Tag: Italian

how to bring the scent of memories to the table – Italian Cuisine

A great classic of Christmas cuisine is fresh pasta. Do not be scared, the recipe is simple and can be prepared without too much difficulty (even for those who are vegan or allergic to gluten)

3, 2, 1 … is Christmas. Even this year it arrived without us noticing it, this year catches us unprepared, despite the good intentions and agendas full of lists of things to do and dates in which (we should have) to do them. Gifts, small or large, greeting cards, phone calls, menus. Difficult to put a green tick on everything, every year we tell ourselves that the next we will make it, and instead …

Surprise with tradition

Instead, even this year we were able to test ourselves with that tutorial to make a wreath of Finnish pine branches to hang at the entrance door, or to write the menu by hand to impress our guests after following the whole autumn a calligraphy course. But this does not mean we will not astonish them. Why amazement at Christmas lives in perfumes, memories and traditions. Even the eye wants its part, of course, but an egg drowned in a fountain of flour sprinkled with new oil … this is the scent of tradition, this is the best gift to do, to make and do.

Christmas pasta: it takes fresh!

You can improvise the appetizers. But pasta, at Christmas, it's fresh! More difficult to say than done, it takes some 'time available, but the Christmas holidays exist on purpose to give us the magic of that time that at another time of the year seems impossible to find, and that when there' it is, it leaves indelible memories. Perhaps that of fresh pasta is the oldest recipe in the world, but on its side also has the fact of being back of great fashion, and – do not say no, without having tried – even one of the easiest in the world.

10 first courses based on fresh pasta for Christmas lunch

How to prepare fresh pasta for Christmas

Let's start from the beginning: an egg for every ounce of flour, in a fountain, add oil and salt and start to incorporate the flour with the wet ingredients using a fork and then finish the process by hand until you get a compact dough that will rest an hour in the refrigerator before you can be re-worked. At this point roll it out with a rolling pin on a wooden surface – in jargon, pastry – which is generally handed down from generation to generation and which must always be floured before use. The pasta is ready to be machine-driven and thus obtain the preferred thickness and format, which can be thrown into boiling salted water and brought to the table after a few minutes.

How to store it

If you prefer to prepare a little bit stocks, or organize yourself in advance for Christmas, you can follow this process until the last step and, instead of cooking it, put the pasta in freezer on a paper tray covered with flour. After one hour the pasta will be ready to be transferred from the tray to a bag for food to be stored in the freezer for up to a few months, without taking up too much space. If instead it is a matter of a few hours between preparation and cooking, for example, if you wake up at dawn on Christmas morning to be able to prepare everything in time, it will be enough to pay attention to keep the pasta in a quite dry environment to prevent the paste from getting wet, breaking or sticking.

Fresh alternative pastas

As traditions must make everyone happy, here are also recipes and tutorials to prepare fresh pasta in a vegan and gluten-free variant.

Tuscany, a day to talk about good food, territory and taste for life – Italian Cuisine

The year of food, in Siena, closes on Monday with a special event and many guests: Philippe Daverio, the chefs of Vetrina Toscana, experts in food and wine tourism

The year dedicated to Italian food closes in beauty, with a day dedicated to the territory, food and wine and the art of taste, in a region that has made the link between food and culture one of its most appreciated features: Tuscany . In Siena, Monday 3 December, the former hospital of Santa Maria della Scala hosts a special event, with many guests: Tuscany, the art of taste, the taste of art, tourism, culture, enogastronomy and territory, organized by Vetrina Toscana, a Region and Unioncamere Toscana program.

The experiences of the chefs
At the Pellegrinaio, which houses one of the most important cycles of fifteenth-century Sienese frescoes, the art historian Philippe Daverio, in his lectio magistralis, he will talk about The Art of taste and living in Tuscany. During the next meeting, the chefs of Vetrina Toscana will present some experiences which recount the virtuous connection that can be established between art, culture, territory and food and wine. The work will be moderated by Fiammetta Fadda, contributing editor of "The Italian kitchen". Roberto Rossi, owner of the restaurant Silene, will talk about the territorial dimension of culture, Filippo Saporito of integration and mutual enhancement between museums and restaurants and Christian Borchi, of the ancient Porta di Levante of Vicchio, culture and typical products in the villages.

National and international trends in food and wine tourism
The presentation of data on food and wine tourism, interpreted by Professor Roberta Garibaldi, of the University of Bergamo, will serve to understand what are the national and international trends. We will also discuss the year of Italian food in Tuscany with Mauro Rosati, general manager of the Qualivita foundation, Stefano Ciuoffo, councilor for production activities, credit, tourism and trade in the Tuscany Region, and Marco Remaschi, councilor for agriculture of the Tuscany Region.

