Let's talk about women chefs

Today Italy (and many other countries) celebrate the Women's Day. On this occasion, I'd like to write about the most acclaimed wonen chefs in the world. According to Mario Batali, celebrity chef and owner of Babbo, in Bill Buford’s Book Heat: “I know it doesn’t make sense, and I don’t understand it. But it is consistently the case: Women are better cooks. They approach food differently.”

Women certainly don’t have it easy in the kitchen though. In a predominantly male dominated industry, female chefs are still an exception, but women are moving to stake their claim as the best out there. Women who want to cook professionally, then, often have to be tougher, meaner, and stronger than their male counterparts

The Culinary Institute of America, the nation’s premier culinary school, didn’t accept women until 1970, but now 44% of its students (out of 3,000) are women. Enrollment of women in the last 20 years has doubled, from 21 percent in 1980 to 41 percent in 2007

Let's celebrate the outstanding female chefs who have pushed their field, made way for other female chefs, and have created delicious food.

1. Julia Child

Julia Child followed her husband to Paris, where she attended Le Cordon Bleu and discovered a love of French cuisine. From there, she went on to write the seminal text Mastering the Art of French Cooking as well as eighteen other books. In 1963, her first television show, The French Chef, debuted. While it was not the first food show, it was certainly the most successful to date and made Julia Child the household name she is today. Interestingly, The French Chef was also the first show to be closed-captioned for the hearing-impaired.
Today she is fondly remembered as the person who brought real French cuisine to the average American table.

2. Alice Waters

Known as the inventor of California Cuisine, Alice Waters is the promoter and co-owner of Chez Panisse in Berkeley, CA. Just out of college she found her love of fresh, local ingredients on a trip to France in 1964 and founded Chez Panisse in 1971.

Waters is credited with writing 12 food-related books, largely about the California Cuisine movement she was instrumental in founding. In addition, she was the first female chef to win the James Beard Award for Outstanding Chef in 1992 — Chez Panisse won Best Restaurant that year as well.

3. Paula Deen

Butter! Butter! Butter! This Food Network star was famous even before her kindly face was on the TV. Deen, with her sons Jaime and Bobby, owns and has operated the restaurant Lady & Sons in Savannah, GA for years. The family serves traditional southern fare and, not surprisingly, is a perennial favorite with Southerners. In 1999, USA Today named Lady & Sons “International Meal of the Year”.

4. Cat Cora

Cat Cora came to fame as the first — and still only — female Iron Chef in the franchise’s history.
Cora is also the Executive Chef for Bon Appetit magazine and a spokesperson for UNICEF and InSinkErator. Talk about combining food and philanthropy.

5. Elizabeth Falkner

Elizabeth Falkner graduated from art school in 1989 but changed gears when she took a job as a chef at Café Claude in 1990. This lead her to pastry arts from there to opening her first restaurant, Citizen Cake, in San Francisco in 1997. She still owns and is the executive pastry chef at Citizen Cake while also being the executive chef and co-owner of Orson.

Known for her platinum, spiky hair and her inventive desserts, Falkner is working to break down the boundaries between savory cuisine and pastry.

6. Lidia Matticchio Bastianich

  

 

Lidia Bastianich has lived the true American Dream. Her family arrived in New York City in 1958 after having escaped from Pola, Istria (in present day Croatia) when Lidia was 11 years old. Married at 19, by 25 she had two children. However, before her second child was born, the Bastianich family opened an Italian restaurant called Buonovia, meaning “on the good road” in Forest Hills, Queens. The restaurant was so successful that the family opened a second restaurant in Queens, Villa Secondo, where Lidia both gained the notice of food critics. From there she began giving live cooking demonstrations, leading to her career as a TV cooking show hostess.

 

7. Nancy Silverton

  

Nancy Silverton’s career as a chef began when she was just 18 years old and living in the Cal State University dorm, where she worked as a vegetarian cook in the dormitory kitchen. Eventually, she started a career as a pastry chef and became the first woman to win a James Beard award in 1991 for Oustanding Pastry Chef — an award Elizabeth Falkner was nominated for in 2005.

 8. Cristeta Comerford 

  

Cristeta Comerford is another great example of the American Dream, moving from the Philippines to the United States at just 23. Walter Scheib, the executive chef during the Clinton White House, recruited her to be a chef, and in 2005, when Scheib left, Comerford became the first female executive chef of the White House, a position she has held during both the Bush and Obama administrations.

 9. Stephanie Izard 

 

Hailing from Chicago, Stephanie Izard first came to America’s attention as a contestant on — and eventual winner of and first female winner of — Top Chef. Known on the show for her meticulous attention to taste, presentation, and blend of flavors, she went on to be one of the most successful post Top Chef participants. She will be opening a small plates and charcuterie-focused restaurant this year. At age 33, this will be the second restaurant she has owned.

 10. Ruth Reichl   She was chef and co-owner of the collectively owned Swallow Restaurant in Berkeley, CA from 1973 to 1977. She played an important role in the California Food movement in Berkeley along with fellow female chef superstar Alice Waters.

