We are indeed much more than what we eat; but what we eat can nevertheless help us be much more than what we are. — Adele Davis
Ah, Italy! Italia!
Il Bel Paese! Even though a culinary journey through this land of food artists would outlast the most long-lived of men, we felt the need to dig a bit into the offerings of this wonderful country so to provide some clear examples to distinguish authentic Italian food from the much more common Italian-American fare you can find online and in most Italian restaurants in the U.S. We started with
Bucatini all’Amatriciana, a Roman favorite that is immortal as the Eternal City itself. We continued our trip by moving north:
Tortellini al Pesto alla Genovese, combining Liguri and Emiliani flavors, provided us the best opportunity to welcome Spring into upstate New York and to make great use of all the fresh ingredients that the season was bringing us. Most recently, we crafted our
Coniglio alla Ligure, a true Western Ligurian specialty that kept us in northern Italy and that we hope raised awareness of this white, lean meat that is often overlooked by even the most-discerning food expert.
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Yet, we felt that one piece of the puzzle was missing to conclude this culinary trip through the Italian boot: a full Italian meal! We decided to take on seasonal flavors in a three-course, rustic, northern Italian meal, using
Barilla tortellini as a key character; it is a meal that you can find at a neighborhood trattoria in Genova or Asti, but not necessarily in a fancy Italian restaurant in Rome; it is something that many families may share during the traditional Sunday lunch with relatives, but rarely on their own. There is something special about rustic meals that illustrate a way of life that is genuine and humble while also being true to a culture. And few places in the world can conjugate rusticity and finesse like Italy does! By using simple ingredients that can be found in most supermarkets we were able to create a delectable meal — one that spans from an apotheosis of greens to the deep redness of a
Cannonau wine in the ragu, to the soft, hidden elegance of a pear cake baked
all’Italiana. A real traditional meal whose ingredients and cooking methods rightly pay a tribute to the
Slow Food movement that was created in this land of great chefs. We decided to stick to the northern Italian tradition because its ingredients are similar to the one found here in the New York state countryside, as a way to link our location to Italy — the green valleys of Alta Lombardia have never been closer!
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We enjoyed cooking (and eating!) what you’re about to see very much. We hope that you will enjoy recreating our menu even more!
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Tasting Notes & Recipes
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Trittico di Verdure al Forno con Tortelloni e Pioggia di Gorgonzola (Roasted Tri-Vegetable Salad with Crispy Tortelloni and Gorgonzola Crumbles): Rather than having a salad with the usual suspects of mixed lettuce greens, spinach, or arugula (all of which are fabulous though), the focus here is on seasonal spring and summer vegetables to pay tribute to the abundant produce available, especially zucchini. The three colors of asparagus/zucchini, carrots, and cauliflower are naturally vibrant and complement one another. When roasted, the caramelized flavors of each vegetable meld together like long lost siblings, yet each maintaining its distinct flavor. The common denominator is a browned, nutty flavor that always brings out the best in vegetables. The crisp tortelloni bring out the savory goodness from the vegetable medley; even though baking tortelloni (or tortellini) without a sauce base is rare to come across, we believed that the flavors of the pasta, the vegetables, and the cheeses blend perfectly together; and you know what? It worked out really well! Certainly, the Gorgonzola
piccante (spicy) crumbles give the salad a kick of gratification with its punchy and bold character. No Italian meal is truly complete without good
formaggio! This dish is perfectly paired with a
Keuka Lake Vineyards’ Dry Riesling: with its fruity, delicate notes, this upstate New York wine (reminiscent of Rieslings found across Northern Italy) complements all the ingredients of this antipasto without overpowering any.
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Trittico di Verdure al Forno con Tortelloni e Pioggia di Gorgonzola Recipe
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Preparation time: 30 minutes
Serves 4
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Ingredients
- 2 carrots, cut into julienne strips
- 1 head cauliflower, cut lengthwise into 1/2 inch-thick slices
- 1 zucchini, sliced
- 1 bunch asparagus, course stalks removed and then halved
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Salt and pepper
- 20 Barilla Ricotta and Cheese Tortelloni
- 1.5 oz Parmigiano Reggiano, freshly grated
- 1.5 oz Gorgonzola piccante, roughly chopped and crumbled
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Preparation
- Bring a medium pot of salted water to boil. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Toss cut vegetables with olive oil, salt and pepper in a large mixing bowl. Place vegetables in a single layer on baking sheets.