In the afternoon we will talk about the food and wine communication in the meetings From the story telling the menu: the art of knowing how to tell is Good practices of the beautiful country compared, where Sicily, Piedmont and Tuscany will talk about the topics of tourism and food and wine.

High quality oil: Laudemio Frescobaldi & EVOlution – Italian Cuisine

Last May the hills of Florence saw a beautiful "mignola", the spring "bocciolaatura" of the olive trees, whose fruits have matured then in a warm and sunny September. A real birthday present for the Laudemio Frescobaldi oil, Tuscan wine of great quality that in this excellent vintage is three decades old. And he dresses in gold to celebrate.

Evolution, how Italian oil consumption changes

Not only that: for the occasion the brand has commissioned one research at Nomisma for investigate the placement of the oil between products luxury in consumer perception and consumption habits in the tables of restaurants and Italian diets. Sample: 1,000 Italians between 18 and 65 years.

Well, here are the 4 consumer profiles emerged from this research.

The "essential": cautious and traditionalists, they aim at saving and are not interested in luxury products. They are 46% of consumers and they are mainly men.

The "aware": they are lovers of cooking, health conscious and responsible :. They are 20% of consumers; mainly women.

The "stars": they are experimenters and trendy, interested in luxury food and gourmet cuisine. I'm men and represent 19% of consumers.

THE "luxury ": they lead a wealthy and mundane lifestyle by surrounding themselves with luxury goods (15%).

"The research shows how EVO oil takes on a central role, passing from commodity to value good – says Denis Pantini, Nomisma manager – In the ranking of food products perceived as sought after goods we find the truffle first (28% of consumers), followed by caviar (23%), champagne (20%) and oysters (13%). In fifth place with 7% there is extra virgin olive oil of fine olive ".

Furthermore: 34% of consumers often prefer those with brand names of producers known / famous but as many as 67% look specifically for producers' EVO oils locals. 47% always pay attention to the quality of the oil proposed when eating out and rate the level of a restaurant also by the quality of the proposed oil. How do you get to know the new EVO quality features? Word of mouth, mainly.

Cultivating the diversity and the Tuscan variety

168666 Laudemio Frescobaldi, whose history is a story of agricultural vocation, learns about precious oils: the Frescobaldi family for seven hundred years, precisely from the early fourteenth century, produces wine in Tuscany, but also extra virgin olive oil. Winner, over the years, of many national and international awards (including the four assigned by Slow Food). The company philosophy is summarized in the sentence: "Cultivating Toscana Diversity". An English motto for a company that at the moment exports 80% of its oil product (in particular, USA and Japan) but with the aim of doubling the sale in Italy in the next two years. A motto which ratifies the family bond with the variety of the Tuscan territory, represented by its seven estates, by the wines and oils of the characteristics of each individual terroir.

168669 The Laudemio Frescobaldi is a Tuscan oil from the intense and spicy flavor, characterized by a emerald green color bright and a scent of mown grass and artichoke. Her bottle with octagonal section, with a retro design, is recognizable at first sight. That of the 2018 collection, collection of the thirtieth anniversary, is gold with a special label and contains the fruit of one very pure cold pressing. But where does the high quality of this oil come from?

The specification

168672 We now demand it as consumers, an affirmation. We believe that producers – above all those who bring primary goods such as olive oil on our tables – guarantee us origin, production methods and organoleptic characteristics. We claim, in short, a disciplinary. Laudemio Frescobaldi was precursor of the times: it was 1989 when the company developed it and started to follow one – while the European Union regulations and the subsequent IGP and DOP were born later, in the 90s. Here are some key points of the specification that today follow all the companies of the consortium L'origine degli ulivi: duse of "percussion means" or the sticks that pull the barrel to the branches to drop the olives, they damage them; absolute prohibition to collect olives that have fallen spontaneously; pressing within 48 hours from the collection. The Laudemio Frescobaldi brand, however, chooses to go far beyond: the oices are broken on the day of collection. Always. And normally within 6 hours at most: a real point in favor of quality. And the olives – to be regulated by the consortium must be collected by 30 November, for Laudemio the harvest usually takes place within the month of October. All rules, these, that guarantee one minimum acidity, a great aromatic profile and high nutritional properties.

THEat first bottle di Laudemio Frescobaldi 2018, as usual, was sent on November 14th to Prince Charles of England, an exceptional enthusiast, who in 1986 planted an olive tree in the Frescobaldi estate of Castello Nipozzano. Her sisters are now on the shelves for the joy of that 54% of consumers who do not recognize themselves as "essential", because they want something more from extra virgin olive oil …

Stella Rita
December 2018

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