Mille Grazie!! to everyone at Le Cordon Bleu in Boston and Chef Enea Barbanera for hosting a wonderful event with the Italian Culinary Foundation  to promote the simplicity and flavors of authentic, original Italian cooking. Many thanks for having me there as a special guest.  The only other place I could have witnessed an event like this would have been in Italy…

I must also give a special thanks to  Mr.  & Mrs. Frankie & Maureen  Imbergamo for being such wonderful hosts for my visit. Frankie is the author of The Good Life cookbook  and  frequent guest of The Emeril Lagasse Show and is famously known around Boston for  award winning meatball recipes. They insisted that we see a little bit of Boston’s North End or Little Italy section before we left and assisted in getting us a quick tour

Yesterday’s cooking demo with Chef Barbanera was the culmination of a week of cooking demos and events with the chef promoting the authentic style of Italian cooking by the Italian Culinary Foundation at Le Cordon Bleu. They were one of the few culinary schools in the US selected for this event.  He also educated everyone with a quick lesson on flavors and how flavors must not overpower but compliment each other in a dish. His cooking stresses fresh, natural ingredients -fresh herbs, extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, artisan cheeses like Grana Padano, Parmigiano-Reggiano, Asiago and others as well as meats, fresh fruits and vegetables.

Chef Enea Barabanera has graciously shared his recipes with us, here is the first one (this recipe serves 8):

Sformata di Grana Padana con Pomodoretto Fresco

(Grana Padana Pudding with cherry tomatoes)

1 liter cream

14 eggs

10 1/2 ozs grated Grana Padano cheese

1.5 ozs butter

10 1/2 ounces cherry tomatoes

3.5 ozs extra virgin olive oil

1 small sprig rosemary

salt to taste

3/4 cup plain breadcrumbs

8 muffin tins

Butter 8 muffin tins and sprinkle sides and bottoms with bread crumbs. In bowl place cream, eggs and grated Grana Padano cheese. Whisk till well blended. Pour into muffin tins, bake for 20 minutes in oven preheated to 350 degrees. Remove from oven and set aside till warm

In saute pan, place 3 tblsps of extra virgin olive oil, sprig of fresh rosemary, cherry tomatoes that have been quartered, pinch of salt. Saute for 3 minutes. Place on individual serving plates.  unmold the muffin tins on side of the tomatoes on each individual plate. Place  small sprig of rosemary in center of souffle and drizzle olive oil on top, serve.

This makes a great antipasto or even a light first course. Serve with a dry white wine.

For more great recipes get your copy of the best selling book The Basic Art of Italian Cooking at http://www.marialiberati.com and http://stores.lulu.com/marialiberati

“Mangia Bene,Vivi Bene”

Maria

Have you ever had a ‘voglio’? A voglio is the way Italians express a strong desire for something- someone that you love, a food, a dish,  an experience. One way to say I love you is ‘te voglio bene’- which literally translated means I desire you very much. Or as the students text  the abbreviation t.v.b.(te voglio bene) to each other.

Well enough for our Italian lesson.

Today I had a strong ‘voglio’ for eggplants. There are eggplants everywhere you go since this is their season for the next few weeks and they are grown everywhere. The farm markets are filled with them.

The dish I selected to make for ‘pranzo’ (lunch) was Ratatouille of eggplant, zucchini and tomatoes. But to be worthy of a ‘voglio’ thsi dish must be made with the freshest and best ingredients. There are only a few ingredients in this dish and each one is important.

Let’s start with the tomatoes. I used fresh San Marzano tomatoes (by the way these tomatoes deserve a t.v.b.all  to themselves. They are as sweet as candy and if you ever need a reason to visit Italy- one of those would be to taste a fresh San Marzano tomato grown in Italy-nothing like it.) However if  you can’t get fresh San Marzano tomatoes use a fresh plum tomato that is red and ripe. If you must use canned, use only a high quality canned tomato (but only as a last resort).

Olive oil- use a good quality extra virgin, cold pressed olive oil from Italy. If  you use anything less this dish will not be a success.

Mozzarella cheese- usea freshly made mozzarella

Parmigiano-Reggiano Cheese-use only parmigiano-reggiano cheese-don’t use anything that is called anything else- parmesan is not real parmigiano-reggiano cheese.

Fresh zucchini, eggplant, onion- these vegetables should be very fresh, eggplants and zucchini should be firm. Buy your produce locally from a local farm is possible to insure freshness.

Ratatouille of Zucchini and Eggplant

*2 medium fresh eggplants

*3 medium size zucchini

*5 fresh plum tomatoes

*2 cloves of garlic

*3 tblsps of olive oil

*1 slice of  fresh onion chopped

*pinch of salt

* 1/2 cup dry white wine

*4 ounces of fresh mozzarella

*3 tblsps parmigiano-reggiano cheese

Wash eggplant and zucchini. Cut zucchini into 1/4 inch slices. Cut eggplant into 1/4 inch cubes. Wash tomatoes. Filet them by removing inside liquid and seeds. Slice into thin slices.

In large saute pan, heat olive oil. Saute whole garlic cloves, chopped onions till golden. place in cut eggplants and zucchini and 1/2 cup dry white wine, 1/2 cup water. Saute for 10 minutes, stirring. Add in tomatoes, stirring and saute for another 10 minutes or until eggplant and zucchini are tender. If at any time liquid is needed add in a little water.

When done remove from heat and add in cubed mozzarella and grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese. Stir, mozzarella cheese will become stringy. Serve warm or cool. Either way this is a delicious dish for a summer day. Serve with grissini sticks and  dry white wine. We had some Falenghina (one of my favorite white wines) with this dish.

Buon Appetito!
For more recipes get your copy of the bestselling book The Basic Art of Italian Cooking at http://www.marialiberati.com