Tag: Room

At the restaurant, but in the private room. Here's where to go, between Milan and Sicily – Italian Cuisine

This fall will be the trend: the private room, in the starred restaurant or trattoria, for maximum privacy (and social distancing). To eat pizza, sushi or even the cutlet that Shakira …

A restaurant with a private room, in Milan, in the hinterland or in any other Italian city, it is an address to be treasured. A separate room is perfect for a party, a dinner with friends, to gather a work team (or, as often happens, because after a certain age you prefer to be quiet, away from the confusion). The private room is, therefore, highly sought after, but not so easy to find: it is often too small, too large or simply not quite secluded. Individuals, communication agencies, events, companies … But in 2020 another type of customer is added.

If the lockdown ended with the arrival of summer and everyone poured into the street, in the squares, in the garden to eat outdoors, as soon as the suffocating heat arrives or in the autumn the private room will be the perfect choice to get together. Because the restaurant is fine, but avoiding being too close to other customers.

Here then is a rundown of restaurants with a private room: from Milan to Sicily, passing through Rome, Naples, a castle in the Langhe and a place that in those rooms has seen passing from George Michael to Shakira; also famous for its Milanese cutlet.

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The Ascoli olives and the strength of a woman in the operating room – Italian Cuisine

In Ancona, an avant-garde surgical practice called "awake surgery" and the exquisite olives of Ascoli intertwine in a story that has an incredible

Prepare the Ascoli olives while being operated on by the brain as a wake-up call. The news reported by Ansa quickly traveled around the world, up to the major American television networks. A story that is incredible and that happened in the capital of the Marche, at the Ospedali Riuniti of Ancona. The woman, a sixty-year-old from Abruzzo, prepared 90 stuffed olives in just under an hour, while undergoing surgery on the left temporal lobe, an area responsible for the control and organization of language and complex movements of the right part of the body. It is a consolidated practice called "cutting edge" awake surgery, which allows you to monitor the patient while surgeons intervene on brain functions.

"Everything went well," Dr. Roberto Trignani, head of the Department of Neurosurgery, at the end of the operation, which lasted a total of two and a half hours and which involved 11 people including neurosurgeons, neuroanesthesiologists, nurses, a psychologist, a neurophysiology technician.

Now, the news itself could rightly be relegated to the medical field, if it were not for the great value that the kitchen assumes in the life of all of us. An activity that is part of our culture, of daily life, so much so that it becomes a panacea for the most difficult moments and, as in this case, an indispensable placebo saves lives in the operating room.

So here is what the Ascoli olives are and how they are prepared from the nineteenth century to today.

The Tenera Ascolana, the giant olive

The tradition of stuffed olives in Ascoli is widespread among the provinces of Ascoli Piceno and in Abruzzo of Teramo, where tender olives can be found, a prized variety of giant olives. From noble preparation, today this dish has become one of the emblems of street food. It is a giant ellipsoidal and elongated olive (each drupe weighs 4 to eight grams), with fleshy pulp. The color of the fruit goes from green to straw yellow until it becomes purple with full ripeness. It is one of the four Italian PDOs, but the production is particularly limited and, above all, the tender is difficult to pitting with a knife due to its fragility. Reason why artisan producers apply a higher price for stuffed Ascoli. The food industries offer them in the fridge of supermarkets with fillings of various kinds, but this variety is hardly used in industry, due to the limited cultivation. Furthermore, in Ascoli Piceno, if it is not prepared by hand, it is not a real "fried liva ascolana".

The recipe for Ascoli olives

The recipe for stuffed olives is very old. It dates back to 1800. Preparation takes several hours and each family has its own version. The differences come from the choice of meats, the use of spices or lemon, breading and, of course, the type of olive. In Ascoli, every restaurateur has his own little secret that makes them unique, local delicatessens send them home throughout Italy.

Ingredients

To make 100 stuffed olives (about 1.5 kg of finished product)

1 kilo of “tener Ascoli” olives; 300 grams of beef pulp; 100 grams of pork meat; 100 grams of chicken or turkey breast; a hectogram of grated Parmesan; three fresh eggs; nutmeg; zest of 1/2 untreated lemon; a clove; a stalk of celery; an onion; a glass of white wine; 00 flour; bread crumbs; extra virgin olive oil and salt.

