Focaccia | Italy Puglia cooking classes and wine tours

Take a personality test with food! 0

Posted on January 26, 2010 by Stile Mediterraneo

Take the following test and we tell you what personality you have.

The test is free and will take only about 1 minute to complete.

Don’t spend too much time considering your answer, your first impression is what we need. Please be completely honest in your response.

QUESTION:

What is your favorite food at lunch on your work days?

A) a caprese salad with tomato, mozzarella cheese, basil, extra virgin olive oil….accompanied by two slices of bread?

OR:

B) a delicious sandwich, with a super yummy mozzarella…some juicy tomatoes with fresh basil and… that warm bread, crunchy outside and soft inside?

————————————–

RESULTS

If your answer is A):

You are a calm person and enjoy every moment of your life. Work is good…but that’s not the most important thing in your life! You are also very social and you enjoy taking a good break at lunch with colleagues and people you like.

You understand how important it is not just to eat well and healthy…..but also HOW you eat….(see below).

If your answer is B):

You are a very dynamic person and very successful at work. You are a multi-task person. Your typical day looks more or less like this:

-gym very early in the morning

-meetings at work in the morning

-shopping at lunch…while having a quick sandwich panino standing in the coffee bar

-meetings at work in the afternoon

-aperitif and then dinner with friends

————————————-

Many times already, you may have heard that we are WHAT we eat!

Lots of medical reaserch demonstrates that what we eat can have a huge impact on our health in the long run.

I and Marika believe that what we eat is really important….but that’s not enough! Also, HOW we eat can have a huge impact on our health and well being.

There is a BIG difference between a sandwich with tomato, mozzarella and basil; and a caprese salad with tomato, mozzarella, basil and bread…..even though they are made exactly with the same ingredients and quantities.

The difference is that the caprese salad is eaten at the table. May be you are chewing slowly and may be you are relaxing while talking to someone.

The sandwich is very likely eaten in a couple of minutes, standing in a coffee bar.

We strongly believe that the Mediterranean diet is good….but to be more powerful, it needs to be accompanied by a slower lifestyle.

What do you think? we would love to hear about your experience and thoughts.

Therefore we wish you have lots of Caprese slow moments with your friends….may be with a good glass of wine from Puglia!

Tags: bread Italy caprese salad focaccia mediterranean cuisine Mediterranean Healthy food Puglia Extra virgin olive oil tomatoes
Category Cheese & Mozzarella, Focaccia & Bread, Mediterranean Healthy food, Puglia Extra virgin olive oil, cuisine

Tell us about your favorite pizza in Italy 2

Posted on January 18, 2010 by Stile Mediterraneo

If you travel around Italy, you will certainly notice that food and recipes change completely from region to region and most of the times also from town to town. Even pasta, which is always thought of as the typical Italian food, is made with different ingredients depending on whether you are in the South or North of Italy.

Pizza is certainly one of the few national Italian dishes. Pizza was first made in Naples, but now you find it anywhere in Italy. The pizza dough is always made with the same ingredients: water, yeast, flour, salt, extra virgin olive oil.
What changes from region to region is the thickness of the dough or may be the topping variety.

We are putting together a list of some of the best pizza places in Italy. Please tell us where in Italy you had your best pizza!

For more information please contact us at info.stile@gmail.com
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Tags: bread Italy focaccia Italian cuisine Italy cooking pizza Puglia cuisine
Category Focaccia & Bread, Mediterranean Healthy food, Reviews, cuisine

Home made Focaccia bread! 2

Posted on August 09, 2009 by Stile Mediterraneo

In summer time every occasion is good to make a focaccia. It’s such an easy and delicious dish: you can prepare it for a last minute dinner or for a picnic on the beach. Also it is fantastic when it is warm as well as when it gets cold.

In Puglia (mainly in Lecce) a focaccia is usually a double-crusted savory pie, stuffed inside.

In the Bari area “focaccia” is more like what’s called focaccia in the rest of Italy. It’s just one layer of dough but very soft and thick. You may be tempted to add some mozzarella on top….but that’s not the authentic way!

You can only put green olives, cherry tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil and oregano!

The beauty of this focaccia is that it is so soft, because of the potato we add to the flour!

