Tag: single

When the yogurt becomes a single dish – Italian Cuisine

Yogurt is a good food, friend of the intestine, especially if it is probiotic or at least as long as it is a genuine yogurt (or even, why not, homemade).

Lunch break, especially in summer, may mean a rich yogurt as a basis for a single dish. Like the Uncle Scrooge button soup, a yogurt flavored with the right ingredients can become a complete, healthy and delicious meal. Here are some ideas.

Most of us associate enriched yogurt with a sweet meal – and occasionally making a meal without salt is not at all a bad idea among other things. This actually depends on the ingredients we choose and how much sugar (in various forms) is eventually added. In any case we start from the classics.

Prelude: it is very important take care of the consistency. Yogurt itself can already be more or less liquid and creamy (the top of compactness and creaminess is the Greek one, or however cast). The creaminess of the yogurt is then combined with various soft or hard, dry or juicy ingredients. The advice is always to mix a variety of consistency, and not to miss at least one crunchy element.

Point number 2: the most common yogurt is certainly that of cow, which however does not win on the health scale. sulted alternative is the goat (or the sheep). Then there are of course the so-called vegetable yoghurts, primarily soy , but also soy is not the top choice for health: today there are good alternatives, for example those made with coconut milk, rich in properties.

40726 And now we come to the other ingredients. Primarily: fburp, dried fruit and candied fruit. The fruit: let's have a go at it, but let's choose however that of the season, which gives us better nutrients and better taste. We can also put the cooked fruit, if you like it, maybe spiced with cinnamon and lemon zest. Fruit dried, we will never tire of repeating it, it is a true life saver and it's rich in protein as well as many other precious elements. There are the great classics like the homegrown and beloved walnuts (which combine very well, for example, with white grapes) or the more exotic Brazilian nuts. Hazelnuts, which are even more delicious when toasted and almonds, which among other things help for spring sleep and exhaustion. Then there is the fruit – fruit – dry: le apricots (which are among the least caloric) and the prunes they do very well! And then you can add some delicious piece of candied fruit, starting from ginger, which will give that extra tone to your single dish (do you know that it is the most powerful natural pain reliever?).

Also for protein & c the berries, like goji, açai, maqui and seeds like those of chia (which we recommend to soak first to soften it and then then assimilate all the properties) or sesame, pumpkin, cannabis, in short, all the little oily goodness.

We then move on to the carbohydrate: not only ad hoc cereals of every kind and type, starting from oats, which can be dry and crunchy but also cooked and soft porridge style. Not only that (and not too much!) cookies (if you have to, then quickly make them at home, your children will be happy too!). In yogurt the rusks are like a mouse in the cheese: give a delicious crunchy touch, choose the bio and maybe one alternative flour, like that of ancient grains or spelled. And let's not forget the dry pan: toasted and chopped is a real one greedy recovery from yogurt, both sweet and savory (in the latter case, treat it from mini bruschetta to be added to the dish).

Sweetener chapter: white sugar prohibited. True sugar nourishes as well as sweetening. And then there is honey, a true natural medicine (there is also the delicious bitter strawberry tree honey) and healthy and alternative sweeteners such as Maple syrup or dates. And if we didn't sweeten at all? Excellent choice, especially if there are already well-sugary elements such as fruit or dried fruit. Or if you want to get your own sweet-salty or savory dish.

174979 In these last cases they come into play vegetables: not only the classic – and anticellulitic – cucumber, with which the well-known tzatziki is prepared but also tomatoes, beets and courgettes (grated or chopped), which you can mix with fruit (for example apples or pineapples) or season with oil & salt for the savory version. If you want to go into it, try the smoked fish (small pieces of sweet trout or of tasty herring (to combine with apple) but it can also become a container for great summer classics like ham & melon o the bresaola, which goes beautifully with fruit, even exotic.

In all cases – dish made with sweet, sweet-salty or salted yogurt – let's not forget the possible spices, starting from the sumptuous saffron is we dare to add the aromatic herbs, such as oregano (delicious combined with sunflower honey, for example), fresh marjoram (which combines very well with the banana), mint rather than helichrysum.

Other than: "At lunch I ate ONLY a yogurt" !!!

Carola Traverso Saibante
June 2019

DISCOVER THE COOKING COURSES OF SALT & PEPE

Bitter tortelli of Castel Goffredo, history and recipe of a single dish – Italian Cuisine

The bitter tortelli are a typical dish of Castel Goffredo, in the province of Mantua. They are called so because of the particular grass that is put in the filling

The Italian culinary tradition is so rich that sometimes there are recipes that do not exceed the limits of a municipality. This is the case of the bitter tortelli of Castel Goffredo, an ancient dish and very "cooked" by the castellans, but until recently not very well known outside the home. The recent history of this small town in the province of Mantua is closely linked to that of stockings. Even today, most of the yarns and tights that cover the legs of thousands of women come right from here. However, the industrial dimension is relegated to the periphery. Crossing the narrow streets of the historic center, from the mouths of its inhabitants and from the menus of its trattorias, one realizes that it is rather this that dominates the scene. particular stuffed pasta.

