Posted on
February 03, 2010 by
Stile Mediterraneo

We are back from three fantastic days in Milan where we attended an International Culinary Conference with some of the most important Italian, French and International chefs, such as Alain Ducasse, Moreno Cedroni, Andrea Berton, Frank Cerutti, just to mention a few.
I and Marika now have only one certainty! There is not a unique way to cook pasta. Each acclaimed Italian chef has his own theory on what the best way to cook pasta is.
Alain Ducasse even said that
his restaurant in Tuscany will be the only one in Italy, because Italians have too many different views on how to cook pasta!!
Of course there are some features all Italian chefs agree on:
- sea salt must be added to water before the pasta;
- it must be coarse sea salt;
- olive oil must not be added to water when cooking dry durum wheat pasta!
- Italian pasta must be eaten “Al dente“.
However, there are as many ways to make an Al dente pasta as the number of acclaimed Italian chefs!
It is not just a question of “gnocchi and pasta with eggs” versus “dry pasta without eggs”.
Within the dry pasta category, there are so many theories on how long pasta should be cooked for, how to drain it, what to do before putting it on the plate and serving it.
Even a simple “Spaghetti with tomato sauce” requires so much consideration, care and thought …if you want to reach the most delicious and tasty result.
And you, how do you make the “al dente” pasta? how long do you cook spaghetti pasta for? what do you do before serving on the plate and bringing on the table?
Tags: cooking schools Italyhandmade pastaItalian cuisineItaly Cooking classesPasta & Rice
Category
Cooking tip, Hand-made pasta
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 ItalyfocacciaItalian cuisineItaly cookingpizzaPuglia cuisine
Category
Focaccia & Bread, Mediterranean Healthy food, Reviews, cuisine
Posted on
December 26, 2009 by
Stile Mediterraneo

I and Marika don’t eat lots of sweets (apart from tons of the famous hazelnut ice cream from Lecce we already wrote about!).
However, we love the traditional Christmas sweets, just because they are really specific to this festivity and so we make them in Puglia only once per year. And this has been the same since always.
Our favorite Christmas sweet is a fish made of almond. In many families and countries it is a tradition to eat fish at Christmas time. In Puglia we also have fish as a dessert!
This sweet is very simple to prepare. We make the dough with sugar, almond and chocolate. Then we stuff the fish with Marika’s pear jam, biscuits and liquor. We decorate the fish eye with a coffee bean.
However, as for many other almond sweets we prepare during our cooking classes in Puglia, the almonds we use are what make the difference.
The fish we made for our family’s Christmas lunch weighed 1 kg. We understood that everybody liked it since there was none left.
And you, what are your favorite Christmas culinary traditions?
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Tags: cooking schools Italycooking schools PugliaItalian cuisineItalian recipesPuglia cooking classesPuglia cuisinePuglia traditions
Category
Cakes & Desserts, Favorites, cuisine, traditions
Posted on
December 19, 2009 by
Stile Mediterraneo

One of the most typical fish from the Mediterranean sea is the Dorade.
If you come to Puglia, this is something you should not miss. Our favorite place where to eat is in Otranto, just by the Adriatic sea.
A dorade can be prepared in so many different ways.
I and Marika love the dorade baked in sea salt crust: this recipe allows us to appreciate the freshness of this fish and its particular taste.
We don’t add any flavor, herbs, lemon or olive oil.
The only ingredients we use are: dorade and coarse sea salt.
As always the most important thing is the quality of the ingredients we are using.
It is extremely important that the dorade is freshly caught and most of all that it is coming from the sea (and not farmed).
INGREDIENTS
2 servings
1 lb 3 oz dorade
coarse rock salt (as necessary)
PREPARATION
Preheat the oven at 200 °C.
Clean the fish.
Place a layer of sea salt on the bottom of a large baking pan.
Lay the fish on top of the salt and cover it with sea salt.
Cook for about 25 minutes.
Tags: cooking schools PugliaItalian cuisineItalian recipesmediterranean cuisinePuglia cooking classesPuglia cuisinePuglia recipes
Category
Cooking tip, Favorites, Fish & Meat, Mediterranean Healthy food, cuisine
Posted on
November 28, 2009 by
Stile Mediterraneo

