Tag: MARCH

the March 2019 issue is on sale – Italian Cuisine

With the monregalese melamine pastes I have a long relationship of affection: I have been buying them for forty years every time I go to my little house near Mondovì. Today, in addition to being recognized as Pat (traditional agri-food product), they are a Slow Food Presidium and there is a consortium that safeguards them. It is about buttery cookies, mostly shaped like a donut or stick whose name derives from "melia", a dialect term that indicates corn.

Born probably from the need to mix wheat flour, too expensive, with that of corn cartoon (in particular the eight-row, typical of the area), have spread in the valleys of Cuneo until the Canavese and Biella to get to doors of the Piedmontese capital. It is no coincidence that at Sant'Ambrogio di Torino a festival has celebrated her for 11 years. Only 16 km from here, however, the story takes a different turn. Pianezza, in the Turin hinterland, is the homeland of the blue-eyed boy (another name that defined some species of corn), melt paste dolcetto rediscovered by Gian Paolo Spaliviero, pianezzese and lover of local history.

His research, which became a book (Il mistero dei melicotti di Pianezza, editions of Graffio), started with the reading of an old issue of the Italian Touring Club magazine of 3 March 1920: melicotti are cited as a specialty of Pianezza, which suggests that they were already famous before the world war of '15 -'18 and had popular circulation, thanks to the improvement of road communications in 1884, to the city of Turin. After the '30s the little girls have mysteriously disappeared, so much so that only the exit of the book brings them back into the open and a festival for 7 years celebrates them. Spaliviero's research had the goal of understanding the reason for the disappearance but also to show that the more rustic and hard-headed boyfriends are the progenitors of other cornmeal pastes.

The documents did not lead to a certain conclusion and therefore it is difficult to understand if the meligottas or the melt paste of the Monregalese were born before, whether they are cousins or one descends from the other. Perhaps they are only children of that invisible thread that unites needs: prepare with cheap flour and perhaps with honey instead of sugar, they were energetic and could be cooked using the heat of the oven lit for bread. Because they disappeared from Pianezza but we do not know. The solution is not "elementary", my dear Watson.

On Sale & Pepe di Marzo you can also find:

CHICKEN AND SPICES an ethnic touch for a daily dish

PIZZA AND PIZZAIOLE the masterpiece made in Italy seen to the feminine

FRITTELLE indispensable Carnival ritual

Risotto with nettles: our VIDEO RECIPE of March – Italian Cuisine

Spring is near and there is no better way than welcoming it in the kitchen fully enhancing all its gifts: from the vegetable garden and new fragrances come to the market that we can not wait to bring to the table!
That's why we chose nettles, to make this risotto special and bring joy to your meals.

Recipe of risotto with nettles with pecorino sauce

Ingredients for 4 people

300 g of Carnaroli rice
250 g nettles
200 g milk
130 g peeled and toasted hazelnuts
120 g of percorino
Grana Padano dop
cornstarch
vegetable broth
White vinegar
extra virgin olive oil

Preparation of rice
Clean the nettles, blanch them, drain them following the steps shown below; blend them until a creamy consistency is obtained. Blend 100 g of hazelnuts with 170 g of oil. Break up the remaining hazelnuts
Toast the rice in a saucepan, without fat, for 3-4 minutes. Wet it with a ladle of boiling broth and bring it to cooking, adding more broth, little by little, in 15-18 minutes.

For the sauce
Heat the milk until it boils. Then add 1 teaspoon of cornstarch diluted in a little water and stir. Add the grated pecorino and let it melt until you get a sauce.

Stir the risotto with the cream of nettles, 3-4 tablespoons of hazelnut oil and 3 tablespoons of parmesan.
Complete with a teaspoon of white vinegar and serve with the pecorino sauce and hazelnuts.

STARS AND FOOD – FISH – WEEK FROM 25 TO 03 MARCH – Italian Cuisine

Fortuborn from the 20 February al 20 March

The chef recommends: Passion will guide you, accompanied by a genuineness that is unmatched. Sometimes you think it takes too much time to start projects and to cook a good original dish. The creativity that distinguishes you should channel it in the form of determination. It's your party and make this gift of real energy. Broccoli is your daily bread and the first ones are your essence for this week. Invent a first course that brings together all these your prerogatives, food is a great tool to work on themselves. A toast should be made with a cocktail of invention but with grapefruit as its main character. Good white wine, a Timorasso.