Tomatoes with rice

This time we present a recipe that we are emotionally tied, typical dish of Roman cuisine, was a dish that has accompanied us over the years and is undoubtedly one of our favorites. The image of our grandmothers busy preparing this recipe is something that is fixed in our memory ….

“nonna” (grandmother in italian) you were definitely the best.

Vegetarian main course prepared with tomatoes stuffed with a savory filling of rice flavored with herbs and baked. The stuffed tomatoes are a simple dish to prepare and highly effective. They are ideal for a summer lunch and you can prepare in advance and bake when needed.

According to tradition, tomatoes should always be accompanied by a side dish of potatoes.

The peculiarity of this recipe is that the rice with which are stuffed tomatoes must be put to raw, in fact will be then the liquids contained in the sauce to cook the stuffing in the oven.

Excellent freshly baked, they can also be eaten warm or cold, but keep in mind that cold potatoes are not so inviting.

……let’s learn how to prepare this delicious recipe…….

Level: Easy    Preparation time: 25 minutes   Rest time: 1 hour   Cooking time: 45 minutes

 

Ingredients (original recipe serves 4):

Round tomatoes hard n.8  7 ounces each  (200 gr each)

Arborio rice (or medium grain rice)  1/2 pound (240 gr)

 Extra virgin olive oil n. 3 tablespoon

Chopped fresh Parsley  1/2 ounce (10g)

Chopped fresh Basil four leaf

Fresh Oregano 1/4 ounce (5 g )

Minced garlic 1/2 clove

Salt and pepper

Directions:

• cut the top of each tomato, so you have a cover for the tomatoes, put them aside to drain by placing the cut side of a sheet of paper towels;

• using a corer (or a spoon), drain the tomatoes interior, being careful not to break them and making sure to leave at least 0,4 inches (1 cm) of pulp inside, set aside the remaining pulp;

• in a bowl, whisk the remaining pulp with all the juice, add the uncooked rice, season with chopped herbs, chopped garlic, salt and pepper;

              

• let stand the mixture for 1 hour, the rice has thus able to better absorb the flavors of the other ingredients;
• stuff tomatoes filling for maximum ¾ the inside with the rice, sprinkle with breadcrumbs and add a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, close the lid previously cut;

            

• after being washed and peeled, cut the potatoes into strips about 0,8 inches (2 cm) thick, season with olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic and cook in the same pan with the tomatoes;

• arrange the tomatoes and potatoes in an oiled baking pan (alternatively use greaseproof paper) and bake in preheated oven at 320 °F (160 °C) for about 45 minutes, after remove the tomatoes from the oven and serve.

Suggestions:

This dish can be eaten hot or cold, especially in the summer. The rest time of the rice mixture may be extended so as to promote a better exchange of flavors between the various ingredients.

To make this recipe even more delicious, you can try different variations like  Parmesan cheese (2 ounces – 60 gr), or alternatively tuna (3,5 ounces – 100 gr).

If you want tomatoes retain a perfect shape even during cooking, avoiding the risk they open, you can use strips, 2 inches wide (5 cm), of aluminum foil to wrap around each tomato tightening slightly.

Sweet like….HONEY

A sunny day is an excellent opportunity to visit a friend honey producer and learn more about the world of bees and honey.

Giuliano and the beehives

Known since ancient times, honey was always present in human life as an important element. Honey has had a long history in human consumption, and is used in various foods and beverages as a sweetener and flavoring. It also has a role in religion and symbolism. Flavors of honey vary based on the nectar source, and various types and grades of honey are available. It has also been used in various medicinal traditions to treat ailments. Let’s discover it……

How is honey made

Honeybees use nectar to make honey. Nectar is almost 80% water with some complex sugars. They use their long, tubelike tongues like straws to suck the nectar out of the flowers and they store it in their “honey stomachs”.

Bees actually have two stomachs, their honey stomach which they use like a nectar backpack and their regular stomach. The honey stomach holds almost 70 mg of nectar and when full, it weighs almost as much as the bee does. Honeybees must visit between 100 and 1500 flowers in order to fill their honeystomachs.

