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Fresh peas in ten recipes that will make you fall in love with these legumes – Italian Cuisine

Lots of ideas to bring fresh peas to the table, from appetizers to main courses, not to miss the aroma and taste of these legumes which, fresh, are irresistible.

The season is the right one: spring is the best time to taste the fresh peas, rich in perfume and aromas, ideal for preparing many dishes, from appetizers to main courses. Peas can be found all year round both frozen, dried and canned, but eaten fresh they retain all the nutritional properties they are rich in. If you like them, fresh peas can also be eaten raw in a salad, or as a snack, for a full of vitamins!

Minerals and vitamins in these legumes

Phosphorus and potassium they are the minerals most present in fresh peas, to have healthy bones and teeth and blood pressure under control. Fresh peas are also rich in vitamins. Among all, C, which carries out a stimulating action on the immune system, and K, which helps blood to clot and regulates inflammatory processes. Fresh peas are also a reservoir of folate, the precursors of folic acid, a vitamin that is vital for the growth and development of the fetus, also and above all at the level of the nervous system. Pregnant women are warned!

Peas in all sauces

Peas are prepared in various ways. Just blanched, stir-fried, boiled and blended for a soufflé or a salty plum cake: they are all endless possibilities that you have to bring these tasty legumes to the table. To give a touch of color, you can add them to a sauteed rice, you can combine them with a salad for a light first course or reduce them to puree to add to low-fat cheeses such as ricotta for the filling of a savory pie. They are also a simple and tasty side dish for children who often distrust anything green colors! Seeing is believing!

And now in the gallery the recipes we have chosen to bring fresh peas to the table

Ten things to know about sturgeon – Italian Cuisine

All there is to hope about sturgeon: how much it lives and where it lives, what species we have in Italy, how to cook it, how you get caviar from its eggs, where to go and eat it …

If caviar is one of the most expensive foods there is, there will be a reason. And to find out why, you need to know its producing animal, or sturgeon, which in addition to being one of the largest freshwater fish there is, is also known for its fine meats. Caviar, on the other hand, is obtained by processing and salting the eggs of different sturgeon species, which were once much more common. Then over time they almost disappeared from the Lombard rivers, but fortunately some farms were born, even small ones, such as that of theAgriturismo Loghetto di Crema, which in dialect means "small place". The owner Anna Maria Mariani, an agricultural entrepreneur of Milanese origin, also breeds and cooks other freshwater fish such as tench, eel and catfish, typical of cremasco, also because her husband Antonio had told him: «You are too good at cooking the freshwater fish, never stop ". And so she did.

A Lombard production

In Italy sturgeon is a native fish. In the past it was much more widespread, in rivers such as the Po or the Adda. Then, over time, due to climate change and pollution, he too had the same fate as other specimens: extinction. Added to this is a widespread prejudice on freshwater fish, which has always been less considered than that of the sea. But luckily not everyone thinks so and some have been born over the years farms, especially in Lombardy, who saved him from disappearing.

An infinite number of sturgeons

There is an infinite variety of sturgeon species, around over a hundred. But only a few are widespread in Italy: for example there is the common sturgeon, the pinocchietto and the Cobice, what they breed at Agriturismo Loghetto, present only and exclusively in Italy.

Weight and age

Sturgeons have long life. They are prehistoric and centenary animals, which can go as far as 100 years of life. And considering that they gain about a kilo a year, they can also weigh 100 kilos! The maximum perfection for the consumption of its meats is around the seventh, eighth year of life. In general, the younger the sturgeon meat, the more delicate it is. For the production of caviar, however, it is not mentioned until the eleventh year.

Male or female?

Another of the reasons that makes caviar so rare and valuable, is that up to the eleventh year of age it is impossible to understand if the sturgeon is male or female: they are totally indistinguishable and therefore it is not known whether or not he will lay eggs. Once sex is established, the sturgeon female will continue to lay eggs for years. But how can you tell if he made them?