Tortelli bitters, the origin of the name

They are called that for the presence in the filling of St. Peter's grass, also commonly known as "Bitter herb". The scientific name is Balsamita major, it blooms around the end of June, when the Saint's anniversary falls (June 29th). The plant is part of the family of aromatic-balsamic and has, as you may have guessed, a pleasant bitter aftertaste. The recipe has been handed down from generation to generation, but mostly orally. There is very little literature on this subject, apart from a few cookbooks preserved in the beliefs of older housewives who, they assure, have always made these tortelli.

It's a short step from pumpkin to bitter grass

In the nearby Mantova, the dough is filled with pumpkin and their tortelli are famous throughout Italy. Here, in Castel Goffredo, instead we put this particular grass that still grows spontaneously in the gardens and in the vegetable gardens of the houses. The idea of replace the cucurbitaceae with the aromatic plant it must have come to some housewife who, in times of thin, with the little she had, will have worked to create a new dish. The fame is not comparable to that of the Mantuan tortelli, but lately also bitter ravioli are starting to come out.

In the recipe "publishes" all the ingredients

Only some of the "risidure" (dialectal term to define the women who run the house) know the original recipe, which, however, they keep jealously secret to reserve the true dish to friends and relatives. The following is the public version. For the pastry it takes 300 grams of 00 flour, three eggs and one yolk. The ingredients for the stuffing are: 600 grams of herbs, 80 grams of butter, 50 grams of sage, an egg, an onion, a clove of garlic, 20 leaves of bitter herb, 40 grams of grated bread, 80 grams of grana padano, salt pepper and nutmeg.

Here's how to prepare the filling

First clean and blanch the herbs in salt water. Then drain them, trying to remove all the excess liquid, and cut them – not too fine – with the knife. Fry in butter the sage, onion and garlic. Once the herbs have also been seasoned, combine them in a bowl with the eggs, Grana Padano cheese, breadcrumbs, sage, onion and garlic, nutmeg, pepper and salt. Mix everything and finally add the raw chopped bitter herb. Prepare the dough of egg pasta cut into squares, fill with a teaspoon of filling and fold into a triangle. Cook in salted water and serve with a sprinkling of good grated cheese and a tablespoon of melted butter and crisp sage.

At the Tortello Amaro Festival in Castel Goffredo to eat the real ones

Foreigners have a single chance to be able to taste the truly original and is the Bitter Tortello Festival, scheduled this year from 13 to 16 June at the Parco la Fontanella. On this occasion the housewives themselves will get to work, offering those who are not local the chance to taste the real Tortelli Amari of Castel Goffredo or the Tortelli Amarissi, "Just like the castellans like". The rest of the menu will also be based on dishes cooked with this herb: braised pork with pork bitter polenta, bitter polenta with straccone cheese, Amarburgher with fries, Buon Umore cake, Bitter ice cream is GranitinAmara. For those who could not go to the party can always try them in some country restaurants, such as La Viola, La Pialla, Il Roccolo, or in neighboring towns such as the Selvole which is located in the hamlet of the same name, at the trattoria Da Laura in the Perosso hamlet, at the Agriturismo San Lorenzo in the hamlet of Casalpoglio.

Dinner with a single dish: the 10 best recipes – Italian Cuisine

You have little time available but do you want to prepare a satisfying, healthy and balanced dinner? You need a tasty recipe single dish! The single dish well done it is a complete and balanced meal in which proteins, fats, sugars and fiber are contained in a single flow. If we had to summarize it in a balanced formula this would show how it should contain 25% protein, 25% carbohydrates and 50% vegetables and fruit. A useful scheme to learn "to eat healthily and enrich your every meal with all the nutrients your body needs, stimulating the sense of satiety, avoiding insulin spikes and helping us to have better lucidity and long-term energy".

Do you think that a well balanced single course Is it difficult to prepare and does not satisfy your hunger and your palate? Nothing could be more wrong, there are so many unique dishes you can make! Mixing the ingredients you can get complete and healthy dishes but also very appetizing and satisfying. And, if your appetite is insatiable, it is always possible to approach the single dish to a rich man vegetable side dish. Prepare a healthy and balanced single dish it is not difficult and stimulates creativity in the kitchen: it means to get involved, to dare combinations of carbohydrates (pasta, rice, cereals), proteins (meat, fish and legumes) and vegetables, always different, to combine colors to make the preparation appetizing and nice to see; create a balance of different flavors that blend to give rise to a unique and original taste.

But the single dish it can also be a fast dish that comes to you when you don't want to give up an appetizing and healthy meal but have little time to devote to cooking, or, when it is really impossible for you to stop at the table to make a complete meal, consisting of several courses but you don't want to give up the pleasure to taste more flavors.

In Italy, there are so many traditional recipes of unique dishes, each region has its own recipe and, almost always, it is of peasant origin, mostly born from the need to bring to the table or to work a complete meal also made with very few ingredients. An example is the Pizza or the Romagna piadina but also i vegetable timballi, of potatoes, d rice you hate pasta. Abroad, the single dish it is a real cultural heritage that has given rise to recipes that are today very famous like the Fish paella (or that one mixed), The chicken couscous and vegetables (or that one vegetarian), theAmerican hamburgher, the sushi Japanese or le tortillas Mexican.

Did you feel like cooking? The ideas to compose a single dish they are truly infinite, not just for one dinner fast in the family or with friends, but also for the lunch to take to the office: take inspiration from Salt & Pepper recipes of this selection or try them all to find out which one is yours single dish favorite!