The honeybees return to the hive and pass the nectar onto other worker bees. These bees suck the nectar from the honeybee’s stomach through their mouths. These “house bees” “chew” the nectar for about half an hour. During this time, enzymes are breaking the complex sugars in the nectar into simple sugars so that it is both more digestible for the bees and less likely to be attacked by bacteria while it is stored within the hive. The bees then spread the nectar throughout the honeycombs where water evaporates from it, making it a thicker syrup. The bees make the nectar dry even faster by fanning it with their wings. Once the honey is gooey enough, the bees seal off the cell of the honeycomb with a plug of wax.

Bee hive

Honey frame

honey frame_2

An uncapping knife

Uncapping the cells by hand

Honey is produced by bees as a food source and it is stored until it is eaten, In cold weather or when fresh food sources are scarce, bees use their stored honey as their source of energy. In one year, a colony of bees eats between 120 and 200 pounds of honey. To produce about 500 g of honey, foraging honey bees have to travel the equivalent of three times around the world.

By contriving for bee swarms to nest in artificial hives, people have been able to semidomesticate the insects and harvest excess honey. In the hive or in a wild nest, the three types of bees are:

• a single female queen bee, the largest bee in the colony. Queens are developed from larvae selected by worker bees to become sexually mature. The queen develops more fully than sexually immature workers because she is given royal jelly, a secretion from glands on the heads of young workers, for an extended time. Her sole function is to serve as the reproducer; she is an “egg laying machine.” A good queen of quality stock, well reared with good nutrition and well mated, can lay up to 3,000 eggs per day during the spring build-up and live for two or more years.
• a seasonally variable number of male drone bees to fertilize new queens, The male bees, called “drones”, are characterized by eyes that are twice the size of those of worker bees and queens, and a body size greater than that of worker bees, though usually smaller than the queen bee. Their abdomen is stouter than the abdomen of workers or queen. Although heavy bodied, drones have to be able to fly fast enough to catch up with the queen in flight. Drones are stingless. Their main function in the hive is to be ready to fertilize a receptive queen. Mating occurs in flight, which accounts for the need of the drones for better vision, which is provided by their big eyes. In areas with severe winters, all drones are then driven out of the hive. The life expectancy of a drone is about 90 days.
•  20,000 to 40,000 female worker bees, a non-reproducing female which performs certain tasks in support of a bee hive. Worker bees undergo a well defined progression of capabilities. In the summer 98% of the bees in a hive are worker bees. In the winter, besides the queen, all bees are worker bees. Workers feed the queen and larvae, guard the hive entrance and help to keep the hive cool by fanning their wings. Worker bees also collect nectar to make honey. In addition, honey bees produce wax comb.

                           

Nutrition and composition

Honey is mainly devoid of essential nutrients, containing only trace amounts of protein, dietary fiber, vitamins or minerals. A mixture of sugars and other carbohydrates, honey is mainly fructose (about 38-55%) andglucose (about 31%), with remaining sugars including maltose, sucrose, and other complex carbohydrates. Its glycemic index ranges from 31 to 78, depending on the variety. The specific composition, color, aroma and flavor of any batch of honey depend on the flowers foraged by bees that produced the honey.

Typical honey analysis:

• Frucrose: 38.2%
• Glucose: 31.3%
• Maltose: 7.1%
• Sucrose: 1.3%
• Water: 17.2%
• Higher sugars: 1.5%
• Ash: 0.2%
• Other/undetermined: 3.2%

Honey is nutritionally composed of 80% from carbohydrates (sugars) and the remaining 20% from vitamins, minerals, water, protein and fat.

Classification 

Honey is classified by its floral source, and there are also divisions according to the packaging and processing used. There are also regional honeys. In the USA honey is also graded on its color and optical density by United States Department of Agriculture standards, graded on the Pfund scale, which ranges from 0 for “water white” honey to more than 114 for “dark amber” honey.

Floral source

Generally, honey is classified by the floral source of the nectar from which it was made. Honeys can be from specific types of flower nectars or can be blended after collection. The pollen in honey is traceable to floral source and therefore region of origin. The rheological & melissoplynological properties of honey can be used to identify the major plant nectar source used in its production.

Blended

Most commercially available honey is blended, meaning it is a mixture of two or more honeys differing in floral source, color, flavor, density or geographic origin.

Polyfloral

Polyfloral honey, also known as wildflower honey, is derived from the nectar of many types of flowers. The taste may vary from year to year, and the aroma and the flavor can be more or less intense, depending on which bloomings are prevalent.

