Tag: strength

EA (s) T Lombardy, unity is strength – Italian Cuisine

Networking. This is the guiding spirit of EA (s) T Lombardy which is committed to promoting food and wine in the provinces of Bergamo, Brescia, Cremona and Mantua and supporting the national and international reputation of the excellence of its producers and restaurateurs. Eastern Lombardy, hard hit by the health emergency that hit us in 2020, can now count on a reality ready to celebrate the link between catering and its territory, supporting and defending it through quality. With 300 restaurateurs, 250 producers, 25 PDO and PGI products, as many DOCG, DOC and IGT wines and 11 Slow Food presidia, it is an area that deserves to be protected and enhanced. Such as? By supporting the protagonists of EA (s) T Lombardy in this post-health emergency recovery, trying to understand with them how to recover and what to focus on.

Here the testimonies of those who are ready to start again, focusing first of all on quality.

MARIO CORNALI: CHEF AND OWNER OF THE RESTAURANT COLLINA di ALMENNO SAN
BARTOLOMEO (BG)
“When we reopened it seemed like starting from scratch. But it was a very charged restart from an emotional point of view. My most loyal customers came to visit me, it was a tribute of esteem and affection. We in Bergamo and its province have experienced a tragedy, even emotionally it is not possible to pretend nothing has happened, but the world goes on, is rebuilt and regenerates. We never stopped working, we made delivery throughout Lombardy with our Easter Doves, we experimented with new recipes, rethought the spaces, clean, renewed, thrown useless things. Somehow we have put order in both a real and metaphorical sense. From a practical point of view, working with a mask is not a limit, we cannot be so frivolous to say that we are grieved because we have to wear the mask. Let's say that restaurateurs in general have been put in a position to intervene and improve their offer for the customer: more hygiene, more space, more services ".

FRANCO GIORDANO owner and chef of the Pizzeria OTTAVO NANO – BRESCIA
“We reopened immediately and immediately received reservations. But our customers are not customers, they are friends we call by name. Me, my parents and grandparents have established a relationship with them: grandparents parents grandchildren, everyone comes as if they were going home. I am optimistic about this reopening, certainly fearful that everything could recollect and annoyed that many Lombard restaurateurs do not adopt the correct and imposed rules. It is clear that the number of seats is decreasing: we now have 100 seats outside in the open. There were 80 inside and 28 have become 28. On the other hand, customers are obedient, they don't complain, they appreciate greater protection. The distancing is effective and makes them feel calm, they appreciate the attention. We have also decided not to take away to protect the quality of products and ingredients, to ensure proper conservation and consumption. We preferred to wait, and I hope everyone will do what there is to do in order to protect each other and always guarantee the quality of the service and proposals to our customers ".

SERGIO CARBONI from the RESTAURANT LOCANDA DEGLI ARTISTI – CREMONA
“We had a great desire to reopen and a lot of enthusiasm, because we love our job that in the past weeks we have been missing a lot. At the reopening some regular customers came, who gave us a gesture of esteem and friendship. It will take time and to understand what government aid will be to judge the effects from an economic point of view, it was certainly an exciting and positive moment for us and our guests. We must think positively, transmit messages of trust and encourage people, make them feel good, welcomed and at ease. "

And there are those who choose to open one more day, such as the VIOLET HOSTARIA of Castiglione delle Stiviere – MANTUA
"Fortunately, in our restaurant we already had the tables spaced before and the response from the customers was very good if we exclude an initial feeling of estrangement due to the change of approach, mandatory due to the measures in place. People still want to go back to restaurants. We have chosen to have a definitely proactive approach, otherwise we cannot work in our sector. The economic conditions are worrying. We have chosen to open an extra day a week to try not to have to leave any of our employees at home and we have increased our offer with the takeaway that we did not do before; even so we get to 60% of the pre-pandemic income, but having recently opened it is still too early to make calculations. It is enough for now to stand. "

The strength of the family – Italian cuisine – Italian Cuisine

Tenute Piccini includes five wineries in some of the most renowned areas of Italy for the production of wine. The latest acquisition takes us to Sicily, to discover the wines of Torre Mora, born in the shadow of Etna

The values of tradition handed down from generation to generation, the respect for the vine, the terroir and local typicality they guided the Piccini family through a 130-year history.
IS Mario Piccini, CEO of the company, who tells his baptism in the world of wine with emotion and gratitude, a world that has kidnapped and fascinated him day after day. “Once my father handed me a glass of wine, asking me what I thought of it.

I still remember the surprise of that tasting: sweet and tannic, savory and acid, all integrated in a balance never felt before. Since then I carry that memory with me and try to relive it to share with others the joy and amazement that can cause a glass of perfection. "
That tasting was an important point in the life of Mario who, like his predecessors, invested everything in search for the most suitable territories to the production of wine. Over time, four other splendid estates have joined the company heart located in the Chianti Classico, in Maremma, Montalcino and in two volcanic areas, Vulture and Etna: together, they have almost 150 hectares of vineyards and form the universe of Tenute Piccini.

In the shadow of the volcano

Torre Mora is thecompany of the Piccini family on Etna. The vineyards extend between the towns of Castiglione di Sicilia and Linguaglossa and all are grown organically, with full respect for an extraordinary environment, where the black of the lava stone lights up with the colors of the broom and the spontaneous scrub. The volcanic soils and the important excursions between day and night offer elegant, fragrant wines characterized by a mineral texture that makes them vibrant. In the vineyards, with an age between 10 and 25 years, only native grapes are grown: the Nerello Mascalese and the nerello Cappello, with a dark berry, and the carricante with a white berry.

Four wines in the sign of tradition

There are four labels produced in Torre Mora. Etna Bianco Scalunera is delicate and elegant. Its aromas of yellow flowers, aromatic herbs and plums and the intriguing flavor make it excellent in combination with steamed white fish, crustaceans, spaghetti with clams and sushi. Etna Rosato Scalunera offers itself greedy with the scents of small red fruits and the notes of spices and citrus fruits.
When tasted, it is fresh and with the suitable structure to accompany fish soups, white meats, pizza and a summer classic, ham and melon.
Etna Rosso Cauru, despite its name meaning "hot" in Sicilian dialect, is the freshest of the two reds: it has fragrant aromas of blackberries, violets and roses and a vibrant, fruity and citrusy taste. It goes well with eggplant parmigiana, with veal with tuna sauce, with spicy and spicy recipes and also with vegetarian dishes.
Etna Rosso Scalunera impresses with the elegance of its intense aromas ranging from forest fruit to summer fruit. Concentrated and savory when tasted, it goes well with beef and tuna steaks, grilled meat, game, up to lamb with herbs.

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.