Cooking classes and vacations in Puglia Italy

In Puglia we don’t define ourserselves as vegetarian people, but we certainly eat lots of vegetables, legumes and dishes which would be perfect for vegetarians.

This may be due to the fact that in Puglia we produce lots of vegetables (in fact we are also known as the garden of Italy); or to the fact that, having a sunny and warm weather for most of the year, we prefer eating simple and fresh dishes, not rich in proteins and fats.

Lots of our dishes do not include any meat at all, but just cheese, eggs and vegetables: from eggplant balls (similar to meat balls, but made with eggplants instead of meat), to eggplant parmigiana, to fava broad beans and chicories.

When we do have meat, we would never have a steak (Puglia is definetely not the region where to go to if you like steaks!). Meat will always be a sort of side dish to all the vegetables we have at any meal: from zucchini, to eggplants and bell peppers prepared in all the possible ways.

One of the most interesting things about the cuisine of Puglia, is that even at the end of a meal we would have a plate of vegetables. If the French end up their meal with a plate of that delicious cheese, in Puglia we finish our meal with a plate of crudité: from cucumbers, to carrots and fennels (when in season). These are all vegetables that facilitate digestion. However, I would say that the main reason why we do that is to spend more time at the table!

If you come to Puglia, you find cucumbers at any market from June to October. They are very sweet and very different from the more bitter cucumbers you may find in other regions.

They are very delicious, dressed with just a bit of fruity extra virgin olive oil, sea salt and black pepper. They are also very nice when added to a tomato salad.

The beauty of the cuisine of Puglia is that you can prepare very delicious dishes without spending too much time in the kitchen. As always, the key is to use fresh and very high quality ingredients. So basically if you want to save time in the kitchen, you should spend a little extra time looking for the right ingredients.

Today I and Marika want to share this recipe which we guarantee will impress your guests on a dinner party! We love this recipe, first because it is very tasty and second because you can serve it cold, so you can prepare it in advance and enjoy your dinner with your guests!

As always we got inspired by what’s in season now in Puglia and Italy: the fresh green peas!

You also need very small calamari. Please note that it is very important the calamari are fresh and not frozen.

RECIPE

4 servings

INGREDIENTS:

- 500 grams fresh green peas (small size)
- very small onion
- 8 small calamari (fresh and small)
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (medium fruity)
- 2 slices of artisan durum wheat bread
- 1 tsp sea salt
- pinch black pepper

PREPARATION:

In a pan, soften the onion with a few drops of extra virgin olive oil. Clean the green peas and cook them at very low flame and with the lid. Add the sea salt. After 20-30 minutes, remove them from the flame and let them cool down before reducing into a purea with the food processor.

On the side, wash the calamari and cut them in small strips, lengthwise.  Sautée the calamari just for a few minutes at very low flame.

Cut the artisan bread in small strips and bake in the oven for a few minutes, until it gets crunchy. Once it is ready, drizzle with a few drops of extra virgin olive oil on top.

Pour the green peas purea on a plate. Place the calamari strips on top and drizzle with a little more extra virgin olive oil. Sprinkle a pinch of black pepper on top. Serve with toasted bread.

Enjoy!

What’s your favorite recipe with fresh geen peas?

For more information about our cooking classes and cookery tours in Puglia please write at info.stile@gmail.com or subscribe to our newsletter.

It is obviously spring on our terrace, which is almost becoming as big as a garden. Marika planted even more herbs than last year (in addition to the many flowers, geranium and….the big lemon tree which already has one big lemon!). I think we now have them all.

Just name one and we have it: from bay laurel, sage, rosemary, parsley, LOTS of mint, to thyme and basil. At our parents’ garden we have: capers, chilly peppers, oregano, wild fennel and rucola (rocket).

Our guests who already attended our cooking classes in Puglia know how I and Marika love adding all the different herbs to our dishes…..even to cakes! This is something that we learned from our Nonna/Grandmother, who used to plant so many herbs and knew all the health benefits of each single herb: from treating a flu, a cold, to liver or stomach problems.