Monofloral

Monofloreal honey is made primarily from the nectar of one type of flower. Different monofloral honeys have a distinctive flavor and color because of differences between their principal nectar sources. To produce monofloral honey, beekeepers keep beehives in an area where the bees have access to only one type of flower. In practice, because of the difficulties in containing bees, a small proportion of any honey will be from additional nectar from other flower types. Typical examples are:

• from North American, monofloral honeys are clover, orange blossom, bluebarry, sage, tupelo, buckwheat, fireweed, mesquite and sourwood.;
• from Europe typical examples includes thyme, thistle, Heather, acacia, dandelion, sunflower, honeysuckle, and varieties from lime and chestnut trees;
• from North Africa (e.g. Egypt) examples includes clover, cotton, and citrus (mainly orange blossoms).

Honeydew honey

Instead of taking nectar, bees can take honeydew, the sweet secretions of aphids or other plant sap-sucking insects. Honeydew honey is very dark brown in color, with a rich fragrance of stewed fruit or fig jam, and is not as sweet as nectar honeys. Germany’s Black Forest is a well known source of honeydew-based honeys, as well as some regions in Bulgaria, Tara (mountain) in Serbia and Northern California in the United States. In Greece, pine honey (a type of honeydew honey) constitutes 60–65% of the annual honey production. Honeydew honey is popular in some areas, but in other areas beekeepers have difficulty selling the stronger flavored product.

The production of honeydew honey has some complications and dangers. The honey has a much larger proportion of indigestibles than light floral honeys, thus causing dysentery to the bees, resulting in the death of colonies in areas with cold winters. Good beekeeping management requires the removal of honeydew prior to winter in colder areas. Bees collecting this resource also have to be fed protein supplements, as honeydew lacks the protein-rich pollen accompaniment gathered from flowers.

Main defects detectable in honey (visual and qualitative):

Crystallization incomplete:
The honey is presented unevenly, with a liquid phase, in which they are embedded crystals, generally very coarse aggregates or against the walls and the bottom. This usually manifests itself in honey deficient in one or more predisposing factors to the crystallization eg. in honeys with little glucose, invasettati immediately after decanting or honey recast.

Separation in phases:
The honey is presented clearly separated into two parts in a liquid surface, the other solid bottom the separation between the two parties is clear and horizontal it, is, for the precipitation of crystals at the bottom due to a product consistency not enough dense and cohesive: eg. in honeys too humid, with creamy texture, or stored at high temperatures.

Whitish streaks:
when come to the surface (foam) may be due to the rising of tiny air bubbles incorporated in the mass of honey during processing or to the formation of carbon dioxide. While in the first case it is an aesthetic problem only, in accordance with this formation it is a sign of a fermentation process in place: the honey is in this hopeless case. It’s possible to distinguish between the two types of defects to the taste: a honey-flavored fermented has a slightly sour taste.
If these veins is any noticeable on the whole surface of the jar it would be conceivable instead the successful expulsion of the air in the crystallization phase more or less sudden (stains retraction).

Color change:
honeys generally subjected to excessive heating or stored for too long and in poor condition, tend to take on a darker color, the aromas typical decline while appears the smell and taste of caramel and a bitter taste due to the degradation of the fructose.

Fermentation:
Probably the most serious and irremediable defect, this process takes place for the growth of yeasts, a fermented honey has a slightly sour taste. The fermentation process is directly proportional to the percentage of water that is in a honey with a percentage below 18% moisture the process is inhibited. A fermented honey or during fermentation is irretrievably lost, his only permitted use and industry, it is, in fact, not for resale.

Preservation

Because of its unique composition and chemical properties, honey is suitable for long-term storage, and is easily assimilated even after long preservation. Honey, and objects immersed in honey, have been preserved for centuries. The key to preservation is limiting access to humidity. In its cured state, honey has a sufficiently high sugar content to inhibit fermentation. If exposed to moist air, its hydrophilic properties will pull moisture into the honey, eventually diluting it to the point that fermentation can begin. Regardless of preservation, honey may crystallize over time. The crystals can be dissolved by heating the honey.

Using HONEY for cooking

Already at the time of the ancient Romans used honey was enlargement both in the preparation of tasty recipes as a preservative. It equipped in fact of some antimicrobial systems including the acidity (its pH is 3.9 on average), which opposes the growth of several microorganisms, while the high sugar concentration kills them for osmotic dehydration due to the activity. The Roman gastronome Apicius, who lived in the first century after Christ, and author of a famous treatise, “The art of cooking“, he advised the use to preserve underwater different fruits and even meat (longer in winter , only a few days in the summer).

