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Archive for the ‘Food markets’

What’s special at the market in Puglia in March: fresh fava beans! 0

Posted on March 06, 2010 by Stile Mediterraneo

It has been several months now since we started our “What’s special at the market in Puglia” section, where we write about seasonal and special products we find at the market in Puglia.

We have to admit that we were never happier to host our market section than today! This morning we finally found some fresh fava beans at the market and this means that the Spring has finally arrived!

The fava beans are still a bit small and so we have to wait a few days more, before we can make our delicious pasta with fresh fava beans, onions and mint.

However, when the fava beans are so small and tender they are perfect to be eaten raw in a salad, with the fresh pecorino sheep cheese, some Pugliese bread topped with good quality extra virgin olive oil!

It’s a fantastic starter!

What’s your favorite recipe with fresh fava beans?

For more information about our cooking classes and market tours in Puglia contact us at info.stile@gmail.com or subscribe to the Cooking School in Puglia Newsletter.

Tags: fava beans fava broad beans Italian starters Italy fava beans Mediterranean Healthy food Puglia fava bean
Category Food markets, Mediterranean Healthy food, Puglia, Vegetables & Legumes, cuisine, traditions

Sunday’s farmers market on the beach in Puglia 0

Posted on February 21, 2010 by Stile Mediterraneo

There is no better way to start the day than to wake up and find out that the weather outside is beautiful and sunny (65° F!) even if we are still in February!

So I and Marika went to closest beach in Lecce, where the Sunday farmers market takes place. It was a real feast with all those colorful and fresh vegetables and fruit. Even if it’s still February, we already found fresh green fava beans, strawberries, early tomatoes, chicories!

I and Marika usually buy our vegetables from our favorite farmer, who only sells what he produces and what’s in season. Now it’s broccoli rabe (or turnips) season, so today he was selling his super fresh broccoli rabe. While in Lecce we eat orecchiette with tomato sauce, in the Bari area broccoli rabe are used to prepare the traditional orecchiette pasta, along with anchovies, garlic and chilly pepper (please don’t put any cheese!!).
So today we prepared the orecchiette the Bari way. This dish is called: orecchiette with cime di rapa!

The broccoli rabe belong to the broccoli family, but they are different in taste and a little but more bitter.

It is very important to know that medical research demonstrated that broccoli rabe are very powerful against stomach, lung, and colon cancers, and promising research hints at protective effects against breast and prostate cancers as well.

As usual, I and Marika got excited and bought way too many broccoli rabe for our Sunday lunch!

RECIPE:
4 servings

10oz orecchiette pasta
1lb 10oz broccoli rabe (or turnips)
1 garlic clove
chilly pepper
2 anchovy fillets
1 tbsp breadcrumbs
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

PREPARATION

Clean the fresh broccoli rabe (turnips) and cook them in boiling water for about 8 minutes. Then add fresh orecchiette pasta to the water with broccoli and cook all together for other 5 minutes until the pasta is al dente (or 10 minutes if the orecchiette are dry).

In a saucepan put the olive oil and sautè the garlic clove, the chilly pepper and the anchovies (cut in small pieces) just for 2 minutes.

Drain the pasta and broccoli rabe and add them to the saucepan. Add the breadcrumbs on top and sautè the pasta for about 2 minutes. Because of the anchovies in Puglia we don’t add any cheese. Serve when still warm!

For more information about our cooking classes in Italy contact us at info.stile@gmail.com or subscribe to the Cooking School in Puglia Newsletter.

Tags: broccoli rabe farmers market italy markets orecchiette pasta orecchiette with broccoli rabe puglia markets
Category Food markets, Hand-made pasta, Mediterranean Healthy food, Pasta & Rice, Vegetables & Legumes, lifestyle in Lecce, things to do in Puglia

It’s Artichoke season! 2

Posted on February 07, 2010 by Stile Mediterraneo

We can certainly say Puglia is an artichoke lovers’ paradise!