- Cook tortelloni in boiling water for about 8 minutes (slightly under the package cooking time). Gently drain. In a separate baking sheet, lay tortelloni in a single layer on a baking sheet; drizzle with olive oil and freshly grated Parmigiano.
- Place baking sheets into oven for about 20 minutes, or until vegetables and tortelloni are lightly browned.
- Plate vegetables: Form a base layer with cauliflower and stack with carrots, zucchini, and asparagus. Sprinkle with gorgonzola crumbles. Can be served hot or room temperature.
Tools
- Medium pot
- Baking sheets (about 3-4)
- Peeler
- Chef knife
- Large mixing bowl
- Grater
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Tortellini al Ragu’ di Coniglio alla Ligure (Tortellini with Ligurian Rabbit Ragu): If there were one word to describe the tortellini with rabbit ragu, it would be none other than heavenly. The slow simmered ragu is perfectly tender, flavorful, and full of personality that shouts Italia. Brining the rabbit in red wine and herbs allowed the meat to be infused with an aromatic essence that carried throughout the cooking process. The mirepoix base (carrots, onions, celery) always brings depth and life to a sauce, and rightfully so in our ragu. The spinach and ricotta tortellini, perfectly crafted and plumply filled pasta, served as the perfect avenue to showcase the ragu. In fact, tortellini is to paper as ragu is to ink. With their fresh flavor, tortellini perfectly match the meaty taste of marinated rabbit, while the olive taggiasche, with their mild bitterness, are the perfect ending note of the dish. The Sardinian Cannonau wine, whose grapes are similar to those found in Ligurian wines, gave it another dimension as well; with heaping glassfuls simmering the meat and vegetables, this dish had no other choice but to be great. Putting it all together, we have a unique tortellini dish that instantly brings you to the countryside. A great thing about this particular ragu is that it is hearty, but not heavy; this is an important feature of Italian pasta sauces, while most Italian-American pasta sauces are represented as the latter, which has evolved into an unfortunate myth of Italian food being heavy.
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Tortellini al Ragu’ di Coniglio alla Ligure Recipe
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Preparation Time: Approximately 3 hours (2 hours brining + 1 hour cook time)
Serves 4
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Ingredients
- 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped and divided
- 1 half large onion, coarsely chopped
- 4 bay leaves, divided
- 4 sprigs rosemary, divided
- 4 springs thyme, divided
- 3-4 glasses of Cannonau di Sardegna red wine, divided
- Half rabbit, cut into about 5 large portions
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 shallots, finely chopped
- 1 carrot, finely chopped
- 1 celery stalk, finely chopped
- 14 ounces canned whole San Marzano tomatoes
- 1 chicken bouillon cube
- 1/4 cup olive taggiasche
- 3 cups Barilla Cheese and Spinach Tortellini (dried)
- Salt and pepper
- Parmigiano Reggiano, grated
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Preparation
- Brine rabbit: Put rabbit, 2 cloves garlic, onion, 2 bay leaves, rosemary in large mixing bowl. Pour about 2 glasses of wine into bowl. Let soak for 2 hours (or overnight in refrigerator), covered. Prepare other vegetables in the meantime. Drain and discard marinade, including herbs. Reserve and dry rabbit pieces.
- Heat olive oil in large saucepan to medium-high heat. Add garlic, shallots, carrot, and celery and sauté until vegetables are softened and browned, about 5 minutes. Add rabbit pieces and brown on each side, about another 5 minutes. Add remaining sprigs of rosemary, thyme, and bay leaves.
- Add a glass of wine to the pan; deglaze pan by scraping off pan bits and allow wine to slightly evaporate. Add another glass of wine, season with salt and pepper, and cover the pan with a lid; reduce heat to low and simmer for about 45 minutes, or until rabbit meat is tender.