How to tell if there are eggs

It is also impossible to know if there are eggs in the female. The only way is to have a very expensive large machine that allows you to do an ultrasound, which only the biggest manufacturing companies like Giovannini of Calvisano, in the province of Brescia. Here they also have the tools to engrave the sturgeon female and extract the eggs without killing the animal, an operation possible for a maximum of three times. The only alternative is to suppress them directly in the uncertainty of what will be inside: for example, last year, at the Loghetto they found 70 kilos of caviar in a 20-year-old sturgeon, a real surprise! Finally, to further justify the cost of a product such as caviar, there is the whole long phase of processing and salting the eggs.

Albinos, a rarity

The most requested and prized caviar is the white one, once served only to tsars and emperors. Do you think it can cost you too $ 25,000 a kilo! This is because, explains Anna Maria, even among sturgeons, as well as among human beings, albinos are very rare, so they make this type even more precious.

Seasonality

Sturgeon does not have its seasonality and therefore available all year round, even more on farms, where the water has a constant temperature of about 4-5 degrees. The month of Septemberhowever, as well as for other animals, it is the best time because after the summer the sturgeon is tired and tried, so he eats a little less and his meat is leaner.

power

Unlike other freshwater fish such as trout, torpedoes or pike that eat the seabed, sturgeon is not a predator, but a carnivore that, having no teeth, suck the food. Anna Maria breeds them only with a bio preparation based on shrimp, also because on such a product there are many controls by the ASL.

In the kitchen

Before cooking it, sturgeon must be able to clean it, since it has special shields on its back, as hard as stone. When fresh, its meat is firmer and more consistent, making it ideal on its own baked. Alternatively, sturgeon is excellent for seasoning pasta, such as stuffed with ravioli, in a risotto, or fried, in a dish that Anna Maria calls the sturgeon nuggets, that is, meatballs served with a fennel and orange salad. But even the sturgeon does not throw anything away, so every part of it is used, such as the head, perfect for preparing a sauce. Being such a precious animal, you don't always find it on the menu, but only on request when Anna Maria catches it by reservation and cooks it immediately for her most loyal customers, those who have tried it once and from there have not more stopped. Indeed, if Anna knows it in advance, she also keeps sturgeons on a diet for about fifteen days, so that they purge everything well and that the meat is as firm as it should be.

The pairing with the wines of Oltrepò Pavese

For over seventy years, in the Ruinello di Sotto hamlet, in Santa Maria della Versa, in the province of Pavia, in the heart of Oltrepò Pavese, the farm Manuelina produces two wines that seem to have been born to spend their life with sturgeon: they are a Riesling it's a Classic method, selected by Elisa, children of Anna Maria, a great passionate and profound wine connoisseur, who after various experiences around the world understood that no, a place like the Loghetto, with all its sturgeons, would not have left it never.

Fennel in ten courses – Italian Cuisine

Raw or cooked, fennel is a vegetable with a thousand properties, as well as being perfect for those who must lose weight: it contains only 9 calories per kilo.

Did you know that the fennel Is it indicated to purify and lose weight? Thanks to its digestive properties it helps to deflate the belly and eliminate waste and toxins. Furthermore, being a low-calorie vegetable, it immediately gives a sense of satiety and helps maintain a low-calorie diet. But if you don't have any weight problems, cook it following our advice: you will bring rich dishes to the table.

In sfoglia with gorgonzola and hazelnuts

A small and very tasty finger food: cut with a pastry ring circles of ready-made puff pastry, cook them in the oven at 180 ° for a few minutes and garnish with a cream that you have obtained by blending the boiled fennel with a spoonful of whipped cream. Season with salt, mix the finger foods with the fennel cream, a teaspoon of sweet and soft gorgonzola, and finish with a chopped hazelnuts.

Fennel and raw food

For this appetizer, get yourself a ring and a mold of a few centimeters smaller. Place the baking paper on a baking sheet, place the mold on it, cover with slices of bacon or bacon, as you prefer, which you will make overflow. Place the smaller mold over the bacon slices and cook at 200 ° for a few minutes, until it becomes crispy. Remove your basket from the oven, garnish with finely sliced raw fennel and celery, some small leaves of fresh spinach and grapes. Season with an emulsion of oil, balsamic vinegar, a pinch of mustard and salt and serve immediately.

