Italian cuisine, the most famous dishes

We buy in a bakery ciabatta, we call friends at the Bolognese pasta, and then, if we are lucky enough to be in a Roman or Tuscan restaurant, suddenly we realize that all this had as little to do with the original as a real dress from D & G with cheap fake. Italian cuisine, the most famous dishes - the theme of our article.

It's not even in the recipe and not the secrets of Italian chefs. The local cuisine is restrained and simple, like the Tuscan columns of Roman temples, making it the most popular in the world. The reason is in the sun of Italy, with which local products are saturated and saturated. There are no such anywhere else.

Stubborn Italians, despite everything, do not recognize either mozzarella in briquettes, or the replacement of olive oil with sunflower oil. And persistently continue to produce Parmesan only in Emilie-Romagna, and not in neighboring Tuscany or Lombardy (and do not recognize parmesan cheese made outside of Italy). They are a thousand times right, everyone will say who had a chance to try the dishes of the Apennines.


"The Italian Trinity"

Italians are sure that for a good meal you need ingredients: pasta, cheese and olive oil. From this trio with the addition of seasonal vegetables and fruits creates an incredible number of dishes. To them add only a pinch of salt, pepper, local seasonings and, of course, a glass of good red wine.


Olive oil

First you marvel at its color: deep, almost emerald, especially if you squeeze out the oil from freshly harvested greenish-brown fruits, and it slowly drains into a deep vat through a thin groove.

Then you inhale the smell: herbaceous, fresh, full of memories of the groves of olives, silvery on the slopes of Umbria. Then, for guests who are present at this sacrament, they bring a large bowl with wheat bread, lightly fried. You rub the hunk with a clove of garlic, sprinkle with salt, generously pour oil, and for the first time in your life you feel the real taste of olive oil. This is the Italian bruschetta - the quintessence of local cuisine.


Butter with salt on the Apennines is not a seasoning, but a completely independent base, which can be supplemented if desired with any ingredient: vegetables or fresh fish cooked on the grill, pizza test (pizza bianca, which is served in many restaurants instead of bread) and even a ball vanilla ice cream. The main thing is that the oil you use should be of the highest quality.

As for wines, for olive oil for Italian cuisine, the most famous dishes have developed their grades of varieties: from dining rooms to elite, vintage. Only an expert can understand all the nuances. That's why in the company Monini (Italy's largest producer of quality oil), the product is not bottled until Mr. Monini, a representative of the butter-making dynasty, tastes and approves. Therefore, choose the product should be based on the brand.


Smell

A good oil always smells fresh, notes of grass or wood, flowers or almonds. Watch out if you feel the smell of mold, rancidity or earth: it means that the oil was produced from the fallen olives, the process of decay has already begun. Shades of fermentation occur when the fruit is stored incorrectly, when sugar is fermented into vinegar or alcohol.


Taste

Did you feel bitterness? Do not be scared! These are polyphenols - curative substances, antioxidants. They are especially abundant in green olive fruits. As the ripening in olives increases the amount of oil and reduces the content of polyphenols. Therefore, the best manufacturers use beginners to bore fruits. If there is no bitterness in the oil, then it was wrung out of overripe fruits - there are few useful substances in it, and its shelf life is shorter.

Color is not an indicator of quality. It can range from green to yellow, depending on the region, the method of production and the maturity of the fruit. And the presence of a reddish shade in the oil indicates incorrect storage.

In palm and peanut butter, unlike olive oil, there are many "bad" saturated fats.


Tip

Olive oil is a living product, therefore it needs careful storage: in tightly closed containers, so that there is no contact with air, and in a dark place so that the chlorophyll contained in the oil does not actively interact with light. The rays of the sun and the air are destructive for both taste and useful properties of the oil.


The Benefits of Oil

Any Italian or at least an amateur of Italian cuisine, the most famous dishes can sing a hymn to olive oil, while pouring it from a special grease cup into soup, salad, pasta, risotto, meat and fish, in short, everything that is on the table. And, looking at the blossoming kind of locals, they willingly believe. And if you start to doubt, you can listen to the opinion of specialists.

Vitamin E and polyphenols successfully resist the action of free radicals that destroy cells, and have a rejuvenating effect.

The predominance of monounsaturated fatty acids reduces the risk of atherosclerosis and other cardiovascular diseases.

The oil is easily digested, and thanks to the high boiling point is ideal for frying. Nutritionists recommend not to heat fats that have a boiling point below 180 degrees, otherwise carcinogenic substances begin to form in them.