Cooking with herbs belongs to the Mediterranean culinary tradition: it is very common in all regions in Southern Italy. The first time I cooked for my friends in Milan (many years ago!) they were really impressed with all the spices and herbs I used: not just onion, celery and parsley; but also lots of oregano, sage, rosemary and wild fennel. All herbs that grow wild in our countryside.

Cooking with herbs is a very healthy way of preparing our food and eating. First of all, by using herbs and spices you add lots of flavors to your dishes, which allows you to reduce the amount of salt. This is something that Marika, as a Cardiologist, loves telling to our cooking students: adding herbs (and cutting salt!) helps lowering blood pressure and heart diseases.

Moreover, many herbs have lots of antioxidants, which are very good for our health but also to better preserve the food we are preparing.

For more information about our cooking classes in Puglia Italy please write at info.stile@gmail.com.

Subscribe to our newsletter!

A few days ago, I attended a very interesting dinner my Harvard Alumni Club organized in Milan. Umberto Veronesi was our dinner guest. He is the founder of the Veronesi Foundation, which carries on very important scientific research in order to fight cancer.

At the dinner he spoke about the scientific advances in genetics and their impact on hereditary diseases and predictive medicine. He told us that doctors and scientists strongly believe certain foods can be very powerful in order to prevent cancer. Still, there is not enough evidence; however, they are doing lots of research to demonstrate the importance of food.

Among the many food products he talked about, he said strawberries may be very powerful against cancer.

We already know about the many health benefits strawberries have. They are rich in phenols (anthocyanins) which make up the red colour and serve as potent antioxidants. Also a research from Harvard Medical School showed that strawberries may offer heart disease protection. 

In addition to that, strawberries are an important source of ellagic acid. Veronesi’s team are studying the ellagic acid’s possible benefits against cancer.

After listening to this speech, I and Marika have been eating strawberries every day, in many different ways: at breakfast with cereals, at lunch and dinner with salad.

Pietro, the farmer from whom we buy all the ingredients for our cooking classes, grows organic and super tasty strawberries.

We like making a salad with a few drops of red wine or the very old balsamic vinegar. This is to enhance the phenols (anthocyanins) benefits. Then we decorate with a few mint leaves or basil.

Good healthy strawberries!

We have a way of saying in Italy that states: “on special occasions women don’t ask for a gift, but they still expect it!”. Saint Valentine is certainly one of those occasions when this applies.  To all men reading our blog: “don’t event dare taking out your girlfriend, wife or partner for dinner tonight, without giving her a gift!”

If you need a suggestion for a guaranteed gift (i.e. a gift that we guarantee all women will like) then give her some dark chocolate truffles.

You will make her happy but also very healthy!

In 2009, the European Heart Journal published an article about the beneficial effects of cocoa on cardiovascular risk.

Cocoa (as well as red wine, tea and certain fruits and vegetables) seems to be rich in flavanols which have important cardiovascular effects. Of course these flavanols may not be found in the average bar of chocolate, but only in chocolate with a high cocoa content.

This is something researchers have been studying for twenty years, since Prof. Hollenberg from Harvard found out that Kuna Indians (a remote population living on islands off the coast of Panama) have a lower than average blood pressure.

OR:

Since I became a professional extra virgin olive oil taster I had a chance to taste many olive oils from different producers. I am very pleased to find out that more and more producers are focusing on making very high quality extra virgin olive oils.

Puglia is the biggest producer of olives and olive oil in Italy. Out of the total Italian market, the region produces 37% of the whole olive production and almost 40% of the whole olive oil production (vs Tuscany which makes 2,9% of the whole olive production and about 3,2% of the whole olive oil production).
For years Pugliese olive oil producers have been focusing just on quantity selling their olives to Tuscany or other northern Italian regions.

Local producers are finally realizing that quality is more important than quantity, in a region that has been producing olive oil for centuries and that counts 40 millions olive trees, of which 40% are more than 1000 years old. This millenary history and important culture is testified by the many frantoi ipogei, underground and ancient olive oil presses that you find in Puglia.
The beauty of Pugliese olive oil is the fact that we have so many different varieties: Leccino, Coratina, Frantoio, Ogliarola, Peranzana, Rotondella, Garganica, Gentile…just to name a few.
The two varieties Bella di Cerignola and Termite di Bitetto are used as table olives.
All these olives have different colors and shape and result in olive oils with different flavors and taste.