Salty cake

Prepare the cake with 200 g of flour, 100 g of milk, 3 eggs, a teaspoon of yeast and a tablespoon of olive oil. Knead, let the mixture rest for 30 minutes in the fridge and then roll it out on a buttered baking sheet. Stuffed with slices of Brie cheese and with boiled fennel. Cover with a beaten egg and 200 g of fresh cream and sprinkle with a generous handful of Parmesan cheese. Bake and cook for 25 minutes at 180 °. Serve the sliced cake on a bed of fresh salad.

Spaghetti alla chitarra with fennel and anchovies

This first very tasty is prepared in a few minutes. You have to sauté the fennels cut into wedges in a little oil and a breast of garlic. When they are cooked but still crunchy remove them from the heat. In the same pan, toast some breadcrumbs with a little oil, add anchovies and pine nuts. Sauté everything for a few minutes, add the fennel and stir to mix the ingredients well. Cook the spaghetti on the guitar and season with the fennel sauce. If you like, you can add a sprinkling of tuna bottarga.

Fennel cream with cauliflower and clams

For a refined dinner. Prepare the cream by boiling the fennel in salted water for ten minutes. Then drain and sauté in a pan with a little oil and a clove of garlic. Let them flavor for a few minutes and when they are well cooked, blend them. Add a tablespoon of fresh cream and keep warm. Separately reduce the cauliflowers in small florets and boil them for ten minutes. Heat the clams in a pan with a little oil and when they are open, filter the cooking liquid. Put the shelled clams, their filtered liquid, a tablespoon of oil, the boiled cauliflower and a handful of chopped parsley in a pan. Season and serve with fennel cream with clams, cauliflower and freshly ground pepper.

Fennel pie with sausage and Camembert

This is a first course that can also become a main course in an informal lunch. First boil the fennels for 8 minutes, they must be cooked but still crunchy. When they are ready, place them in a previously buttered pan, add the browned sausage cut into small pieces and finish with slices of Camembert. Add a sprinkling of Parmigiano Reggiano and bake at 180 degrees for ten minutes, the time the cheese melts. Serve hot.

Fennel and sea bream millefeuille

For this appetizer or second course, as you prefer, you can also organize the day before. In fact, you can prepare confit tomatoes in advance. Slice the tomatoes, arrange them on a baking tray and season with a pinch of salt and sugar. Add a little oil and bake at 100 ° for about two hours. When they are ready, remove them from the oven, being careful to recover their cooking water as well. At this point boil the fennel for eight minutes and cut it into small pieces. Sauté the sea bream fillets in a pan with a little oil and a pinch of salt. Then chop and arrange them on the bottom of a small bowl. Add the cut fennel, the tomatoes confit with their water and the crumbled taralli and brown them in a pan with a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil. Here is the puff pastry ready.

Caramelized fennel

An outline of sure effect. Cut the fennel into wedges, place them in a saucepan with a little oil and half a glass of water and let them simmer. When they are soft, remove the excess water, add two tablespoons of brown sugar and half a glass of orange juice. Make caramelize by turning the fennel and serve with a sprinkling of grated orange peel.

Sauce for meats

With fennel, you can also prepare an excellent sauce that will serve to accompany the meat. Just boil them in salted water flavored with a slice of lemon. When they are ready, blend them with a tablespoon of oil, chopped chives, salt, pepper, a tablespoon of mustard and two tablespoons of water. Mix well and serve with grilled meat.

Fennel and tuna skewers

A quick and easy recipe to prepare, which is suitable for lunches with friends or informal dinners. Get long toothpicks or skewers. Sauté the fennel in a little oil with the sliced shallots, salt and pepper. Separately scalded in a pan with a little oil, for a few minutes, a slice of tuna previously passed in a pistachio grit. Cut it into small pieces and make the skewers alternating fennel and tuna pieces. You can accompany your skewers with a saffron-flavored mayonnaise.