RECIPE: 4-8 servings

Ingredients
2 small potatoes
yeast
1 tsp sea salt
water (as necessary)
1 lb 1oz all purpose flour
2 tbsp extra virgin olive
20 fresh and ripe cherry tomatoes
oregano

green olives

Preparation:

Boil the potatoes and mash them in a large bowl.
Put the yeast in a cup and add warm water to dissolve it.
Pour the water with the yeast into the mashed potato. Add the all purpose flour and mix everything together.
Knead the dough. Add the salt.
Cover with a clean kitchen towel and set aside in a warm place to rise for at least 1 hour.
Take a baking pan, oil it and spread some all purpose flour on it.
Place the dough in the baking pan and add the cherry tomatoes on top, cut in halves and the green olives. Sprinkle the focaccia with dried oregano and sea salt, then drizzle with olive oil.
Set aside again in a warm place for another 30 minutes.
Place the focaccia in the preheated oven and bake at 425 °F for about 40 minutes.

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

Tags: focaccia italian bread Italian cuisine italian pizza Puglia cuisine Puglia recipes
Category Favorites, Focaccia & Bread, Focaccia, Bread & Pizza, Mediterranean Healthy food, Puglia Extra virgin olive oil, Recipes, cuisine

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.

The best part of a sagra is of course to buy the many different and colorful candies.

It would not be a true festival without candies! Nobody can resist!

For more information on our culinary tours please write at info.stile@gmail.com

Tags: bread Italy focaccia food markets Italy Italian sweets Italy fairs Puglia events
Category Food markets, Puglia, things to do in Puglia, traditions, travel tips

The roses cake….or the small panini 0

Posted on May 01, 2009 by Stile Mediterraneo

I and Marika are so excited to leave for one of our cooking tours. It will be lots of fun!
Before leaving, we would like to share with you one of our favorite recipes. It is similar to the local Focaccia from Lecce (but the size is much smaller). It can also remind you of some small Italian Panini.

We call it “The Roses Cake” (la torta di rose) because it reminds us of many little roses.

Ingredients for 5 people:
-250 grams flour
-1 yeast
-½ tsp sugar
-1 tsp salt
-2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
-200 grams of fresh pecorino cheese
-5 tomatoes
-3 basil leaves
-Pinch of oregano
-1 tbsp capers
-3 anchovies

For the dough: melt in a cup the yeast with some warm water and the sugar. Pour the water with the yeast in a bowl with the flour and salt. Knead with your hands and let it rise for about 1 hour. Then, knead again the dough on a wooden board and cut it in small pieces, of 50 grams each.
For the inside: cut the tomatoes, cheese, basil leaves and anchovies in small pieces and dress in a bowl with oregano, olive oil and capers.
Roll out each piece of dough and place a spoon of tomatoes and cheese in the middle.

Fold the dough and close it very well.
Prepare a baking pan with some olive oil. Place each piece of dough one next to the other and let them rise for other 30 minutes.

Bake in the oven at 180° C for 35 minutes (350F).
Let us know if you make this recipe. It’s perfect to be used on the table instead of the regular bread.

For more information, please contact us at: info@stilemediterraneo.it

Tags: Appetizers bread Italy Cheese cooking tours Italy focaccia panini Puglia cuisine
Category Focaccia & Bread, Focaccia, Bread & Pizza, Italy Cooking classes, Recipes

Healthy spinach Focaccia for the Pasquetta Day 3

Posted on April 13, 2009 by Stile Mediterraneo

The “Pasquetta” Day is one the most exciting holiday in Southern Italy. Pasquetta is the day after Easter and literally means the “little Easter”.

All friends and families get together for a whole day outdoor. The tradition wants that one person offers his or her house at the beach or in the countryside; all friends bring something to eat and to drink to be shared with the others.

All friends of friends are welcome and so you can have about 200-300 people in the same house.

The Pasquetta day starts very early in the morning and ends very late at night: it’s all about eating and drinking (as if, we did not have any food on the day before, Easter!!) and playing soccer or volleyball with friends.

All people at any age attend the Pasquetta. For Southern Italians, it’s a tradition! Italians from the north, don’t believe how important the Pasquetta is for us!

This time, I and Marika will bring a ricotta and spinach Focaccia. We thought the focaccia would be perfect for a pic nic and also for all our girlfriends who like vegetables and want to be healthy!