If you come to Puglia at this time of the year you’ll see artichokes everywhere: at the markets and at every street corner the farmers sell their fresh artichokes. All the locals buy to eat them fresh or to preserve in extra virgin olive oil, mint and cloves (delicious!!)…to be eaten in the summer on top of our fantastic bread.

The artichokes have many important nutritional benefits. In addition to being full of fiber and iron, they contribute to lower the blood cholesterol. In fact, by promoting bile secretion in the liver, they help reducing the LDL cholesterol.

In the 1970’s, European scientists discovered that the bitter taste of the artichoke is due to a plant chemical called cynarin, which has the ability to reduce cholesterol.

In Puglia we prepare the artichokes in so many different ways and I and Marika have them at least 6 times per week at this time of the year. One of Marika’s favorite ways to prepare them is with carrots, rice and parmigiano….a sort of risotto but more Mediterranean because we make it with extra virgin olive oil instead of butter.

INGREDIENTS
3 artichokes
1/2 lb rice
2 carrots
1/2 onion
vegetable broth (as necessary)
1/4 glass white wine
3 1/2 oz very good Parmigiano
2 tbsp very good extra virgin olive oil
sea salt to taste
black pepper

RECIPE
Clean the artichokes and the carrots and chop them in small pieces. Put them in a non-sticking pan at low flame adding a few tbsp of vegetable broth. Stir and add the onion, cut very fine.
Add the rice and stir very gently and not very frequently. Add the wine and after a few minute other broth, little by little when necessary.
Add sea salt and black pepper to taste.
When the rice is cooked “al dente“, add the parmigiano. Serve and add the extra virgin olive oil.

The only issue we have with artichokes is pairing them with the right wine. What wine do you like having with artichokes?

Tags: Italian recipes mediterranean cuisine Mediterranean Healthy food Puglia recipes
Category Favorites, Food markets, Pasta & Rice, Vegetables & Legumes

What’s special at the fruit market in Puglia in September! 2

Posted on September 12, 2009 by Stile Mediterraneo

What we really love about the fruit and vegetable markets of Puglia is that only what’s in season is sold. All fruit and vegetable change according to the season, and so the colors are totally different.

If you have a chance to go to a market in September, don’t miss the delicious and sweet prickly pears.

They grow on a cactus plant. They are green when they are not ripe. Then they turn red, orange or yellow. Our favorite are the red!

In Puglia they ripe in September and so when you go to the countryside you see these beautiful cactus plants with the red and orange fruit.

To pick the prickly pears you need to wear gloves because of the spines.

If you store them in a cool environment they last for about three months. In Puglia we usually serve them as a special fruit at Christmas time.

For more information about Puglia cuisine, our cooking classes and wine tours in Puglia Italy please write at info.stile@gmail.com

Tags: food markets Italy fruit Puglia prickly pears Puglia cuisine
Category Food markets, Puglia, cuisine

Sweet Red Onion from Puglia 0

Posted on August 05, 2009 by Stile Mediterraneo

The sweet red onions from Acquaviva: they have a typical flatten shape and are renowned for their sweet taste. They are planted in September, with waning moon, and picked in July and August.
The production is at risk because everything is manual and not very profitable anymore for the small local producers.

Tags: Cooking tip onions Puglia cuisine Slow Food slow food presidia
Category Food markets, Mediterranean Healthy food, cuisine

Slow Food events in Puglia: the “Mercatino del Gusto” 0

Posted on August 03, 2009 by Stile Mediterraneo

We are just back from the first two days at the Mercatino del Gusto organized by Slow Food in Maglie Puglia and we have already so much to tell about this year event, which celebrates the 10th anniversary!

The Mercatino del Gusto (literally: the Market of Good Taste) brings together only the best and carefully selected producers from Puglia.

All the producers attending this event are selected and invited to partecipate because they answer the Slow Food’s quality requirements.