Honey can be used in cooking to treat those fruits and those vegetables that tend to oxidize and darken quickly, as the apples or artichokes. The honey contains substances able to inhibit them, and its antioxidant power, has the advantage, compared to lemon (which is normally used for this purpose for the inhibitory effect of vitamin C that it contains) to be less intrusive level aromatic , leaving just a slight background sweet.
It ‘still the acidity that allows you to use honey for marinating raw fish or meat as a substitute for lemon or vinegar. In recipes on this site you will find several examples of these ways to use honey.

You can substitute honey for sugar in many recipes for baked desserts. Thanks to the hygroscopicity of the honey, its ability to absorb and retain moisture, is the one that allows to maintain fragrant and soft bakery products, or, in a fish subjected to pickling, to divert the water.

You can use the same amount of honey compared to that of sugar, but having the warning to reduce by 20% the liquid substances used in the recipe. For example, for 100 grams of honey used in place of the amount in weight sugar, 20 grams of liquid should be removed or butter. In bakery products the function of the honey is to confer softness, retaining moisture, avoiding the crumbling and also color and aroma. It also helps the leavening constituting a food for yeast. The oven temperature must be kept low to moderate (about 320-356 °F / 160-180 °C) if you want to avoid an effect of darkening of the product, because the honey candy at a lower temperature compared to sugar.

In preparing ice cream made from honey bear in mind that honey needs to solidify, with slightly lower temperatures, so just take a little more time to solidify.

 

Let’s make PESTO

Pesto sauce

So…are you looking for something easy to make for your guests and you don’t know what?

Here’s the answer…..fresh basil pesto….a classic recipe very easy to make but really surprising, its taste will captivate you, no one can resist it, trying is believing, our recipe will show you how easy and fast is making the best pesto ever.

First of all, let’s discover it.

Basil, the main ingredient of modern pesto, likely originated in India and was first domesticated there, later, it took the firmest root in the regions of Liguria, Italy and Provence, France. The Ligurians around Genoa took the dish and adapted it, using a combination of basil, crushed garlic, grated hard cheese (a mix of Parmigiano Reggiano and Pecorino or just one of the two), and pine nuts with a little olive oil to form pesto. Each family from Liguria often has its own pesto recipe with slight differences to the traditional “pesto alla Genovese” recipe. This is the main reason why pesto recipes often differ from each other. The first mention of recipe for pesto as it is known today is from the book La Cuciniera Genovese written in 1863 by Giovanni Battista Ratto.

The original recipe consists of 7 ingredients: PDO Genoese basil, extra virgin olive oil, Parmesan, pecorino, pine nuts, garlic and salt.

Pesto is traditionally prepared in a marble mortar with a wooden pestle, but today the pesto that is available commercially is produced with the blender, while handcrafted it still uses the mortar. The use of the blender has the disadvantage of oxidizing the basil leaves and warm the cream.

In both cases, the right sequence of the ingredients in the recipe is:

Garlic

Salt

Pine nuts

Basil

Parmesan and pecorino

Extra virgin olive oil

Make this recipe using a mortar will allow to obtain a better result, but also for matters of time, use a blender guarantees a good result, however, although the difference will be perceptible, both in texture and in taste.

Now that we know more about the pesto, let’s try and make our homemade pesto:

                                         Level: Easy   Preparation time: 25 minutes using mortar and pestle

                                                                                                            5 minutes using a food processor

 

 Ingredients (original recipe serves 4):

 Fresh Basil 2 ounces (50 gr)

Extra virgin olive oil ½ cup (100 ml)

Pine nuts 0,5 ounces (15 gr)

Pecorino Romano cheese 1,5 ounces (30 gr)

Parmesan Cheese 4 ounces (80 g)

Garlic 1 clove

Coarse salt 0,2 ounces (5 gr)

 

Directions:

Using mortar and pestle

1. Wash in cold water the basil leaves and dry them gently and accurately, the leaves must be well dry
2. Start preparing the pesto by placing the peeled garlic in a mortar, taking care to remove the soul that makes it not digestible, along with a few grains of coarse salt and start to pound the garlic, when it will be reduced in cream, add the pine nuts and continue to pound;
3. Add the basil leaves gradually continuing to pound (to get a better taste instead of pounding forcefully slightly rotate the pestle to tear, and not shear, the basil leaves, releasing the essential oils contained in the leaves);
4. Add the parmesan and pecorino;
5. Finish the recipe adding the extra virgin olive oil, drop by drop, stirring constantly.
6. Season to taste, if necessary, add some more parmesan and pecorino or extra virgin olive oil for taste and consistency

Using food processor

Simply blend garlic, salt (in this case use simple salt), pine nuts, basil, parmesan and pecorino all together and add the extra virgin olive oil in the end just to finish the pesto.