This is the recipe (for 6 servings):

- 250 grams durum wheat flour;

- yeast (better the natural yeast);

- a pinch of sugar;

- 1 kg spinach;

- 150 grams fresh ricotta cheese;

- 70 grams parmesan cheese;

- 2 whole eggs;

- 1 garlic clove;

- pepper;

- salt;

- 2 tbp extra virgin olive oil

Spinach preparation:

In a big saucepan, cook the spinach with the garlic, a pinch of salt and a pinch of spicy pepper. Cook the spinanch at very low flame, stirring and covering with a lid. When they are al dente, remove the garlic, let them cool down and then reduce them in small pieces using a knife. Add 1 egg and the grated parmesan cheese.

Dough preparation:

Add some warm water to the yeast and a pinch of sugar. Mix together the flour with the yeast and water, 1 egg and the 2 tbs of extra virgin olive oil. Knead the dough. Add 1 tsp of salt to the dough.

Divide the dough in two pieces and with a rolling pin, make two thin and round layers.

Prepare a baking pan with some olive oil and breadcrumbs. Place the first layer in the baking pan, cover with the spinach and with some pieces of ricotta cheese. Place the second layer on top.

Cook in a pre-heated oven for about 30 minutes at 180°C (350 F).

Do you have any similar Easter traditions?

Please let us know if you ever make this recipe.

For more information, please contact us at: info@stilemediterraneo.it

Tags: Easter recipes focaccia Italian recipes Italy Italy cooking Italy holidays Italy traditions Puglia cuisine Puglia recipes ricotta spinach vegetables
Category Cheese, Focaccia & Bread, Focaccia, Bread & Pizza, Puglia, Puglia Extra virgin olive oil, Recipes, Vegetables & Legumes, cuisine, traditions

Locorotondo – white wines from Puglia and white balcony on Murgia’s trulli 0

Posted on September 05, 2007 by Stile Mediterraneo

Locorotondo the white Balcony on Murgia’s trulli in Puglia Southern Italy

Locorotondo, with Cisternino, Otranto, Alberona, Bovino , Pietramontecorvino, Roseto Valfortore, Specchia, Vico del Gargano are the most beautiful villages (borghi) in Italy.
The name Locorotondoderives from old Latin word Locus Rotundus, rounded place. As early as the first part of the 13th century, because it was located on a hill peak surrounded by walled ring, the village assumed this circular shape that gave it its name, which also appeared in various future documents.

The “Cummerse”, Characteristic Peaked Roofs made of Chalky Slabs.
White Locorotondo is the most beautiful balcony in Murgia dei Trulli in Puglia Southern Italy. From its belvedere, you can admire territory that at times seems emotional: a mosaic made of small vineyards surrounded by stoned walls, scrubs of Mediterranean forests and silver olive tree gardens that surround the old manor farms, thousands of trullo houses spread in the villages. Moreover, the small old centre of Locorotondo, closed into its circular perfection of stones and mortars, once upon a time marked by walls, seems pending between dream and reality: the white colour of lime wraps everything, it looks like flashing background of baroque architecture of local stones, underlining the intense colour of flowers on balconies. Characteristic peaky roofs made of grey stoned “chiancarelle”, called cummerse, exalt the facades, that inside represent the typical environment of star vaults. In the village centre there are no particular architectonical emergencies, everything is gracious and intimate, , and you can feel the sense of order, respect, and mature civility that surrounds small treasure chests of faith and art.

Local Products
Secular devotion for grapes cultivation, favoured the production of white wines of excellent quality, such as the famous Bianco Locorotondo Doc: fresh, light, dry, of delicate wine scent, ideal for appetizers, excellent with fish and shellfish.

Local dishes
Gnumerèdde suffuchète are roulades of lamb’s tripe, tied with animal’s guts and boiled for a long time in terra cotta pans. Traditional dishes are also: white dry broad beans, boiled in “pignata” and mashed with some olive oil added: after this processing you have excellent white mashed purée, which should be served with chicory (the real name of this ancient dish is “macco con verdure”). And we cannot forget, meat baked in stoves with coal that echoes back the old traditions; tridd, home-made pasta based of non-processed flour and eggs, a little bit of pecorino cheese and parsley, served in soup made of turkey; country “focaccia” bread, and naturally, “orecchiette” the most famous fresh pasta from Puglia.

Tags: Alberobello focaccia Locorotondo Locorotondo wine orecchiette pasta trulli houses Valle Itria
Category Puglia, Wines & wineries, cuisine, things to do in Puglia