Tag: tips

5 recipes and useful tips – Italian Cuisine

All you need to know about red rice: where to buy it, properties, cooking times and how to cook it. Furthermore, 5 recipes to follow step by step

You love rice and risotto, but do not you dare go beyond the classic vialone nano, carnaroli and arborio? Try the red rice and you'll fall in love with it.

Property

Red rice is a cereal of oriental origin now widely used in our country and cultivated in the Po Valley.
The most common is the integral one particularly rich in fibers and mineral salts, recognizable both for its aroma and for its thin and elongated shape.
From a nutritional point of view it is more complete and healthy than the classic white rice and is a source of phosphorus, magnesium and vegetable proteins.
Red rice, moreover, has a considerable satiating power and is therefore perfect for those on a diet.
It does not contain gluten so it can be consumed without problems even by celiacs.

Red fermented rice

A particular variety of red rice is the fermented one, indicated to those suffering from high cholesterol and therefore a great ally of the cardio-circulatory system.
Red rice is used just as a natural supplement to reduce levels of bad cholesterol in the blood.
This rice is made from common rice, which is then subjected to particular fermentation processes, for which it has an intense red color. You can find the herbal medicine or in the para pharmacies in the form of capsules or powder.

Cooking times

Being a variety of brown rice, red rice has quite long cooking times, about 35-40 minutes.
Cook in boiling water like other types of rice and should always be rinsed before cooking to remove any residues. To reduce cooking time, it can be left to soak for a few hours.

Where to buy it

Find red rice easily even in supermarkets.
If, however, you want a little refined, more fragrant and tasty, untreated and organic rice, then go to the natural food stores or the most supplied herbalists.

How to cook it

As we said, red rice should be boiled or steamed like any other type of rice.
It does not lend itself much to being risottato, but instead is perfect to prepare cold dishes rich in vegetables, meat or fish and can be used as an accompaniment to particularly seasoned recipes instead of the classic basmati rice.

If you want to try it, here are 5 recipes from our archive

On a diet in winter: tips for not giving up – Italian Cuisine

The end of the year old revelries seem now far away, but summer is not so close: i first months of the year I am a limbo, which lends itself perfectly to make a commitment and lose the extra pounds. From the Tao diet that comes from the East to that of supermetabolism, suitable for the cold season because it allows to eat in quantity, there is certainly no lack of proposals and alternatives to try to dispose of excess weight.

The problem is another. For those who choose to wear on a diet in the middle of winter there is no good news: the "good intentions" diet at the beginning of the year risks skyrocketing. The results of some research are far from encouraging: only 8% of those who start a diet in winter successfully completes it, and even those who laboriously will get some results will quickly recover the few pounds lost.

As often happens, science comes to the aid to explain the reasons of the failure of "winter" diets, breaking a spear in favor of those who, armed with the best intentions, always see their efforts frustrated: the guilt would be of an "ancestral" instinct, the same that pushed our ancestors to eat more in the cold months, the period when food was harder to find, and that still today makes us feel a greater desire for food during the winter, pushing us to accumulate weight.

Many nutritionists argue that during winter should increase calories introduced to better withstand lowering temperatures. But then how to set up if you want to start a diet in winter and you intend to bring it to a successful conclusion?

Here are some tips from dott.ssa Carla Lertola, nutritionist: "If it is true that during the winter we are led to eat more calories, it is equally true that now we live in preheated environments and we move little, and therefore we risk not being able to dispose of them. To achieve a diet is fundamental the mental approach. Starting a weight loss diet in January or February can offer the double advantage of having a long period of time during which you gradually reduce the caloric quota, without upsetting our habits ".

To sum up, apart from good will, here are some tips to get fit in the winter months:

Start the diet on time, in order to have a right amount of time to get used to the new diet, which must however be well balanced and varied

Learn to shop, avoiding buying temptations and choosing instead the ingredianti with which we can prepare some flight comfort food healthy

Buy seasonal products and learn how to cook them in the most correct way to preserve their nutritive principles

Enrich the raw materials with the spices reducing the amount of salt and fat

Finally, let us not forget – we add – that in order to stand firm we can offer ourselves a non-food prize: it has been demonstrated that the "Happy Meal effect" helps us to eat less.

article of Silvia Tatozzi
3 February 2016
updated by Stella Rita
January 2019

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10 recipes and 10 tips – Italian Cuisine

Fresh or smoked salmon is a fish with rich and tasty meats: here's how to choose it, clean it and cook it

The salmon is a fish with fatty meats but rich in omega 3 and polyunsaturated fats, which contribute to lower the total cholesterol level (the bad one, to be clear) and to raise the good cholesterol, the HDL. Its meats are an important source of energy and protein. Its nutritional characteristics vary however if the fish is an adult or young specimen. In the first case the protein content reaches up to 20%, while in the second it stops at 16%.

Fish characteristics

The salmon we consume mostly comes from Norwegian breeding, which have an innovative and safe control system and which guarantees excellent quality of meat and food safety. The meat of this fish is very appreciated for their consistency, pleasantness and versatility in the kitchen. The varieties on the market are many, each with a particular characteristic: the salmon king, more than a meter long, has a color between pink and dark orange; that of the Atlantic, which weighs even over 5 kg, is called the most delicious. Then there is the red salmon, about 70 cm long, from the fine meats, which is often kept canned. Finally, the pink salmon, small in size, just over two kg, has a pink color and soft meat that flakes off easily. For this reason it is easy to find it packed in a box. The best salmon, the most sought after, is the wild one, which goes upstream to return to its river. Usually the finest meats are those of specimens that come from Alaska, Canada and Scotland.

The smoking

Smoking is a process that can take place hot or cold. In the first case the fish fillets are covered with salt and placed at a temperature of 120 ° for 20 minutes and then at 80 ° for three hours, checking that the fish is kept at 75 ° internally. In the case of cold smoking, however, the salmon is covered with salt with the addition of sugar and the fillets are placed for 12 hours at 20 ° C in wooden containers.

How to cook

The large salmon is sold in slices or in slices, which can be grilled or baked. The smaller ones are sold whole and cooked in the oven, in foil or in crust. Smoked salmon, on the other hand, is perfect to be served with toasted bread or marinated with oil and lemon or used to prepare delicious canapes. Below are our suggestions for bringing it to the table.

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