The cardoncello mushroom is something you should not miss in Puglia if you love mushrooms! The cardoncello is a typical mushroom from Southern Italy. However, it is in the Puglia and Basilicata area that you find the best!
The most important thing about this mushroom is that it has such an elegant taste, that it does not cover but enhances the other ingredients it is cooked with.
We also like the fact the cardoncello mushroom does not change its texture once cooked.
I and Marika prepare the cardoncello in many different ways: raw, grilled, breaded (fantastic!), with pasta or baked with fish (delicious!) and meat.
Today I and Marika tried a very simple recipe: baked cardoncello mushrooms with potatotes.
INGREDIENTS:
4 servings
4 potatoes
10 ½ oz (300 grams) cardoncelli mushrooms
Chopped parsley
3 ½ oz (100 grams) grated Parmigiano cheese
4 cherry tomatoes, in small cubes
1 ¾ oz (50 grams) breadcrumbs
black pepper
extra virgin olive oil
pinch of sea salt
PREPARATION:
Peel and slice the potatoes. Cut the mushrooms in small pieces.
In a little bowl add half of the parsley, the tomatoes, half of the Parmigiano cheese, 2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil, black pepper, sea salt and some water. Stir everything together.
In a baking pan pour a few drops of extra virgin olive oil and place a first layer of potatoes. Add on top the mushrooms. Then add the parsley with the tomatoes and parmigiano cheese.
Cover everything with another layer of potatoes.
Sprinkle on top with the remaining parsley, parmigiano, breadcrumbs, a few drops of extra virgin olive oil and black pepper.
Place the potatoes and mushrooms in the preheated oven and bake at 350 °F (180 °C) for about 30 minutes.

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Tags: food markets ItalyItalian cuisinePuglia cooking classesPuglia cuisinevegetables
Category
Italy Cooking classes, Mediterranean Healthy food, Vegetables & Legumes, cuisine
Posted on
November 01, 2009 by
Stile Mediterraneo

What a fun day today! I and Marika made orecchiette fresh pasta with our Nonna and Mamma! Orecchiette pasta is the typical pasta course we have on a Sunday lunch. Usually our Grandmother prepares orecchiette. Because today was a special holiday (we celebrate the All Saints day) and all our family was getting together, I, Marika and our Mom went to help our Nonna.
We started making the orecchiette at 9am so that the pasta had enough time to dry before lunch (usually our Nonna starts making pasta at 7am!!…but it would have been a bit too early for us).

In Italian, “orecchietta” means little ear.
There is no other way to make the authentic orecchiette pasta, than by using a blunt-ended knife, a wooden board and….. your thumb! No machine please!! and no other sort of kitchen tools to make the typical “hat” shape.
The shape of the orecchiette pasta is completely different depending on if you are in the North (Bari area) or in the South (Lecce area) of Puglia.
In the Lecce area, we eat the orecchiette with the tomato sauce (made with basil) and the cacioricotta cheese (either goat or sheep). Therefore the orecchiette look like hats, because we want to collect as much tomato sauce as we can! And people who took our cooking classes know how good our tomato sauce can be!!
In the Bari area, orecchiette are eaten with Rape (which look like Broccoli, but are a bit more bitter) and anchovies. Therefore, orecchiette are flatter.
The size of the orecchiette pasta is completely different from town to town, even 3 km apart!
Of course, the traditional hand made orecchiette are made with durum wheat mixed with some rye flour. The dough is a little bit harder to work, but the resulting pasta has so much more flavor and a fantastic texture!!
The fact that eating durum wheat pasta is so healthy (Marika, as a Cardiologist, confirms!), ….did not make us feel guilty when we served big portions of orecchiette today at lunch.

BUON APPETITO!
For more information about Stile Mediterraneo cooking classes and wine tours in Puglia Italy please write at info.stile@gmail.com
Tags: cacioricotta cheesehandmade pastaItalian cuisineItalian pastaItaly Cooking classesorecchiettePuglia cooking classesPuglia cuisinetomato sauce
Category
Cooking tip, Favorites, Hand-made pasta, Italy Cooking classes, Mediterranean Healthy food, Pasta & Rice, Puglia, Vegetables & Legumes, cuisine
Posted on
August 14, 2009 by
Stile Mediterraneo

This is the perfect recipe for figs lovers!
Puglia is a big figs producer. Everywhere in the countryside you can see fig trees full of their delicious fruit!
Of course the best figs are those that you can eat just under the tree.
However, when you have picked and eaten too many figs, it’s also a good idea to start thinking about the winter season when you cannot find them fresh anymore.

You can prepare some delicious dry figs with toasted almonds and bay leaves.
This is the recipe:
INGREDIENTS
fresh figs
almonds
bay leaves
lemon zest
PREPARATION
Cut the figs in half, without breaking them and let them dry in the sun on a wooden board for about 10 days. Turn them upside down very often.
When they are competely dry, place an almond in the middle and sprinkle some grated lemon zest. Close them up and bake in the oven at very low temperature just to dry them up completely.
Place them in a jar with bay leaves.
For more information about Puglia cuisine, our cooking classes and wine tours in Puglia Italy please write at info.stile@gmail.com
Tags: Cooking tipdry figsfigsItalian cuisineItalyPuglia cookingPuglia cooking classesPuglia cuisine
Category
Cakes & Desserts, Cooking tip, Favorites, Recipes, cuisine, traditions
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: focacciaitalian breadItalian cuisineitalian pizzaPuglia cuisinePuglia recipes
Category
Favorites, Focaccia & Bread, Focaccia, Bread & Pizza, Mediterranean Healthy food, Puglia Extra virgin olive oil, Recipes, cuisine