Archive for 'Food and Wine'

A spinach gnocchi dish with pecorino cheese. The name "strozzapreti " means "priest throttlers" because, according to the popular legend, the medieval priests were very greedy and known to eat a lot.

Ingredients:

• Spinach, cooked, squeezed, dry 350gr


• Ricotta cheese 350gr


• 3 whole eggs and 3 yolks


• Parmesan cheese and pecorino cheese 100gr


• Pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg


• Flour as needed

A roasted pork sirloin in country style.

Ingredients:

• Pork sirloin 1,5 kg with bone (3.3 lbs)


• 4 Garlic Cloves


• 2 sprigs Rosemary


• Sage


• 2 Bay Leaves


• Marjoram


• Tarragon


• Mint


• Olive Oil


• Salt and Pepper

Balsamic vinegar is one of those culinary items that can take a simple recipe to a memorable one. Its complex flavors lends itself well to both sweet and savory dishes, or even just soaked into some bread. Originally created in Modena, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy just north of Tuscany, in the middle ages and has been enjoyed by Italians ever since. It has only become popular in America in the past twenty years and its a sad state of affairs that it has taken that long.
Balsamic vinegar is considered a wine vinegar, like its less popular cousin red wine vinegar, but is not actually made from wine. It is made by the pressings of grape skins that have not been allowed to ferment, unlike grappa.

The grape skins are pressed, heated and boiled down into a thick dark syrup with very specific regulations controlled by the its DOC status. If you are looking for a quality balsamic vinegar, you need to ensure that it has this DOC label on it. Without it, it is not proper balsamic vinegar but just an imitation.

A delicious savory filling, stuffed and roasted in chicken necks.

Ingredients:

• 2 Chicken Necks


• 200gr Ground beef (7 ounces)


• 100gr Ground pork (3.5 ounces)


• 3 tablespoons olive oil


• 4 tablespoons breadcrumbs


• Parmesan cheese. grated


• 3 Eggs


• Nutmeg


• Thyme


• Salt and Pepper


• Broth

This is a very simple and fast soup and it seems the origin is in Medieval age (the presence of nutmeg and cheese confirm it). When some guests suddenly came, maybe very tired after a long trip, it was a precious resource for the cook to prepare this soup with ingredients always available in the kitchen, from that the medieval name in original text "Zuppa improvvisata" (sudden soup) and in addition to these ingredients there was the parsley.

Ingredients

• 4 Eggs


• 4 tablespoons parmesan cheese


• 2 tablespoons breadcrumbs


• salt and pepper


• Broth


• Little nutmeg