To avoid overheating the pesto, refrigerate at least two hours before the blade and the container you’ll use for the preparation of the recipe.

Suggestions:

• Processing must take place at room temperature and must finish in the shortest possible time to avoid problems of oxidation;
• Keep the pesto in the refrigerator for 2-3 days in an airtight container taking care to cover the sauce with a layer of oil;
• It is possible to freeze the pesto in small jars and then thaw in a refrigerator or at room temperature;
• Even if pesto is mostly used for pasta, it is also a perfect sauce to prepare delicious bruschetta.

Eat me…..i’m Virgin

In this article we will talk about oil, and in particular about extra virgin olive oil.

Made simply by crushing olives and extracting the juice, it is an important element of the Mediterranean diet, a traditional fat that has been a dietary staple for some of the world’s healthiest populations like Italians.

We grew up with the constant presence on our table of a bottle of extra virgin olive oil, until we started the culinary school, we did not even know that there were other types of oil, for us it was only extra virgin olive oil.

Traveling the world, we realized that, unlike the Italians, in many countries this type of oil is not used as in Italy, some even unknown, for several reasons:

• not all countries produce olive oil, in fact 80% of world production of olive oil is in countries of the Mediterranean area, Spain, Italy, Greece and Portugal are among the largest producers;
• in their culinary tradition it has always used other types of oils, or other fats of animal origin;
• costs of olive oil are definitely higher than those of oils of lower quality.

In Italy, the second largest producer of olive oil, and in first place worldwide for its consumption, the use of this type of fat has its roots in ancient times, the tradition of Italian cuisine has made it essential in most of Italian recipes in which it is present, both as a fat for cooking and as a final element to be added to the recipe to enhance its flavor or to enrich it with fragrances typical of extra virgin olive oil.

Obviously we speak always of olive oil “extra virgin”, that is obtained by means of the only mechanical extraction and a minimum level of acidity (<0.8%), there are also other type of olive oil less valuable, as obtained with the processes of extraction mixed, mechanical-chemical, and acidity levels higher, which will have different names, as reported at olive oil standards of the International Olive Council (IOC): virgin olive oil (acidity of not more 2%), ordinary virgin olive oil (acidity of not more 3.3%), refined olive oil, etc.

How to recognize an “extra vergin olive oil”

An original extra virgin olive oil should be, as olive oil testers describe its “positive attributes”:

• Fruity: Having pleasant spicy fruit flavors characteristic of fresh ripe or green olives. Ripe fruit yields oils that are milder, aromatic, buttery, and floral. Green fruit yields oils that are grassy, herbaceous, bitter, and pungent. Fruitiness also varies with the variety of olive;
• Bitter: Creating a mostly pleasant acrid flavor sensation on the tongue;
• Pungent: Creating a peppery sensation in the mouth and throat.

Extra virgin is the highest quality and most expensive olive oil. It should have a collection of qualities that stimulate and satisfy the senses of taste, smell, vision, and the physical sensation of the mouth. These sensory qualities are affected by climate, soil, variety of olive tree, time of harvest, and production practices of the producer.

Typical defects and best criteria for purchasing a good quality of extra virgin olive oil

Numerous scandals have been uncovered over the last twenty years which have revealed that many extra virgin olive oils being sold in the United States do not meet the high standard for this product. Many have been adulterated with lower grade olive oils or with nut and seed oils. Others simply have serious flavor and aroma defects, which should prevent them from being called “extra virgin”.