We are just impressed by the fact that the number of producers attending this event has grown so much, meaning that during the past 10 years more and more producers in Puglia have been focusing on high quality standards! This is particularly evident with the wine producers occupying the whole main square!!

The Mercatino del Gusto is much more than a fair: for four days, the whole town of Maglie becomes the setting of this event. All streets and squares in the historical center change their names into: Piazza del Vino (Wine Square), Via dell’olio (olive oil stree), Via dell’Ortofrutta (Fruit street), Via del Pesce (Fish street), etc.

There are a few streets that turn into outdoor restaurants where you can sit down and dine with new friends. There are certain streets that turn into ourdoor movie theatres or stages for jazz concerts!

My and Marika’s highlights for the past two days were the Puglia Slow Food Presidia, among the Slow Food activities we strongly support!

Slow Food Presidia are local projects aimed to protect small-scale producers and to recover traditional methods of producing high quality products that would otherwise disappear because their production is not very profitable anymore.

These projects help the local communities to promote their products and to become economically viable. There are about 300 presidia around the world and about 10 in Puglia.

These are just some of the Pugliese products Slow Food is helping promoting.

Oranges and lemons from Gargano. Gargano is a beautiful area of Puglia. Here lemons and oranges grow throughout the year! Oranges are picked in December, April/May until September! Delicious marmalades and liquors are made with these citrus fruit.

The local small producers were not able to compete with the big international producers and the production of these oranges and lemons is at risk! A group of producers has recently created a Consortium to promote these wonderful fruit!

We must admit that our favorite presidium is the Vacca Podolica (Podolica Cow)!
This cow, because very strong and rustic, has always been considered more suitable as pets work, to be used in the land by the farmers. Over the past 20 years, the number of podolica cows has been gradually reducing. This is because they are not very profitable: they produce small quantity of milk and only in certain months. Also the meat is very savory but hard.

However, the meat of the Podolica cow is very special from a nutritional point of view, even though the taste is completely different from what we are used to. This is due to the fact that these animals are fed only with grass and not with cattle feed! Also cheese made of the podolico milk is incredibly rich of flavor and taste!

The Fiaschetto tomato is another very interesting product, which is is the latest addition to the Puglia Slow Food Presidia. The fiaschetto tomato is what all the Pugliese families have traditionally been using to make their winter tomato sauce (instead of the more famous plum San Marzano tomatoes!).

The fiaschetto tomato was at risk of disappearing because the production was again not very profitable: too expensive to produce and the yield very low…compared to the modern tomatoes!

However, a group of farmers recently decided to experiment the biological production of these tomatoes, without any chimical product! These fiaschetto tomatoes are now produced in the beautiful land around the WWF Torre Guaceto sea natural reserve.

For more information please write at info.stile@gmail.com

Tags: Italian cheese Jams & Marmalades Puglia cuisine Puglia events Puglia market Slow Food tomatoes
Category Cheese & Mozzarella, Food markets, Mediterranean Healthy food, cuisine, traditions, travel tips

Puglia food festivals: the bread sagra! 6

Posted on August 01, 2009 by Stile Mediterraneo

My and Marika’s favorite way to celebrate the Pugliese food and wine is to attend one of the many local sagre (festivals) taking place in the small towns, year round everywhere around Puglia.

Every town organizes a different festival: from the fig, bread, pasta, meatball, eggaplant, fish, to the watermelon and icecream! The sagra celebrates what’s in season and each town’s main traditional production.

The best sagre are of course in July and August.
Last night I and Marika went to the Bread fair held in a sea town, nearby Lecce. It was so much fun!

Everytime we go to a sagra, we must start trying the Almond Cupeta. That’s something we have always done, since we were very young.

Almond cupeta is a Torrone, made only with sugar and toasted almonds!

Then we headed to the bread area. Thousands of people were waiting for the warm “Pittule”: deep fried focaccia bread…..and of course for the “Pizzini bread“: bread made with onion, tomatoes, black pepper and olives.