Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Modena goes well with fruit, and there is also a Balsamic cream you can buy which is less expensive and ideal to decorate plates.
Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©
Showing posts with label Aceto Balsamico. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Aceto Balsamico. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 5, 2017
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Balsamic glazed onions - Cipolline con Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena
These lovely and aromatic little onions can be served hot or cold, as an antipasto or side vegetable.
I should have used little Italian flat onions, like the borrettane, but they don't sell them in NZ so I used some normal pickling onions. Peel the onions, soak in water for two hours, drain and then cook very slowly with a dollop of vegetable margarine (or a tbsp of olive oil), a few fresh sage leaves and a pinch of salt for a long long time. I cooked them in a Le Creuset pot, with the lid on, stirring often. Check to see if you need to add just a little water half way through, but personally I didn't need it, mostly they cooked in their own steam (Le Creuset pots have great lids!!) and they caramelized a little too, becoming sweet and fragrant. All in all they took about 2 hours. Once they were cooked I turned the element off and added a drizzle of Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena Extra Vecchio (25 year old), covered them again with the lid, and let them rest for 20-30 minutes before serving.
Popular variations include adding cloves, or grilling the onions instead of simmering them (obviously the flat onions are easier to grill than the round pickling onions!).
Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©
Saturday, June 9, 2012
Green Cauliflower and Red Radicchio
What do vegetarians eat? Lots of vegetables! Some people call it rabbit food, I don't know why, I swear to you that we are not rabbits! Let's start with the red radicchio, my brother made this: cut the red radicchio into strips and place onto an oven tray lined with baking paper. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, salt and dried oregano (he says that dried thyme is better but we didn't have any). Bake until the red par of the leaves is crispy (and most of the bitterness is gone!).
And what about this lovely green cauliflower? I think that green cauliflowers taste 'sweeter' than the white ones, and this one did! I just boiled it al dente, let it cool down and dressed it with extra virgin olive oil, salt and Aceto Balsamico di Modena. Simple but perfect!
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Saturday, May 5, 2012
Beans and flowers
This salad is really simple: I just chopped half red onion and marinated it for 30 minutes in white balsamic condiment of Modena (FYI, white balsamic vinegar of Modena doesn't exist, it can only be called 'condiment') and then I added one can of Italian butter beans and one can of Italian chickpeas (obviously drained and rinsed...), salt, extra virgin olive oil, and flowers from my garden: chive flowers, borage flowers and calendula petals. Easy but yummy!
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Thursday, April 5, 2012
Roasted Veggies with spices or balsamic vinegar
I was not sure if you post this or not... I roasted some veggies, pumpkin, potatoes (previously boiled but not too soft) and orange kumara with red onion... everything was drizzled with olive oil and the first two were seasoned with salt, smoked paprika, garlic, cumin seeds and just a little chili. The kumara and red onion just had salt and olive oil, and once baked I added some Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena. Everything was so yummy, but ... by mistake I must have deleted the image with the roasted veggies! I looked for it on my phone, it was gone, completely gone! I think that these days I am taking far too many photos with my iPhone, and to make space I need to delete a lot of them, and sometimes I delete them before downloading them!!! Yes, it is not the first time that something like this has happened :-(. Does it ever happens to you? And does anyone know how many pics I can have on my iPhone at any moment? I am so scared of overloading it... thank you and enjoy the pics of the 'raw' vegs!
Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Japanese-Italian Fusion: Fruit Salad with Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena
I like small things, even when it comes to food: small plates with small tastings, miniature bites, doll houses' type of things...
This is a 'fruit salad' that could be served at the end of a formal 'Japanese' meal, where presentation is important and fruit is often the only dessert, or at the end of a formal Italian meal (we also tend to have fruit rather than 'pudding').
For the dressing I used some Aceto Tradiozionale Balsamico di Modena, not to be confused with Aceto Balsamico di Modena (they are two different products) and it goes well with all the fruit used here, including bananas. And to accompany, no ice-cream or similar, but I dared to be different and went for fresh petals... if you choose them go for pink, cherry or peach, and yes, they can also be dipped in the ABTM and eaten, I did it (but I don't know many other people who regularly eat flowers like I do :-).