A good extra virgin olive oil should not:

• smell or taste moldy;
• smell like rotting swamp vegetation;
• taste like metal or have an aroma of wet cardboard

To avoid this kind of problems and purchasing a good quality of extra virgin olive oil , here you are the following criteria for a right selection in your local grocery store:

1. look for extra virgin on the label to get the best flavor. Avoid olive-pomace oil. Pure olive oil and light olive oil are refined oils;
2. you’ll usually find on the label that extra virgin olive oil is “cold pressed, if the label doesn’t say it don’t worry, most all olive oils are processed by means of a centrifuge. If it is a true extra virgin olive oil, then it was processed at a cool temperature;
3. look at the dates on the bottle. The flavor of olive oil does not improve with age. Thus, the newer it is the better. The best flavor will be found in the first 12 months after it was harvested;
4. olive oil must be conserved in a dark glass bottle because light accelerates the deterioration of olive oil. Also take note of the location of the olive oil display in the store. If the isle is exposed to high levels of natural sunlight or is excessively hot, then it might be better to shop for your olive oil at another store;
5. a good quality of oil will indicate the location of production and the name of producer on the label. Look for a D.O.P. seal (protected designation of origin) on European oils, and a California Olive Oil Council seal on oil made in the U.S.;
6. best buy small quantities of oil rather than large quantities. If you keep it too long, it will lose its flavor and might become rancid before you use it up;
7. If you live in an olive producing region, go and visit a local olive mill. Buying locally is a good practice when you have the option.

Why extra virgin olive oil is healthy

Buying the right type of olive oil is incredibly important. The best type is extra virgin olive oil.

It is extracted using natural methods and standardized for purity and certain sensory qualities like taste and smell. Olive oil that is truly extra virgin has a distinctive taste and is high in phenolic antioxidants, the main reason why (real) olive oil is so beneficial.

Extra virgin olive oil is fairly nutritious, it contains modest amounts of Vitamins E and K and plenty of beneficial fatty acids.

This is the nutrient content of 100 grams of olive oil (1):

• Saturated Fat: 13.8%.
• Monounsaturated Fat: 73% (most of it the 18 carbon long oleic acid).
• Omega-6: 9.7%.
• Omega-3: 0.76%.
• Vitamin E: 72% of the RDA.
• Vitamin K: 75% of the RDA.

But where extra virgin olive oil really shines is in its content of antioxidants.

These substances are biologically active and some of them can help fight serious diseases; some of the main antioxidants are the anti-inflammatory oleocanthal, as well as oleuropein, a substance that protects LDL cholesterol from oxidation.

There is some evidence that oleic acid itself, the most prominent fatty acid in olive oil, can reduce inflammatory markers like C-Reactive Protein; there is also a study showing that substances in olive oil can reduce expression of genes and proteins that mediate inflammation.

Keep in mind that chronic, low-level inflammation is usually fairly mild and it takes years or decades for it to do damage.

Eating plenty of extra virgin olive oil may help prevent this from happening, leading to a reduced risk of various inflammatory diseases… especially heart disease. Cardiovascular diseases (heart disease and stroke) are the most common causes of death in the world. Many observational studies show that death from these diseases is low in certain areas of the world, especially the countries around the Mediterranean Sea.

Extra virgin olive oil protects against heart disease via numerous mechanisms:

• Reduced Inflammation: As mentioned above, olive oil protects against inflammation, a key driver of heart disease;
• LDL Cholesterol: Olive oil protects LDL particles from oxidative damage – a key step in the heart disease process;
• Improves Endothelial Function: Olive oil improves the function of the endothelium, which is the lining of the blood vessels.
• Blood Clotting: Some studies suggest that olive oil can help prevent unwanted blood clotting, key features of heart attacks and strokes.
• Lower Blood Pressure: One study in patients with elevated blood pressure found that olive oil reduced blood pressure significantly and cut the need for blood pressure meds by 48%.

Given the known biological effects of olive oil, it is not surprising to see that people who consume the most of it are significantly less likely to die from heart attacks and strokes.

Although mostly studied for its effects on heart health, olive oil consumption has also been associated with a number of other health benefits.The oleic acid in olive oil is also highly resistant to oxidation and has been shown to have beneficial effects on genes linked to cancer.

Studies have shown that people in the Mediterranean countries have a fairly low risk of cancer; One potential contributor to cancer is oxidative damage due to free radicals, but extra virgin olive oil is high in antioxidants that reduce oxidative damage.

