Tag: Green

Spring penne rigate with spinach pesto and green peas – Italian cuisine reinvented by Gordon Ramsay

The spring penne with spinach and green pea pesto they are a very delicate dish but at the same time rich in flavour. The spinach cream and the sweet flavor of green peas constitute a winning combination, for a first course that will be a real success. And if you like these ingredients you can also try the spinach meatloaf.

Penne spring with spinach and green pea pesto: recipe

To prepare the delicious ones spring penne with spinach and green pea pesto we start by cooking the spinach in a pan with a knob of butter and salt, once cooked we chop them with an immersion blender. In a pan we fry the onion and then add the peas. We cook the penne in abundant salted water, once drained we sauté it in the pan with the peas and then add the spinach pesto. We conclude with an abandoning sprinkling of parmesan. Here are all the steps.

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

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

Rinse the rice in a bowl of fresh water, drain and leave to rest.
Wash the fresh celery, peel the carrots and onions for the preparation of the broth, add the vegetable stock cube.
Cut the beets into pieces, blend them, adding the liquid if present and a part of the broth.
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.
Halfway through cooking, add the beetroot smoothie and continue to cook, stirring occasionally.
Leave the rice al dente and stir in Parmigiano Reggiano.

Eating green during the holidays is possible. Here’s how to do it – Italian cuisine reinvented by Gordon Ramsay

Eating green at Christmas? You can, or rather you must. This holiday represents the ideal time to shelter at home with family and friends, sharing special moments and, of course, delicious meals. But what exactly does “good food” mean today? In addition to organoleptic qualities, food must respect criteria that go beyond simple taste. As Carlo Petrini, founder of Slow Food, claims, food must be «good, clean and fair. Clean, i.e. produced according to environmentally friendly methods; fair, capable of guaranteeing respect for those who work there. Here are some rules to follow during Christmas holidays to adopt a greener approach to food.

10’000 Hours

Eating green: what food choices to make during the holidays

During the holidays it is time to favor high quality foods, possibly organic or from integrated agriculture with low environmental impact. Reduce your meat consumption and, when you choose it, opt for meat from controlled farms and organic. Prefer local, regional or national products to reduce the environmental impact of transport and, if possible, purchase them in bulk, to avoid unnecessary packaging. The choice of wine can also be oriented towards organic options. For those who want alternatives to meat, legumes are a valid option, providing high-quality proteins and ingredients for tasty recipes.

Avoid foods at excessively low prices, as they often hide hidden costs for the environment and workers. Avoid buying products from distant places and choose sustainable alternatives to endangered fish such as salmon. Opt for lesser-known, but equally tasty fish, a low environmental and seasonal impact, such as horse mackerel, zerro, tuna, tombarello, dolphin fish and red mullet. Also molluscs such as clams, mussels and oysters; and shellfish such as white shrimp (if coming from specific regions) and corn on the cob are conscious choices.

A sustainable celebration: don’t waste!

Reduce wasteespecially at the table, carefully preserving food and avoiding throwing away what remains. Avoid plastic films and prefer reusable containers with caps. When you go shopping, calculate the precise number of people and prefer bulk products to reduce packaging. When setting the table, avoid disposable plastic tableware and, if necessary, opt for compostable alternatives.

Too Good to Go together with Yougov have reported the data regarding the waste of Italians at the table during the holidays: the 40% of Italians waste over a quarter of Christmas food, with panettone leading the way, despite its high cost. However, they also emerge positive behaviors:

Gordon Ramsay Recipes