Ingredients:
for each person:
2 slices of banana (sprayed with a little lemon juice)
2 small balls scooped from a kiwi (green)
2 raspberries
2 small balls scooped from a kiwi gold (yellow)
1 tsp ABTM
cherry or peach petals
The utensils: a knife, a little scoop for the kiwis, a flower cutter for the banana (I used a Japanese one for cutting vegetables like flowers), small bamboo skewers. To assemble just look at the pictures. Serve with the ABTM.
Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Strawberries and Balsamic non-alcoholic aperitif
It may sounds strange for those who live on the other side of the world, but I made this last Christmas, which is strawberry season in New Zealand. And now I visit other blogs and see strawberries everywhere and I have a craving! Fortunately there are frozen strawberries, so I can still make this, which will become more like a sorbet if I mix the strawberries still frozen.
But my original drink (in the photo) is an aperitif: I used one punnet of fresh strawberries, washed, hulled and cut, 500ml of natural apple juice, and one tsp of Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena (ABTM).
The real ABTM is only sold in 100ml round bottles, like the one pictured below (very expensive and rare, but a little goes a long way!).
Blend everything well and serve in small glasses. Great aperitif before an 'important' meal, and suitable for children too!
Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©
I am entering this recipe in the blogging event Sweet New Zealand for December 2011, hosted by Bron Marshall
Sunday, January 16, 2011
purple-green bean salad with balsamic red onion
from my garden
I have yellow and purple beans in my garden. The purple beans are beautiful, but unfortunately they loose their colour while cooking. I tried to add salt and a pinch of baking soda to the water...nothing, the purple colour just washes away....but they do become an incredible brilliant green!!!
To remember that they were purple, I decided to serve them with a red onion, (from my garden), and this is my recipe:
Cut the red onion into thin slices, put into a bowl with a pinch of salt and a teaspoon ofAceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena (ABTM). Let the onion marinate for at least two hours.
Wash and top and tail the purple beans, boil them in plenty of water with a pinch of salt and a pinch of baking soda. I like to leave them a little crunchy, but you can cook them to your taste. Drain the beans and rinse them under cold water, then dress them with a little extra virgin olive oil and a pinch of salt. Place them in a glass and top them with some balsamic onions.
Serve.
Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©
Monday, December 13, 2010
Strawberries with Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena
Nothing tastes like Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena. Made following traditional methods, and with at least 12 years of aging and refining in the attics of Modena, this product is a precious condiment which is suited to a variety of dishes. If you happen to be in Modena I can recommend a visit to the museum of the Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Modena, in the nearby small city of Spilamberto, where I got a 25 years old balsamic, which is just amazing!
Strawberries with Aceto Balsamico
Tradizionale
di Modena
1 punnet of strawberries
1 tsp Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena (ABTM)
1 tbsp white sugar
Hull and cut the strawberries, place in a bowl with the ABTM and
sugar, stir and let marinate for a few hours.
Serve by itself or with Soy Vanilla ice-cream.
Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Summer Salad with Flowers
Summer salad from my garden: rocket, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, orange and yellow calendula petals and borage flowers. Dressed with extra virgin olive oil, salt and a drop of Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena.
Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©
Friday, November 12, 2010
Twilight menu (inspired by Stephenie Meyer's books)
Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©
Yes, I have 'Twilight fever', or 'Twilight addiction'? Whatever the term, it gets to me at any given time of the day, and I have to open the closest of the Twilight saga's books I can find, and read a bit of it! Pathetic? Yep... but so romantic....
Yesterday I got it early in the afternoon, and it didn't go away. I had to act, so just for fun, but also out of necessity (of providing a meal for the family instead of reading...) I though of making a Twilight inspired menu...obviously vegetarian (but don't the Cullens call themselves the vegetarians of the vampire world?), well, this menu is actually Vegan.