In Puglia, we use extra virgin olive oil almost for everything, even to make homemade desserts and cakes. Very rarely we use butter at home…may be to make a cake for a guest or for very specific recipes.

What I find fascinating is how different and how better a dish can taste when we pair it with the right extra virgin olive oil (just as when you pair food and wine).
So many times, I go to a restaurant, order the best food and then I cannot enjoy it because the olive oil used is not extra virgin or it is not the right one for that dish. A bad olive oil can ruin your food. The right extra virgin olive oil can enhance the flavors and freshness of the ingredients.
Of course, I and Marika, we belong to the school that says that extra virgin olive oil should be used raw: when you cook it, you destroy all the flavors and healthy benefits.
For more information about our extra olive oil tastings and tours please write at info.stile@gmail.com

However, my and Marika’s favorites are the red big shrimps from Gallipoli. The best place where to have them is in Gallipoli, in the historical center, just by the shore. They are a bit expensive, but really worth it. The famous recipe is to bake the shrimps in a big salt crust (exactly as if you were preparing the sea bream) and serve them with very fruity extra virgin olive oil. It’s something you will never forget!

To contact us write at info.stile@gmail.com 

4– 8 servings
- 1000 grams mussels
- 1 carrot
- 1 garlic clove
- pinch red chili
- 10 cherry tomatoes, halved
- leaves of parsley, chopped
- 2 tbs white wine
- 1 tbs extra virgin olive oil
- 500 grams of hand made tagliatelle

Do you have any other recipe with mussels? Please share it.

To contact us write at info.stile@gmail.com 

In Puglia, to have fresh tomatoes when it is not the season we prepare the so called Pendola tomatoes. In the summer we pick the tomatoes with the vine. We hang the tomatoes with the vine on a rope and store them in a cool environment. The skin turns hard but the juice stays inside! Then in the winter, we simply roast them: the skin breaks down and the tomatoes release all the juice and the taste of the sun!

Do you have any other way to suggest to preserve vegetables and tomatoes?

What to cook and what NOT to cook!

For more information, please contact us at: info.stile@gmail.com

Buying ingredient at the farmer market!

The quality of the ingredients you use to prepare a dish is what makes the real difference in your plate and most of all …in your mouth!!
Buying your ingredients at the market is a really good investment, which will definetely result in a more tasteful dish, certainly appreciated by your beloved ones and friends.
A very fresh ingredient has lots of taste, which means that you don’t have to add any sauce or dressing to give flavor to your dish.
Also a very fresh ingredient does not need to be cooked for too long and in this way you preserve all the good properties and vitamines it may contain.
Moreover, a very important feature is that at the market you usually find local products produced by the local farmers. Every season you find different vegetables and fruit and every season you can prepare different seasonal recipes. Creativity and variety is one of the beauties of cooking!
This is why Puglia cuisine is very simple but SO delicious at the same time. The region is a big producer of all vegetables you can think of (artichokes, eggplants, zucchini), tomatoes, fish, durum wheat, legumes. In Puglia, all ingredients are cooked in a very simple way…but the result is always terrific.

Finally, not everybody has the time to go to the market every day. Then, how do you store your ingredients? or how can you have “fresh” ingredients out of the season, without importing them?
In Puglia, for example, we produce lots of tomatoes in the summer. To have fresh tomatoes in the winter (without making them dry), we prepare the so called Pendola tomatoes in the summer.
Also, in Puglia we produce lots of vegetables in the summer, such as eggplants, zucchini and bell peppers. We preserve them in extra virgin olive oil..so that when the winter comes we still have the local vegetables bought at the local market.

Typical dishes in the Salentine province are: lampasciuni, early artichokes, ‘ncapriata (broad bean soup).

Gastronomy in Maglie includes: pecorino cheese; ‘mbruscatizzi; dried figs with almonds, lemon peel and dried chocolate; raffiuoli (Easter cake).