Central Italy has a long tradition of vegetables and legumes and in season at the moment is the traditional Italian product of “fave” or broad beans. While Umbria and Tuscany are famous for cereal and legumes, gustoblog says the best broad beans come from Leonforte in Sicily, and Carpino in Puglia where the ‘fave’ are smaller and tastier.

When buying broad beans, make sure that the pod is firm and is a bright green colour to get the freshest examples. The other trick to selecting broad beans is to be careful of how much you buy. The pod waste of broad beans can be about 70 percent of the weight of the whole lot you buy, so if for example you want 300 gr, you should purchase about a kilo.

You should shell broad beans only when you want to use them, because the beans dry up when in contact with air. To prepare broad boans for cooking, you should toss them into some boiling water first to remove the skins. You can then proceed to boil them for about 20-30 minutes. If the beans are small and tender, you can try them raw - I’ve seen people shell broad beans and eat them straight away as an Italian antipasto. Coming up, we’ll have a traditional fave recipe to share.

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Italian cheese is being celebrated on the country’s postal stamps as part of a marketing initiative to celebrate “Made in Italy” products. Only select cheeses are being represented and in the future we will find: mozzarella di bufala, gorgonzola, parmigiano reggiano and ragusano (from Sicily).

The initiative was announced by the Italian postal service at Milan’s international stamp fair, Milanofil. The four stamps cost 60 euro cents each and will portray the four famous Italian cheeses in their most typical style.

The mozzarella has its round shape, but stamps will also be dedicated to the distinctive plaits and knots that are created during the cheese-making process. Both creamy and hard texture gorgonzola can be found, and the parmigiano reggiano and ragusano are depicted both whole and in pieces.

If you’re a stamp collector and are interested in these unusual Italian postal stamps, you can find them in post offices around Italy after they first debuted in Novara, Reggio Emilia, Ragusa, Milan and Naples.

Source | Gustoblog.it
Photo | Flickr

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Looking for a nice recipe for an antipasto to your Christmas dinner? Try these fried pumpkin and ricotta treats as a good start to a Christmas party. Ingredients are: half a pumpkin, about 200 grams of ricotta cheese, one tablespoon of bread crumbs, an egg, some salt and pepper and a little flour on the side for dusting. Some olive oil is needed for the frying.

Prepare the pumpkin by chopping it and boiling it, and then either mash it or put it in a food processer. Add the egg, bread crumbs and the ricotta. Mix the ingredients together well and add a little flour to create small fritters by hand.

In a non-stick pan, add the olive oil, heat well and then fry the pumkin fritters for a couple of minutes on each side. Dry off some of the oil on kitchen paper, and add a little salt and pepper. Pumpkin is not considered traditional for Christmas in Italy, but if you’re having guests, this is a great starter to a meal. We’ll leave the wine choice to you.

Photo | Flickr

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This quirky Italian cheese features a comic strip on the crust and will go on show at the Turin food festival from October 21-25. The cheese is called Gran Kinara and is an aged cheese made from real vegetable curd or rennet. The cheese is from Fattorie Fiandino who have been making cheese for 150 years in Piedmont.

The idea for the comic book design comes from celebrating the 1861 unification of Italy and the anniversary of one of the founders of the cheese company, Magno Fiandino. The two entrepreneur cousins now involved in the business, Egidio and Mario Fiandino, decided to ask designer Giorgio Sommacal his help to design the history of Italy across the cheese crust.

It’s quite unusual to see the great protagonists of Italian history - Mazzini, Cavour, Garibaldi and co - adorning the crust of a cheese in comic strip fashion but their should certainly be a few extra visitors at the Fiandino stand at the event because of it. If you’re at the Italian food festival, called the Salone del Gusto, you’ll find Fattorie Fiandino in hall two, stand G016.

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Italy has a wonderful culinary tradition of using locally grown beans, legumes, and grains one type of which is the ‘farro’ or spelt grain. It is a lot like barley but has a nutty flavour due to the drying process employed after harvesting. You may even have eaten farro without actually knowing.