Method

Once the olives have been drained from their brine, one of the main precautions is to keep the olives in fresh water for a few hours with a generous dose of wild fennel (in the local dialect "bastard fennel"). Chop celery, carrot and onion and a clove and just brown them with a little oil in a saucepan. Cut the meat into small pieces, brown it together with the vegetables and lemon zest until golden brown, then blend with the white wine, preferably from the Picene hills (a good Falerio) and season with salt. When the meat is cooked, it must be left to cool and then grind it to a very fine grain with a meat grinder or mixer. Add a pinch of nutmeg, 2 eggs and Parmesan; mix well mixing until a homogeneous mixture is obtained.

In the meantime, pitted the olives with a smooth blade knife: starting from the stalk, cut the pulp from the core by drawing a spiral without ever detaching the blade from the olive, thus obtaining a single strip of pulp. Take the dough and fill the olives by reassembling the original shape of the fruit with the peel. Pass each olive first in the flour, then in the beaten egg and finally in the breadcrumbs. In a large pan, bring the temperature of the extra virgin olive oil (or sunflower) to 170 degrees and immerse the olives by turning them until they are golden brown outside; drain them, place them on a paper towel and serve them still hot.

Routine in the kitchen: there is also room for children – Italian Cuisine

The little ones can help you cook, but also to tidy up and clean, as long as it's made as a game

Days at home with i children they seem infinite and spend slowly, especially in difficult moments like what we are experiencing.
But with the right spirit they can also become very fun and stimulating for everyone.
In kitchen routine for example – breakfast, lunch, dinner, preparing, tidying up – we can involve the whole family.
What can we do in the kitchen with the kids? Cakes and delicacies, of course, but also many other activities, not only useful to entertain them, but also to maintain order … in every sense.

Easter cleaning with children

Easter is upon us. It is time to cleaning!
They are called so because these are the right days to think about one very thorough cleaning of the kitchen and pantry.
Children will have a great time a empty drawers and shelves to put some order in the kitchen.
The activities to do are many and very stimulating and you will take advantage of it to take two birds with one stone.
Everything in its place, clean kitchen and happy children!

Everything in a jar

You will certainly have envelopes of dried legumes, pasta and cereals scattered everywhere and open.
You will also have many old jars of jam or maybe preserves to finish and jars to wash.
Once everything has been sterilized, use i glass jars as containers for all that lies in sachets closed with clothespins or with a scotch that does not hold.
It will be a lot of fun for children to empty bags and fill jars and order will reign in your pantries.

More labels I can't

Once the jars are placed, it is important label them, when necessary.
The pasta is easily recognizable, but the spices are not and the cereals are not always.
So take paper and glue, or some real labels if you have them, and write what you have in front of you: salt, curry, pepper, paprika, chilli pepper, quinoa, chia seeds …
Children who are still unable to write can to draw, then arm them with crayons and wax colors and let them create.

Clean pantries

Once the pantries have been emptied, before filling them again, clean them well, discard what is no longer edible and set aside in a more visible place what should be consumed as soon as possible.
Children can help you with one wet piece in hand for cleaning and a careful eye for Expiring dates.
In this way they will also learn the value of things and understand how important it is do not waste.

Great jobs in the refrigerator

Everything you have done for the pantry also applies to the fridge.
Empty it and occasionally clean it and classify what you have and what you need to consume, always having the children help you. Also teach them how to store exactly all the ingredients and help them do it.

Tasks for everyone in the kitchen

Once the kitchen is well arranged, make a nice poster on which you will draw a weekly calendar.
Thus you will write down day by day i tasks that belong to every member of the family.
The children will be in charge of the table to set and clear and also to preparation of some easy recipes to be planned week by week, while the adults will provide general cleaning.
On the calendar you can write down other types of homework and assign small stikers like prize for children who have been good.

One recipe a day

Always on the calendar you can write down all the recipes that can be prepared, especially with the ingredients that you have put aside because they are nearing their expiry.
Every day you spend an hour or two at preparation of a dish for the whole familyobviously with the help of children.
In this way you will spend precious time with your family, however you will carry out your daily activities in the kitchen, but with a different spirit and certainly with many more smiles.
The children will be serene, happy, stimulated and they will feel useful. This will certainly make them feel bigger and more responsible.
So here's how a game can become a moment of growth.