- While rabbit is simmering, bring a medium pot of salted water to boil. Cook tortellini for about 9 minutes. Drain and reserve.
- Remove rabbit from pan and allow to cool slightly. Debone rabbit with hands and finely chop with knife. Add meat back into pan. Add tomatoes to the pan and crush tomatoes with fork and wooden spoon. Adjust seasoning with additional salt and pepper as needed. Add bouillon cube and dissolve. Add olives. Simmer over medium heat for about 15 minutes — ragu should be nicely thickened.
- Add cooked tortellini to saucepan and toss. Serve immediately with freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano.
Tools
- Chef knife
- Peeler
- Large mixing bowl
- Medium pot
- Large saucepan
- Wooden spoon
- Fork
- Grater
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Torta di Pere con Salsa al Cioccolato (Rustic Pear Cake Drizzled with Dark Chocolate Sauce): Spring and summer bring us a lot of fresh fruit, too. And since pears are a local fruit both here in upstate New York as well as in northern Italy, we decided that a pear cake was the best way to conclude this all-northern Italian dinner. The flavor of the pears (we suggest you use the Bartlett variety, also known as Williams, but any type of sweet, soft pear will work) combined with the homemade chocolate sauce (using high quality, organically-grown cocoa powder from the Dominican Republic) delightfully release all of the classic flavors that you can encounter in the northern Italian countryside. Eating a slice of this cake makes you think of a remote valley in the Italian Alps, where cows roam freely, pears grow fresh, and raspberries explode in flavor. The cool weather that you associate with the often snowy peaks of northern Italy is perfectly compensated by the warmth of the chocolate sauce and by a tazza (cup) of espresso coffee,
the Italian hot beverage that irremediably not only accompanies every dessert but also articulates every moment of the life of Italians. We used a
Bialetti Moka Express coffee maker along with Lavazza
Qualita’ Oro ground espresso for the perfect brew. As a dessert wine pairing we recommend a
St. Michael-Eppan’s “Sanct Valentin-Comtess-Passito,’ a sweet wine produced in Alto Adige, a mountainous land riddled with beautiful countryside scenery that fits perfectly with the simple rustic elegance of this cake.
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Torta di Pere con Salsa al Cioccolato Recipe.
Adapted from Rustic Apple Cake Recipe and Dark Chocolate Sauce Recipe
Preparation time: 1.5 hours
Serves 8
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Ingredients
For cake:
- 3 Bartlett pears, peeled, cored, and sliced
- 1 lemon, zested and juiced, divided
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup granulated sugar, divided
- 7 tablespoons butter, melted
- 1-1/2 teaspoons cinnamon, divided
- 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons whole milk
- 1 packet yeast
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1-3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- Confectioner’s powder sugar, for garnishing
For sauce:
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/3 cup brewed espresso
- 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
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Preparation
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In small bowl, combine 1 heaping tablespoon of sugar and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and reserve. In large mixing bowl, squeeze lemon juice onto sliced pears. Using a hand or stand mixer, mix eggs and remaining sugar until sugar is fully dissolved. Add melted butter and mix. Next, gradually add lemon zest, cinnamon, milk, yeast, vanilla, almond, salt, and flour. Mixture should be well combined and form a thick liquid.
- If using a stand mixer, remove bowl from base. Fold in pears and use spatula to combine. Pour batter into a buttered and floured cake pan (preferably springform). Sprinkle with cinnamon & sugar mixture. Bake for 60 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean from the cake. Allow to cool.
- Prepare chocolate sauce: Cut butter into pieces. In a small saucepan heat espresso with brown sugar over medium heat, whisking, until sugar is dissolved. Add cocoa powder and salt, whisking until smooth. Add butter and vanilla, whisking until butter is melted. Serve cake with warm chocolate sauce and garnish with fresh raspberries.
Tools
- Large mixing bowls
- Peeler
- Chef knife
- Grater
- Hand or stand mixer
- Measuring spoons and cups
- Spatula
- Springform cake pan
- Whisk
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Without further ado, Buon Appetito!
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