The Secret of Paste

Pasta Italians call almost all types of dough and absorb it in huge quantities. Acini di Rere beads are put in aromatic broths, Casarecce with casseroles are casseroles, and the most popular Spaghetti are seasoned with tomatoes. And quite unceremoniously treated with Maccaroni. At the largest factory producing real Italian pasta, Barilla produces more than 200 kinds of pasta, and each year they invent something new. Most of the differences do not concern formulations, but forms. All dry Italian pasta is divided into two types: some are made only from special flour and water, while in others they add an egg. And no artificial additives! The secret of the taste, shape and usefulness of Italian pasta is in the flour and features of the technological process, such as drying time. And this is achieved by many years of production experience. Pasta flour is called "Semolina" and is obtained only from durum wheat. Such giants as Barilla grind it at their own mill (the largest in the world). To touch the semolina resembles a manga. Coarse grinding reflects the essence: paste is a source of complex carbohydrates, which, unlike simple, slowly release the necessary energy. A plate of pasta will provide you with energy for a longer time than a piece of meat or a salad.

In Italy, it is prohibited to add flour from soft wheat varieties to pasta recipes. Therefore, the Italian pasta - 100% of the hard varieties.


To cook in Italian

Italians are incredibly pedantic in the matter of cooking pasta. The famous principle of al dente is observed as sacred as the campaign for the Sunday Mass. Macaroni should be the only true degree of readiness: soft outside and slightly firm inside. To do this, take a pan of this volume so that the paste with the liquid does not occupy more than 3/4 of the volume, and water - at the rate of 1 liter per 100 g of products. After boiling, add the salt and put the pasta. Do not add olive oil: it will cover the products with a film. Stir the pasta during cooking. And observe the time stated on the package. As soon as you see that the pasta is ready, discard them in a colander. Do not pour out the broth. It can be used for making sauces.


Mix to taste

Macaroni is very easy to get carried away and with the Mediterranean fervor to start creating absolutely incredible mixtures. But if you want to get a real Pasta italiana, be patient.

Follow the rule "less is better than more". Prepare classic Spaghetti con aglio, olio e peperondno with garlic, olive oil, dry red chili pepper and parsley. Behind them the Italians like to spend the evenings. Or combine the olive oil with garlic, mashed tomatoes, dry hot pepper and fresh basil.

The thicker the pasta, the thicker the sauce.

Fresh greens give the paste the taste of the Mediterranean. Delicate basil is better to add to the sauce at the last minute. A wood rosemary - in a paste with mushrooms.

Try to put in the sauce as little fat as possible: due to it, the calorie content of the dish increases dramatically. Instead of cream, use broth or vegetable puree (for example, from tomatoes or roasted red peppers).

You can enrich the paste with proteins by adding beans or low-fat dairy products.

Do not be afraid to experiment: zucchini and eggplants in sauces are perfectly interchangeable.


Cheeses

We do not call Italy a cheese country, giving this title to France. And completely in vain. After all, the Gauls learned the tradition of cheese making in the ancient Romans, and the art of ancient ancestors in the Apennines is alive to this day. This is noticed right away, as soon as you find yourself in a busy local market, deployed under white umbrellas, where the immense wheels of the grain coexist with the pumpkin heads, and the white cones of riccot shade the emerald green of the gorgonzola. Today in Italy there are about 400 kinds of cheese, which local residents not only serve with wine instead of dessert, but also add to the most popular dishes.


Mozzarella

Cheese mozzarella was able to become part of the most patriotic dish Insalata caprese: white cheese, green basil, red tomato are the colors of the national flag.

For Capri salad, put thin mugs of tomatoes and thick - mozzarella (better mozzarella di bufala from buffalo milk). Sprinkle with fresh basil leaves, salt, pepper and sprinkle with olive oil. If you put it all on the dough, you get Pizza Margherita - the most popular in the world.


Grana Padano

This cheese is controlled by origin. One of the best representatives of the family grana, hard cheeses with a granular structure, undeservedly in the shadow of the famous Parmesan. Spicy, with a nutty taste, it is aged for at least 9 months, with the passage of time becoming easier to digest. The longer the cheese ripens, the more tart it becomes. Not too salty, young grana Padano is beautiful with red wine. Sharp cheese is served grated to pasta, risotto and vegetable dishes.


Wine

An invariable companion of almost any Italian meal. They are enjoying it slowly and for a long time. In the Apennines 20 wine regions, and in each - interesting local wines. Here, as in other products of Italy, you will not find a "globalization of taste." It is better to start acquaintance with the wines of one region. For example, from the Veneto region - the largest "winery" in Italy. This is where the three most popular wines come from: the white Soave, whose fan, according to legend, was the Gothic King Theodoric, the light Bardolino (red or pink) and the most famous - Valpolicella - a rich cherry color and a mild flavor. Of all the varieties of Valpolicella, the most prestigious wines are Amarone wines from withered grapes, aged in oak barrels. Amarone is the pride of the Veneto region and the visiting card of the family winery Masi, which in the sixth generation remains faithful to the local traditions of winemaking.