Zuppa alla Valpellinense

While farmers were preparing their soup with rye bread and vegetables in season, the gentlemen loved to taste the soup broth enriched with meat, cheese and butter. Among those zuppe the most famous is the " la Zuppa alla Valpellinese " Even the bread was not the same for farmers and for the first signori. The wealthy ate fresh white bread. He poor people the black bread. The black bread was prepared once a year involving the entire family, while the women kneaded, the men took care of the wood stove in the country.
The cooking was careful and meticulous, and when the bread came out of the oven was a great feast.
Once dried, it became very hard and was used to cut the "Copapan", a kind of iron knife that can still be found in craft shops. Placing it for a few minutes to soak in the soup, milk, or, if on the other, water, and then softened this bread.

Ingredienti (per 4 persone)

• 1 litro e mezzo di brodo
• 1 verza
• 4 etti di fontina
• mezzo kg di pane bianco (casereccio) tagliato a fette
• cannella in polvere
• 150 grammi di burro.

Preparazione

In una pirofila, disponete a strati il pane e la fontina, terminando con lo strato di fontina.
Fate bollire la verza nel brood. Aggiungete il brodo sul pane e attendete che il tutto si ammorbidisca, aggiungendo poi il burro fuso (molto caldo) sull’ultimo strato. Spolverate con cannella; passate in forno già caldo (200-220°) e lasciate cuocere per circa 40 minuti, fino a quando la fontina non diverrà dorata, iniziando a formare una crosta. Servitela calda.

Ingredients (serves 4)
• 1 and a half liters of broth
• 1 cabbage
• 4 ounces fontina
• half a kilogram of white bread (homemade), sliced
• cinnamon powder
• 150 grams of butter

Preparation
In a baking dish, arrange layers of bread and fontina, the layer of fontina.
Boil the cabbage in the brood. Add the broth over the bread and wait until it all softens, then melted butter (very hot) the last layer. Sprinkle with cinnamon; past in a preheated oven (200-220 degrees) and cook for about 40 minutes, until golden fontina is starting to form a crust. Serve hot.

Regional italian cooking classes

Buon giorno,

The new section of Learn the Italian through the love of food is ready to start. We open our class with Aosta Valley Cuisine. This cuisine is rustic and simple, which are mainly soup, game and cheeses. The soup has very ancient origins and is often made with rye bread slices, cheese and cabbage, as the soupe a la Valpellinenze. We start to prepare this recipe as our first course.

Being in the mountains, cannot miss the classic fonduta prepared with the traditional Val D’ Aosta cheese: Fontina, whose name originates dall’alpeggio Font. We prepare it with flan of cabbage. A typical dish of meat is the Soca, cooked beef with fontina cheese and cabbage. The idea is to learn different dishes using 3 or 4 regional ingridiens such as Fontina cheese, Verza and Mele. For dessert we are going to prepare the Hockiene better known as Fritelle di mela

I just got back from Italy and with the help of the time zone I have a few more minutes in the morning to think. Wake up with the colors of dawn when even the kids are asleep, relaxes my mind. I go to sleep and I get up with the same delemma my cooking classes? Enthusiasm sometimes falls but the will remains. My little space in the Big Apple. Sometimes I wish I had the recipe in my hands. A little salt, extra-verigne oil and so on and if you use the right ingredients with the right dose is the result guaranteed. In life instead becomes more complicated. You must find the hidden ingredient that changes an idea into a business.
In December, having completed the first course to learn Italian attravero food. With my 5 or 6 more or less devoted students the basic course is taken off. The second step, the course should be moving through the Italian regions following a path from North to South . To use seasonal ingredients I thought I would start from the regions of Northern Italy. Then move on to spring with the regional recipes of the center and finally conclude with the recipes of southern Italy in the summer..

The appointment is 'planned for mid-January and I would like to visit the Val D'Aosta. I hope and I wish that my class gets bigger.

verdure in pastella

Ingredienti per 10 persone:

Verdure in pastella

Farina 300g,/ flour

Sale fino un pizzico,/ solt

4 uova,/eggs

Birra 1/4 di litro,/ beer

olio si semi / vegable oil

1 kg di zucchine/ zucchini

1kg di melanzane/ eggplants

3 carciofi/ artichokes

200ml latte/mlk

400 gr. Caciocavallo cheese

It is Italian tradition, I would say more' in the Lazio, that for Christmas Eve is used to prepare the vegetables in batter. Since Christmas Eve it is vigilia where we can not eat meat so it is typical to serve vegetables in batter as a starter, followed by a dish of fish.