 

Using extra virgin olive oil for cooking

Now that we know the characteristics of an important food such as extra virgin olive oil, it’s time to talk about how to use it for cooking. In the Mediterranean diet, extra virgin olive oil is used in most cases as a final element to be added to many recipes, such as salads, meat dishes, fish or vegetables or simply as a condiment, element fat to be used for baking or grilled, as well as in sauces for condiments several recipes.

The extra virgin olive oil is can also be used in the preparation of pastry recipes, in substitution of animal fats such as butter and lard, in a percentage that is approximately 70-80% compared to the quantity of butter.

Extra virgin olive oil is also ideal for frying, in fact, In fact, the antioxidants present in olives are so powerful in resisting oxidation due to heat, that they are added to other cooking oils to make them more stable when cooking.

Its composition (contains vitamin E and polyphenols, two antioxidants that protect it from the phenomena of degradation of oil during frying) and its “smoke point”, make the extra virgin olive oil more suitable for this type of cooking. In fact, unlike seed oils (such as sunflower, corn, soybean, peanut), normally used for frying, When heated, olive oil is the most stable fat, which means it stands up well to high frying temperatures. Its high smoke point (410ºF) 210ºC is well above the ideal temperature for frying food (356ºF) 180ºC. The digestibility of olive oil is not affected when it is heated, even when it is re-used several times for frying.”(“Frying with Olive Oil,” International Olive Oil Council – IOC).

In a nutshell, virgin olive oil can safely be used for cooking and even deep frying. The oil can be reused more than once, and the oil does not seriously degrade in normal household cooking.

The common myth that olive oils are not suitable for cooking or frying is an unfortunate belief, particularly for those eating out at restaurants who want to avoid toxic GMO cooking oils such as corn, soybean, and canola. Many restaurants stock olive oil, and it is probably your best choice when ordering anything fried in restaurants, if the chef or cooks will accommodate your request. Saturated fats such as coconut oil are still the best choice for high heat cooking, but very few restaurants are stocking saturated fats yet these days, and we should not fear adding a high quality olive oil to our home kitchen cooking oils.

If you want to learn how to use extra virgin olive oil follow us…we’ll post soon great recipes

Making homemade cheese under Gran Sasso mountain.

Cooking is not just a job for us, but primarily a way of life, as the philosopher Feuerbach “we are what we eat“, so it is very important carefully choose the products we eat.

Buying local food directly from producers is definitely a way to have a better quality and a direct relationship with those who produce what we eat, as we wrote in our article “a day at the food market“, but if you want to be even safer about what you eat, why not make yourself what you would like to eat, choosing yourself the best ingredients for a great end result…..well…this is what we did yesterday, surrounded by one of the most beautiful mountains in Italy, the Gran Sasso, we produced our homemade cheese….here’s the story

 

The Gran Sasso mountain

Betty…our local milk producer

Once you are in a beautiful place, and you have a fresh delicious milk, you just need to start making your own homemade cheese, free of all the colorings and chemical stabilizers used to make chhese more attractive and stable for store shelves. 

This homemade cheese will be better-tasting, more alive, and more versatile than any commercially processed cheese.

Level: Easy      Preparation time: 2 hours

Ingredients, this recipe is for 2 lb (1 kg) of cheese and 1 lb (0,5 kg) of ricotta:

Whole cow or sheep milk  2,5 gal (10 lt)

animal or vegetable rennet  1 teaspoon (5 gr)

juice of half lemon

  Directions:

1.  In a pot heat the milk at a temperature of 100 °F degrees (38 °C), add the rennet turn vigorously with a whisk and leave about half an hour;

    

2.  when the milk has solidified break the curd with a whip and collect all the cheese obtained by disposing in special molds, about 1 pound (500 gr) each, and press it a little bit by draining the whole serum, after that, put it in the fridge, it will be fresh cheese for about a week, but if you want to ripen it, leave it in the fridge about two months before consumption.

                            

3.  at this point we will have in the pot of milk less pure, because deprived of a large part of casein, we will use it again to extract the ricotta, using the casein remained;

4.  so bring the milk to a temperature of about  167 °F (75 °C), add the lemon juice, lower the heat and wait until the cheese begins to surface;

5.  take the ricotta surfacing using a skimmer and put it into the basket;

          

6.  once the ricotta has drained the serum, we can put in the refrigerator, it is preserved fresh for a maximum of three days;

Following this basic recipe you will discover how easy it is to prepare the homemade cheese, of course there are many types of cheese that can be done, as well as delicious recipes you can make using the cheese you have done, so check out on our recipes category, we’re posting soon other fantastic recipes to make.