The colours had to be black and red, of course; my daughter insisted that we only buy the books with the red pages, and this was the first of my challenges: I really try not to use artificial colourings in my food, and so I looked for black and red ingredients. And of course the food should also be 'romantic and sensual', Italian and Mexican flavours (which are also mentioned in the books), just a little 'bite' in one of them perhaps?
The second challenge was that...I couldn't go shopping for anything new, I had to do with what was in the house, and at present it is very little because we are leaving in 10 days and I am slowly emptying the pantry!
But I have tomatoes in the garden...
Twilight Starter
Plum Tomatoes with Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena
Well, the first was easy! Red tomato and Modena's black gold: Traditional Balsamic Vinegar(ABTM), possibly one of the most sensual ingredients ever!
Ingredients
Fresh plum tomatoes
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt to taste (I used Maldon)
A few drops of Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena
Assemble as shown in the photo.
New Moon 'Rice'
Tomato and Red Chili Sushi Rolls
I had nori, and it looks black and shiny. And Sushi rolls are round like the moon, but I needed a red moon! Actually, the red rice in the photo is not very clear, these looked much redder to the naked eye. Never mind, they tasted great, I even surprised myself, as I never though of combining tomato and chili with nori seaweed!
Ingredients
Short grain rice
Fresh tomatoes
garlic
red chili
Olive oil
salt
Nori seaweed
I didn't measure the rice, I used what I had left. I washed it and cooked it by absorption. In the meantime I fried some fresh chopped tomatoes with garlic and 1 red chili using a little olive oil. Then I passed everything through a sieve to remove the skins and seeds. I added salt and I stirred the spicy sauce into the rice. I then rolled the rice just like for sushi rolls.
Eclipse Pizza
Red Pizza with Black Seeds
Pizza is a must when teenagers are involved (and it was the first food our heroes, Bella and Edward, shared). I scoured the pantry for black seeds, I finished the poppy seeds, but I had some black sesame seeds. I added the cumin seeds mostly for flavour. I also used up the remaining of a jar of roasted red capsicum antipasto. I finished all my fresh tomatoes with the first two dishes, so I used canned tomatoes instead.
Ingredients
Pizza dough, recipe here
Tomato Sauce, recipe here (but omit the basil)
Olive oil
Salt
Black sesame seeds
Cumin seeds
Roasted red capsicums
Follow the given links to make the pizza dough and the tomato sauce. I have to say that by this stage the most difficult thing for me was not to add anything green to my food! Roll the dough to fill an oven tray lined with baking paper. Better to make a pizza slab that can be cut into small pieces (good if you have a Twilight inspired party). Top with the tomato sauce, then add salt and olive oil, the seeds and the capsicums. Bake at highest setting in your oven until the borders are golden and it smells delicious!
Breaking Dawn Dessert
Black Sesame Seed Pudding with Rose Syrup and Red Rose Petals
I unashamedly admit that I am very happy with the dessert. In the pantry I found some surigoma, crushed black sesame seeds, and I remember that in Japan I enjoyed many sesame seeds desserts. And in the garden I had some beautiful red roses, not sprayed and therefore edible!
Breaking Dawn is all about love.....
Ingredients
50 g crushed black sesame seeds (available in Asian shops)
100 ml water
1 tbsp sugar
1/3 (one third) tsp agar agar (available in Asian shops)
For the Syrup
100 ml water
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp rose water essence
Finish with red rose petals
Place the first 4 ingredients in a small pot and bring to boil. Simmer for 2 minutes, stirring well, and then pour into a small container. Set at room temperature, and then refrigerate. To make the syrup boil the water with the sugar until it halves in size, add the rose water and set aside. Before serving tilt the pudding from the container (this dose makes about 4 servings) and cut. I used a heart shaped cookie cutter here. Place on a plate decorated with rose petals. Drizzle with the syrup. Eat everything , the rose petals are delicious!!!!!
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