Merry Christmas and a happy appetite at all

Preparazione:
Cominciamo con l’approntare la pastella,unendo in una terrina la farina con il sale, le 4 uova intere e il latte.Far riposare per circa 1/2ora.Nel frattempo lavare e spuntare le zucchine e le altre verdure tagliandole poi longitudinalmente o come richiedete dalla vostra verdura, spargere del sale fino;Prendete una padella e versate l’olio di semi e mettetela su un fuoco alto;

Nel mentre mettere nella pastella in sequenza le zucchine ed le altre verdure e infine le melanzane, friggendoli via via nell’olio profondo.Prelevate quando siano ben dorati e deponetele su carta assorbente da cucina;Trasferire gli ortaggi fritti nel piatto di portata e solo allora salare;

Spargere sul fritto le scaglie di caciocavallo piccante e mandare in tavola.La frittura e’ ottima calda, ma resta buona e gustosa anche da fredda.

Preparation

Let's start with the preparation of pastella, mixing the flour into a bowl with salt, 4 whole eggs and milk. Let stand for about 1/2ora.Meanwhile, wash and trim the zucchini and other vegetables, then cutting them lengthwise and sprink with salt;Take a pan and pour the vegetable oil and place it on a high heat, keep the tempature high.Meanwhile make inside the pastelle in sequence: zucchini and other vegetables and then at the end eggplants, deep frying it in oil gradually;Taken when they are golden brown and dispose them on paper towels;Transfer the fried vegetables in a dish and only then add salt;Pour over slices of spicy cheese called caciocavallo and serve them.Le Verdure in pastella are good warm, but still they are good and tasty even cold

Note: Note

Alcuni fanno la pastella eliminando le uova (intere e chiare) ed in luogo del ¼ di birra, usano un piccolo panetto di lievito di birra sciolto in ½ bicchiere d’acqua tiepido ed amalgamato alla farina ed agli altri ingredienti

Some make the pastella by removing the eggs (whole and clear) and place ¼ of beer, use a small packet of yeast dissolved in ½ cup of warm water and mixed with flour and other ingredients

Se ne ottiene ugualmente una buona pastella , ma è certamente meno ricca e perciò meno gustosa; del resto in cucina, come nella vita, le mezze misure non pagano o pagano poco: essere o non essere; tertium non datur!
It also gets a good pastella, but it is certainly less rich and therefore less tasty, the rest in the kitchen as in life, half-measures do not pay or pay little. To be or not to be: tertium non datur!

Vini: ovviamente Corposi vini rossi campani (Solopaca, Aglianico, Piedirosso, Taurasi) serviti a temperatura ambiente, se la preparazione è di contorno a pietanze di carni;

Wines: Red wines from Campania ,bodied such as Solopaca, Aglianico, Piedirosso, Taurasi

The red wine must serve at room temperature, if the preparation of frittura in pastella comes as side dish to the red meat.

Invece Vini secchi e profunati bianchi campani (Solopaca, Capri, Ischia, Falanghina, Fiano)

Instead dry white wine profunati from Campania such as Solopaca, Capri, Ischia, Falanghina, Fiano)

freddi di frigo, qualora la preparazione accompagni formaggi freschi o sia usata come antipasto.

White wine as usually must serve cold if the preparation of frittura in pastella comes as side dish to cheese or as appetizer .

punarelle con acciughe

La Puntarella in salsa di acciughe.

The "puntarella", is a chicory of Orto. Apparently these are a kind of sprout that only grows near Roma at this time and that region's typical seasonal dishes. It has a pleasant taste to uses particularly to make it a salad very appetizing. Clean the puntarelle long (vertical) to achieve two, three or four parties, according to the size of the shaft. If it is too long, you should shorten, it but not below 12-15 centimeters. Wash and put them in fresh water and hold them for about a couple of hours and then well. In the meantime prepare a composed of garlic, diced anchovies, vinegar and oil extra-virgine olive oil. Make it in a food processor to obtain a sauce homogeneous. Seasoned the Puntarelle with the sauce.

