Risotto alla Parmigiana
This the basic Risotto, the first one I was taught at Culinary School.
The secrets?
Carnaroli Rice is the best for cooking Risotto.
Toast the rice.
Use home made meat stock, it’s very simple to make.
Never stop stirring.
Don’t overcook it!
CANOLA OIL is a vegetable oil derived from a variety of rapeseed that is low in erucic acid, as opposed to colza oil.
There are both edible and industrial forms produced. Canola oil is also used as a source of biodiesel.
Canola was originally a trademark name of the Rapeseed Association of Canada, and the name was a condensation of “Can” from Canada and “OLA ” meaning “Oil, low acid”, but it is now a generic term for edible varieties of rapeseed oil in North America and Australasia.
About 23 kg (51 lb) of canola seed makes 10 L (2.64 US gal) of canola oil. Canola oil is a key ingredient in many foods. Its reputation as a healthy oil has created high demand in markets around the world, and overall it is the third-most widely consumed vegetable oil, after soybean oil and palm oil. Canola oil is considered safe for human consumption.
In 2006, canola oil was given a qualified health claim by the United States Food and Drug Administration for lowering the risk of coronary heart disease, resulting from its significant content of unsaturated fats; the allowed claim for food labels states A 2014 review of health effects from consuming plant oils rich in alpha-linolenic acid, including canola, stated that there was moderate benefit for lower risk of cardiovascular diseases, bone fractures, and type-2 diabetes.
European and American laws about eggs are very different.
But, how old are store bought
eggs in the States?
I found this very interesting blog article, surfing the web, so I’m sharing it with you.
How Old is the Average Supermarket Egg? | Fresh Eggs Daily®
https://www.fresheggsdaily.com/2016/01/how-old-is-average-supermarket-egg.html
In this article you can read:
Q: How old are the eggs being sold in the grocery store?A: It’s just about impossible to tell, but they could be up to 2 months old. Yup, really.
By law, an egg can be sold for up to 30 days after the date it was put in the carton. Yes, that says ‘put in the carton’, not laid or collected, but packaged. And I’m told (although I can’t find anything official in writing to confirm this) that a farmer has up to 30 days to package an egg after it’s laid. So that means a commercially sold egg can be two months old by the time you buy it.
What about Italy?
I couldn’t find a specific blog article so I checked the Carabinieri website
An interesting section says:
. la data di scadenza, obbligatoria, non può essere posteriore al 28° giorno successivo alla data di deposizione per il consumatore, non può essere posteriore al periodo massimo di 21 giorni dalla data di deposizione per il venditore );
. Expiration day, which is mandatory for eggs, can’t be later than 28 days from the egg being laid. Actually eggs can be sold in the stores only within 21 days from the egg being laid down but the client, that bought the eggs before they were retired by the store, can eat them up to the 28th day.
What a big difference!
In Italy we tend to arrange our foods in categories, according to the role they have within a meal:
#Antipasti: small bits of pickled vegetables, fried vegetables cold cuts, marinated fish, toasted slices of bread with some kind of spread on (bruschetta), sometimes cheese. Antipasti are served only in very special meals like Christmas Lunch, New Year’s Eve, Easter Lunch. All these foods are often used for babysitting as well.
#Primi: soups, pasta, gnocchi, risotto, lasagna.
#Secondi: meat or fish, poultry, cheese, eggs.
#Contorni: that is a vegetable side like lettuce, tomatoes, spinach, potatoes.
#Piatti unici: single dishes, when you get a meat or fish main combined with pasta or bread or polenta and vegetables. What’s called ‘salad’ in English, it’s ‘insalatona’ in Italian: lettuce and other vegetables with cheese or tunafish or grilled chicken. The best example of a single dish is a rice salad. Most of the time the single dish is served cold and it’s a quick meal for working days.
#Frutta: at the end of an Italian home meal you always eat some fruit: apples, bananas, oranges.
#Dolce: desserts. It’s mostly a Sunday or special days treat. A typical summer one is the combination of a fruit salad with gelato (ice-cream).
– How many meals a day do the Italians have? Lunch and Dinner; breakfast isn’t considered a main meal.
– Do the Italians eat one serving of each category at every meal? No, they don’t. As already specified, appetizers and desserts are for special events. Contorni and frutta are usually in every italian meal while most of the people eat or 1 primo serving or 1 secondo serving.
– Do not they eat pasta every day, then? Actually they don’t, even if pasta and all the other ‘primo’ servings ( lasagna, gnocchi, …) are often served as they are easy to cook and pretty filling as well.
Have you any questions? Feel free to ask!
Ravioli are a type of pasta comprising a filling enveloped in thin pasta dough. Usually served with a sauce, Ravioli are commonly square, though other forms are also used, including circular and semi-circular.