 

Mezzi rigatoni alla amatriciana

Traditional Italian pasta sauce based on guanciale (cured pork cheek), pecorino cheese, and tomato. Originating from the town of Amatrice (in the mountainous Province of Rieti of Lazio region), the Amatriciana is one of the best known pasta sauces in Roman and Italian cuisine. 

The invention of the first tomato sauces (and the terminus post quem for the introduction of tomato in the gricia, creating the Amatriciana) dates back to the late 18th century. The first written record of pasta with tomato sauce can be found in the 1790 cookbook L’Apicio Moderno by Roman chef Francesco Leonardi.

The Amatriciana recipe became increasingly famous in Rome over the 19th and early 20th centuries due to the pluricentennial connection between Rome and Amatrice.

The recipe was extremely well received and rapidly went on to be considered a “classic” of the Roman Cuisine, even though it originated elsewhere. The name of the dish in the Romanesco dialect eventually became matriciana due to the apheresis typical of this dialect.

While tomato-less gricia is still prepared in central Italy, it is the tomato-enriched amatriciana that is better known throughout Italy and exported everywhere. While in Amatrice the dish is prepared with spaghetti, the use of bucatini has become extremely common in Rome and is now prevalent.

  Level: Easy Preparation time: 25 minutes

Ingredients (original recipe serves 4):

Mezzi rigatoni pasta 1 pound (400g)

Chopped tomatoes 3 cups (500g)

Guanciale (or good bacon) 11 ounces (300g)

Pecorino Romano cheese 2 ounces (40 gr)

Parmesan Cheese (Parmigiano Reggiano) 2 ounces (40 g)

Extra virgin olive oil 1 tablespoon (15 g)

Yellow onion chopped into pieces 2 ounces (50 gr)

Freshly ground black pepper

  Directions:

1. Remove the rind from the guanciale (or bacon) and chop it into cubes of about 1/2 inch (1 cm) each; cook it in a large saucepan over medium heat with a drizzle of olive oil; stir occasionally until lightly brown;
2. Meanwhile clean and dice one onion; grate the pecorino and parmesan cheese; mix in a separate bowl and add ground black pepper;
3. Once the bacon is lightly brown the cubes will be crisp outside and tender inside, remove the bacon and pour off 2/3 of the cooking fat; add the chopped onion into the skillet with the remaining liquid and cook over low heat for about 2 minutes;
4. Remove the onion and add the tomato sauce, cook the sauce over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes;
5. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil, 5 quarts (4 litres) of water, to 2 ounces (40 g) of salt, add the pasta and cook as label directs, tasting occasionally until al dente. Drain the pasta;
6. Add the pasta to the pan containing the sauce, stir quickly over high heat for about 3 minutes, add the crispy bacon, previously set aside, and stir in the pecorino, parmesan and freshly ground black pepper, serve.

 Alternatives: 

• You can also use other types of pasta: penne, bucatini, fettuccini or spaghetti;
• For a more rustic taste mince the onion and leave it cooking with the sauce.

A day at the food market

 

A priority for preparing good dishes is the quality and freshness of food you use for the recipe.

Italians traditionally prefer to buy fresh food at local market, as a way to get best seasonal food from local producer, and of course, as a way to have a direct contact with the producer or seller.

As chefs, we always wanted the best quality of food for our recipes, but of course, this means select personally every ingredient directly at the market; that’s why for making recipes for our crowdfunding campaign’s video we decided to buy food directly from a local market in Rome (Campo de’ Fiori market), and take some pictures of our day spent on selecting and buying food and share them with you.

 

 

Local food is better for you. The shorter the time between the farm and your table, the less likely it is that nutrients will be lost from fresh food. Food imported from far away is older and has traveled on trucks or planes, and sat in warehouses before it gets to you.

                       

An excellent opportunity to communicate with those who grow or create the foods that you eat. It’s important to know what you’re eating. And what better way to find out what’s in your food then being able to talk to the person who grows it and sells it to you?

    

It is also a good opportunity to have a food tasting while buying and enjoying the great taste of fresh and seasonal food.

          

You will see soon on our crowdfunding’s campaign what we prepared with the food we bought.

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Hi everybody

This is our new blog, a place where we celebrate the taste of italian cuisine.