This insalata di farro makes a great summer salad using the farro grain. Ingredients include: farro, mozzarella, cherry tomatoes, black olives, capers, one diced carrot and one diced red onion, fresh basil and to dress some olive oil, black pepper and salt. Being a salad and all you can then add what you like and let your imagination loose.

The recipe is from Eleonora on Aglio Olio e Peperoncino - see her post on what to do with your salad once you’ve got your ingredients. And if you haven’t checked out her marvellous recipes and encyclopedic knowledge of the Italian culinary tradition, you’re missing out.

Photo | Flickr

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This easy Italian recipe will have you making homemade focaccia with only a little patience required for rising time. Focaccia is a tradition that is most closely linked with Liguria, where you can generally find Italy’s best focaccia.

The ingredients for this classic rosemary and potato focaccia are: 25 grams of yeast, 100 ml of warm water, one teaspoon of sugar, two boiled potatoes, some rosemary and ‘manitoba’ flour. For the top of your focaccia you will need plenty of olive oil and salt.

Mix the yeast and sugar together, slowly add the water and then mix with the flour (unfortunately our recipe doesn’t specify how much so it might be hit and miss at the start). Knead your dough into a soft, large and elastic ball. Leave it to prove, covered, for about 30 minutes.

When the dough is about double its original size, then roughly mash the potatoes, mix them with the dough and place it in all in an oven tray. Drizzle some olive oil over the top, add salt and rosemary. Cook in a hot oven of 180°C for about 35 minutes. This makes a perfect Italian snack for any party!

Photo | Flickr

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This Italian recipe is quick and easy to prepare; in no time you will have a delicious snack!

Ingredients; Manitoba flour; I/2 cup warm water; yeast; 1 teaspoon sugar; stoned black and green olives; mozzarella cubes; oil; salt.

Directions: mix the sugar and yeast and pour in the warm water. Next sift the flour and start to knead until shiny and elastic. Cover and leave it to rest in a warm place for about an hour. When it has doubled in size, start to roll it out with your hands. Add the filling and roll into balls. Sprinkle with salt, add oil and bake at 180 c for 20 minutes! Delicious!

Photo | Flickr

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Whether famous or not, apples are a traditional Italian product, with the most well known being the apples of Trentino-Alto Adige in Italy’s north. An old Italian food festival is being revived though, at Casalnoceto, between Alessandria and Pavia, where the apple was once king.

At the eastern border of Piedmont, the festival or ‘sagra‘ of the ‘pom di moj’ (in Italian dialect), is being held to celebrate the method that was once invented to preserve apples. The ‘moj’ method was one where healthy apples were washed, placed in a demijohn with a large neck, and covered with a slightly alcoholic wine and vinegar. They were kept there for about 40 days and then were taken out towards the end of March to be eaten at the traditional spring festival.

The apple festival of Casalnoceto takes place on Sunday, March 21st, starting at 9:30 am and going all day. You can taste the bitter-sweet local apples and discover this relatively unknown but beautiful part of Italy. Casalnoceto is located about 100 km east of Turin, and only 75 km from Milan, making it a great option for a day tour from Milan. For more information on the town, see the Piemonte in dettaglio site.

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This old Italian recipe for bread-crumb balls comes from Apulia, a region in Southern Italy; it’s delicious and will leave your taste buds hungry for more!

Here are the ingredients: bread crumbs; 1 egg; grated pecorino cheese; 1 garlic clove; parsley; extra virgin olive oil; salt.

Preparation: soak the breadcrumbs in a bowl of milk, then drain ( squeeze to expel all the remaining liquid) Next add to it the egg, pecorino, oil, garlic, chopped parsley and salt. Roll into balls and then fry in a little oil. Cook the breadcrumb balls until golden brown.

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Bruschetta is a delicious Italian appetizer that one can prepare in no time at all. Here are the ingredients: four or six slices of durum wheat bread; 1 large potato; salmon; lumpfish roe; oil; salt and white pepper.

Preparation: cook a big potato in slightly salted water, drain and then chop into small cubes. Next place them in a pan with a little oil, pour in sour cream and mayonnaise and stir until soft and creamy. In the meanwhile toast the slices of bread until golden and crispy. Next pour the sauce over them and garnish with salmon, lumpfish roe and dill.

Phot | Flickr

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