Even if RAVIOLI is the most common name, this filled Italian first serving can be called Agnolotti, Cappellacci, Ravioloni, Tortelli and more, according to the area of Italy you are
RAVIOLI filling options offered by Chef Teresa Colors
1rav. Spinach and Ricotta Cheese
2rav. Ground Beef and Ricotta Cheese
3rav. Ground Beef and Grated Parmigiano-Reggiano Cheese
4rav. Sausage and Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
5rav. Montasio Cheese
6rav. Montasio Cheese and Pears
7rav. Ricotta Cheese & Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese
8rav. Ham and Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
9rav. Basil Pesto and Besciamella Sauce
10rav. Ricotta Cheese with Basil Pesto Favor
11rav. Pumpkin ( served with Smoked Ricotta Cheese and Butter)
12rav. Zucchini with Garlic and Ricotta Cheese
13rav. Zucchini and Shredded Asiago Cheese
14rav. Eggplants and Parmigiano-Reggiano Cheese ( served with chopped tomatoes)
16rav. Gorgonzola and walnuts
17rav. Goat Cheese
18rav. Asiago Cheese
NOTES
My Cooking Classes are only virtual, at the moment, as we are still in Covid-19 emergency time.
Yesterday, Sunday, I had an online Cooking Class: Potato Gnocchi from scratch.•
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Do you know Gnocchi can be made with different ingredients? The one you see in the pic are made with Potatoes, cooked almost everywhere in Italy. Ricotta Cheese Gnocchi are from Tuscany, Pumpkin Gnocchi are well known in the north of Italy and then we have the Gnocchi made with Spinach, Bread Gnocchi and also Gnocchi alla Parigina ( Paris style ), Canederli which are a compromise among gnocchi and meatballs and more type. Even if the ingredients used are usually only four or five, it’s very important to balance them very well.
If some types of Gnocchi don’t need particular kitchen tools besides what usual in a kitchen, for making Potato Gnocchi is necessary to have a potato ricer with small holes and a wide wooden cutting board or table to work the Gnocchi on, to absorb the humidity and for having fluffy pillows•
Sometimes we forget how easy are to make some recipes.
When I got married, my husband and I went to live in a little village called Polcenigo. It’s an old rural little town with two beautiful springs, with a lot of old buildings and with very fascinating views.
I’ve never made a jam before I moved to live in Friuli Venezia Giulia region. Yes, my grandma Teresa used to make her own jam when she had a lot of fruit, but I’ve never been interested in it and I really never helped her in the process.
One day one of my new neighbors gifted me some plums. Well, she gifted me tons of plums, so I decided to make jam for the first time. It was about 30 years ago.
The first thing I did was calling my grandma for asking her the ingredients. Her replies was very easy: for 1 kilo of fruit without seeds, you need 1/2 kilo of white sugar. Let it cook for a couple of hours, stirring once in while. That’s it.
Well, from that first experience, few things have changed.
Asking around and checking the ingredients written on the jars in the grocery stores, I found out that many people add artificial pectine to make their jam thicker in a shorter time. But I really don’t like to use chemicals, so, after researching on the web, I realized that adding the juice of one lemon or one peeled apple cut in pieces to the fruit I’m making the jam with, they both develop natural pectine.
Another thing I learned, after trying multiple times, is that we can reduce the amount of sugar up to 30% and that we can also use the brown sugar instead of the white one.
I still don’t make it very often, but my favorites are Raspberry Jam and Strawberry Jam. Here is the recipe:
STRAWBERRY JAM
Ingredients : 1 kilogram fresh red strawberries, cut in pieces; 300 grams sugar, one lemon juice.
Method: Put everything in a tall pot, possibly a stainless steel one, put on the stove at low heat until the sugar starts melting, then the heat can be at medium-high. Let everything boil for about 15 minutes, stirring once in while. Take the pot out of the burner and blend the fruit with an immersion blender. Put the pot back on the stove and let the jam boil for other 15 minutes. Pour the jam in a glass jar, close the lead and let it cool down. When it’s cold, put in the fridge. If you like a thick jam, mix all the ingredients in the pot, and let it sit in the fridge for 12 hours, then start cooking the mix.
Travel from Venice to one of the region’s best-kept secrets, “La Strada del Prosecco” or Prosecco Road. Three dozen vineyards that churn out delicious, affordable versions of the Veneto region’s best-known wine, and the basis for Italy’s national cocktail, the Aperol Spritz. Most of the cantina (vineyards) along the Prosecco Road remain family-owned and run. Many of the tasting rooms are simple operations where visitors rap on a wooden door to call the winemaker from his work for a quick pouring. A truly authentic and enjoyable way to spend the day.
A visit to the Friuli Venezia Giulia (FVG) countryside is a chance to experience a mostly undiscovered corner of Northern Italy. This large agricultural haven spreads across the plains reaching the foot of the Dolomite Mountains. The soil delivers a unique table of local products such as Montasio cheese which pairs beautifully with the wine from the Prosecco vintages grown in this region. Join me in my home kitchen to prepare and enjoy dishes made with local ingredients. The FVG region is less than an hour by train from Venice. I offer transfer from the train to my home which is about a ten-minute drive.
Cook in Italy with Teresa 