cannot indicate aromatic hints like almond, artichoke or tomato leaf, nuances of taste that vary according to the variety of olive and the territoryHe explains Marina Solinas, quality manager of Pietro Coricelli, one of the largest oil companies in Europe based in Spoleto, in the heart of Umbria. Instead, the legislation allows organoleptic descriptions such as "fruity”,“ Green fruity ”,“ ripe fruity ”, which depend on the variety of olives used and are characteristics of healthy and fresh fruits.

This oil is bitter!
Even the bitter and spicy taste can be indicated on the label, with different levels of intensity (intense, medium, light). It may seem strange, but the bitter taste that sometimes is felt tasting an extra virgin olive oil it is not a defect, but a virtue. "These features are due to the presence of phenols, substances antioxidants which are naturally present in olives and in the oil obtained from them"Explains Marina Solinas. "From the nutritional point of view they are extremely benefits for our body, because they help slow down cellular aging and prevent many degenerative diseases". In summary, the spicy and bitter aftertaste coincides with the substances that do well, while the more delicate oils are less rich. Consumers can thus perceive the quality of the oil by tasting it, as is done, precisely, with wine. A fundamental step in choosing a product rather than another.

The enemies of the oil.
The wording "Cold pressing" that we find on the label indicates that the extraction of the oil it took place at a temperature below 27 °, with modern mechanical methods that allow the extra virgin oil to maintain its organoleptic and nutritional characteristics are intact. A quality indicator in the production process is then stored in steel containers, away from light. They are indeed really light, heat and oxygen the great enemies extra virgin olive oil, not only in production processes, but also after purchase. Properly stored, in a dark, cool place (not allowed to keep it near the stove!) And in a closed bottle it remains for a long time: the one impressed on the packages, in fact, is not the expiry date, but preferable consumption.

Made in Italy or not?
The oils we find on supermarket shelves cannot all be Italian, as in our country the quantities produced do not satisfy national consumption. The wording "100% Italian" which is found on the specific label that the oil was obtained only from olives grown, harvested and processed in Italy, even in different regions. Then there are products that derive from the skilful blending of extra virgin olive oils from other European Union countries, particularly suited. Explain Chiara Coricelli, managing director of the family company that has reached the third generation: "In our oils, this does not translate into a reduction in quality, as production is selected directly in the places of origin – in addition to Italy mainly from Spain and Greece – and subjected to strict quality controls, not just those provided for by the regulations, but it must overcome the rigid parameters defined within us as a further standard guarantee to the final consumer. Moreover, this allows to produce different oils from the point of view of taste, as each area has different peculiarities".

"Silent" shelves
Unbelievable but true, despite the oil being part of our gastronomic culture has always been little known. "Our sector is penalized by the lack of knowledge of the product on the part of the consumer who, unable to distinguish between the various proposals for extra virgin olive oil, ends up referring only to the price as the main purchase lever"Commented Chiara Coricelli.

"Need make culture about oil in order to give the possibility to choose a product also based on taste or the type of pairing. All this information is missing, since it is not possible to report indications on the labels that may point towards the purchase of one type of extra virgin olive oil over another. Furthermore, it is necessary to review the labeling standard in order to have space for the construction of a real product culture like wine ".

In the Coricelli range of extra virgin olive oils, the Colto, with its ripe fruit, enhances the delicate flavor of white meats, fish and fresh vegetables without covering it; extra virgin olive oil, medium fruity, is ideal as a daily condiment and for all uses in cooking; 100% Italian, the result of extra virgin olive oils originating from Sicily and Puglia, is a fruity green with intense spicy aftertaste, which goes well with dishes that require a strong seasoning, such as meat, grilled vegetables and soups.

Paola Mancuso
July 2019

DISCOVER THE COOKING COURSES OF SALT & PEPE

How to recognize a good Salento coffee – Italian Cuisine

The true story and the technique of the perfect ice coffee in Lecce (or in Salento) and its variants: the blown and the shaken

Anyone who has visited the Salento, especially in the hot season, knows that there is a categorical imperative at the bar: coffee is drunk with ice, and maybe even with a hint of almond milk. Who calls it Salento coffee, who calls it Lecce, who simply says coffee on ice, but where does this tradition come from? Everything happens just in Lecce, about seventy years ago, in the historic bar of the Quarta family, which is still the reference point in terms of roasting in this corner of Puglia.

Lecce or Salento: the origins

The story is told by Gaetano Quarta, coffee breeder in the family business and great grandson of that Antonio Quarta who had the idea: «In his bar, which was called The coffee house, he sold coffee roasted by him and blocks of ice to preserve food ", since at that time there were no refrigerators and the stuff was kept cool in the neviere. He thought well, also to deseasonalize the drink, to combine the two things: the ice was pierced and small irregular cubes, but full of ice, were then placed directly in the steaming cup, just sweetened, according to customer preferences.

Blown and shaken: the variants

Several years have passed and the technique has changed, but only slightly. Indeed, more than anything else, as Gaetano explains, it has been enriched: in addition to the traditional ice coffee, you can also ask the bar for the blown or shaken, two techniques that add a soft cream to the taste of chilled coffee thanks to the cold of the cube. «In the first case, of the blown, air is added with the steam nozzle, which allows to create an emulsion and results in a drink a little longer, in the case of the shaker it is mixed by hand as if it were a cocktail in the shaker".

Coffee, ice, almond milk: the ingredients of good Lecce

Although nothing prevents you from doing it at home with coffee prepared with moka, for Gaetano Quarta the real Salento coffee requires that you use freshly-extracted coffee with the bar machine. Of course, the mixture used is also important. In the case of the Quarta family, family blends have been used for the past four generations, which can be found in many bars in the area, but above all in the Avio Bar in Lecce, what is now the family bar of great-grandfather Antonio. In full continuity, the roasted blends of the Quarta are called Avio and Gran Caffè, or Barocco in honor of the city that hosts them, and they are all 90% Arabica and 10% robusta. The quality of the ice is also fundamental, which is full and possibly made with water that is not tap water, but bottled or at the most filtered. Finally, the sweet note, which should be dosed as a tailor-made dress, be it a teaspoon of sugar or a drop of almond milk, strictly in the still hot coffee, so that it dissolves well. In the case of almond milk we are increasingly in the Salento tradition and Gaetano's warning is to use a product as natural as possible (and perhaps from Puglia!), Because the creaminess that gives an artisan product is unparalleled.