La "puntarella"; è una cicoria di orto (catalogna) dal sapore gradevole di cui si utilizza particolarmente il fusto ancora tenero, fino alla cima, prima della fioritura, per farne un'insalata molto appetitosa. Capare le "puntarelle" togliendo sempre dal basso la corteccia, piuttosto dura, infine tagliarle per lungo (in senso verticale) ricavandone due, tre o quattro parti, secondo la grossezza del fusto. se sono molte lunghe, vanno accorciate, ma non al di sotto di dodici-quindici centimetri. lavarle e metterle in acqua fresca e tenerle a bagno, per farle arricciare, circa un paio di ore e poi sgocciolarle bene. nel frattempo preparare in un mortaio, preferibilmente di legno, un pesto composto di aglio, pezzettini di alici spinate, aceto e olio extravergine d'oliva. farne tutta una poltiglia per ottenere una salsa omogenea piuttosto liquida con cui condire le puntarelle e tenere a macerare in un recipiente coperto per almeno un'ora. servire in una zuppiera, versarvi sopra ancora un poco di salsina e mescolare bene.

Melanzane alla Parmigiana un sogno vegetariano

An Italian friend tells me that eggplant parmigiana originates in Naples (where it's known as parmigiana di melanzane), and that it's impossible to find the genuine article outside that city. That may be true, but according to my aunts from Sicily that they used to make the best melanzane alla parmigiana ever, they swore that the Parmigiana originates in Sicily.The more important now is that It's not at all difficult to make an excellent parmigiana at home, and while the result might lack the authentic flavor of Italy, it should certainly please your family and dinner guests. The secret is as usually on the quality of ingredients.

Ingredients/ Ingredienti

• 2 large or 8 small eggplants /2 grandi o 8 piccole melanzane
• Salt/ Sale
• A little flour/ Un po di farina
• Olive oil for frying/ Olio per friggerle
• 3 cups (12 fl oz, 360 ml) tomato sauce; or (500 g) can of tomatoes
• 3 tazze di sugo di pomodoro o 500 grammi di salsa
• 7 oz (200 g) mozzarella cheese, cut into thin slices
• 7 once o 200 grammi di mozzarella tagliata a fettine
• 1 cup (4oz, 100 g) parmesan cheese, finely grated
• 1 tazza 0 4 once, 100 grammi di parmigiano finemente grattato
• A few leaves of fresh basil (optional)
• Alcune foglie di basilico
• Salt and pepper for seasoning
• Sale e pepe

Method/ Metodo

Oven: Pre-heat to 375F, 190C./ orno a 375F, o 190C

Start by salting and pressing the eggplant. You need to do this several hours before you start the main part of the preparation. Cut the eggplant into ¼-inch (½ cm) slices, and arrange these on a large plate. Sprinkle with a generous amount of salt. Place another plate on top, and then place something heavy on top of that (I use three or four heavy books).

When you are ready to start cooking, wash the eggplant thoroughly and dry with a paper towel. Coat each slice with a little flour, and fry it for a few minutes in the heated olive oil.

Next, arrange half the slices of eggplant at the bottom of an oven-proof dish. Pour on half the tomato sauce along with the basil, then add a layer of half of each of the cheeses. Repeat the process with another layer of eggplant, tomato and cheese, ending with a sprinkling of salt and pepper.

Cook in the oven for about 45 minutes, removing the lid about ten minutes before serving.

Alcuni consigliano di mettere le melanzane sotto sale per qualche ora, poi di risciacquarle, ma ora con le nuove melanzane coltivate queste operazioni sono inutili. E’ importante scegliere bene le melanzane. Lavate e asciugate le melanzane, privatele del gambo. Sbucciatele e tagliatele in fette sottili nel verso della lunghezza e friggetele subito nell’olio inarinandole. Ungete di burro una teglia, e quando tutte le melanzane saranno fritte, incominciate col disporle uno strato nella teglia. Condite questo strato con sugo d’umido o anche con una buona salsa di pomodoro, parmigiano grattato, nel quale avrete mescolato qualche foglia di basilico fresco tagliuzzata, e qualche fettina di mozzarella. Continuate cosi a disporre le melanzane a strati. Finche ne avrete, e ultimatelo col sugo.

Mettere al forno per circa 45 minuti.

SAPER SCEGLIERE

When buying eggplant, look for vegetables that are uniformly smooth and colored, without bruises. Squeeze the eggplant gently with a finger and then let go: The eggplant will reform smoothly again if it is fresh. The eggplant should feel heavy. Store eggplant in the refrigerator on a middle shelf, not in the crisper drawer. Our receipt call for salting the slices of eggplant before cooking to leech it of bitter juices. Modern eggplant cultivation has removed its bitterness so it's not absolutely necessary to do this. On the other hand, I salt eggplant out of habit.