Reichl’s love of food eventually lead her not only to cook but also to write about food for the LA Times, where she was restaurant editor; the New York Times, where she was the restaurant critic; and, most recently Gourmet, where she was Editor-in-Chief until 2009.  11. Sonya Coté   She runs her kitchen with Big Texas-style, making her own croissants and charcuterie. She’s a Twitter fiend, dispensing her cooking advice in 140-character snippets. Lately it’s: “If your tomato sauce is bitter add a date! It’s what my grandma used to do.” And: “When rendering pork lard add a potato. It will absorb the impurities & make your lard snow white!” 12. Michelle Bernstein  She puts her Jewish-Argentinean roots and love of Spain to use at her funky Latin-inspired restaurants and isn’t afraid to mix genres when she wants. She makes fettucine carbonara with smoked bacon, jamón serrano, prosciutto, and St. André cheese. 13. Jennifer Carroll    She’s a tough-talking Catholic University law school drop-out whose outsize attitude is matched by a particularly delicate way with fish and seafood that caught master French chef Eric Ripert’s eye. She hung with the boys, often out-cooking them all, on two seasons of Top Chef 14. Sue Zemanick  She wasn’t afraid to make friends (butting against the reality show cliché “I’m not here to make friends!”) and help out other chefs, even when it cost it her time and points, on Top Chef Masters. Just weeks after she was promoted to executive chef at the storied New Orleans restaurant Gautreau’s in 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit the city; she stayed, painstakingly helped rebuild the restaurant, and reopened the kitchen in 2007.
•15. Traci Des Jardins  As a college dropout she petitioned star chef Joachim Splichal to give her a chance in his kitchen; he gave her two weeks to prove herself. "It was an atmosphere of militarism, aggression, abuse, yelling," she has said. But she made it. She left Splichal and went to France to study at the famed Troisgros, where she was the only woman of 25 kitchen apprentices. Again, she made it. 16. Barbara Lynch  She grew up as the youngest of seven kids raised by a single mother in a South Boston housing project and found her passion in a high school home ec class. She went from narrowly avoiding welfare to employing more than 200 people.When a sous-chef screws up, she’s been known to throw a vase (and then cook at his or her wedding).17. Gabrielle Hamilton   She turned a 30-seat restaurant on a grungy block of the East Village into one of the city’s hippest dining rooms. Her food is messy, lusty, and full of attitude: shrimp in anchovy butter; thick-cut pork chops with lots of fried cabbage; hunks of chocolate on the table offered with the check. 18. April Bloomfield  Her original goal was to be a policewoman, but when she missed the application deadline, she went to work in a restaurant instead. She’s an English expat who taught scene-it-all New Yorkers how to appreciate a good bar menu. She's a 100 times more likely to be seen cooking on the line in her restaurants than in front of a television camera. She’s not afraid to put pig’s ear or peanuts fried in pork fat on the menu. 19. Lydia Shire  At the age of 21, she became the “salad girl” at one of Boston’s most venerable French restaurants, then took herself to a London cooking school, opened the Four Seasons Hotel dining room in L.A. (becoming the prestigious chain's first-ever female executive chef), then went home again to open her own joint, the award-winning BIBA. In 2001 she took over Locke-Ober, a Boston institution that had refused to allow women in the main dining room for more than 100 years, and became its first female chef. (She is not currently involved with the restaurant.) No matter what’s trendy, her food is always daring and always “big,” made with butter, cream, and offal. And her menus include “sort of burnt Maui onions” and lobster pizza. You can see that the list is long and can reach hundreds and hundreds of names. I hope this time you'll appreciate more when you go to your favourite restaurant and notice that this delicious pasta dish that you craved so much was made by a woman! 

For this post, I used articles from http://chefsblade.monster.com and http://www.thedailymeal.com

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Recipes inspired by the 2012 Oscar-nominated films

This weekend is all about movies. Have you already booked the coach and tv just for yourself? Have you prepared cushions, blankets and comfy pjs? Have you bought microwave popcorn bags? Wait a minute... What popcorn?! All film buffs already know that popcorn is old fashioned! What's in fashion now is to prepare food inspired by the movie you're watching. On the huffingtonpost website, Tori Haschka, gives some super yummy suggestions for this year's Oscar nominated films. Take a look:

1. The Artist

 

These martinis pay respect to "The Artist"; the rumored front runner for this year's Best Picture. To start with: the obvious. Like the film, it's black and white. This martini boasts a monochromatic strength that should take us straight back to 1927 Hollywood (and if you wanted to get perfectionist about it, you could try find a glass that fits 1.33:1 Academy perspective).

On to the contents: there's a depressive wallop of gin -- just the thing for when the pace of change makes you want to wallow in a corner. There's a whisper of French in the Cointreau that washes the glass. There's the sting of salt, care of the olives and the flakes on the rim.

So in order to get this Oscars party started, let's all take a big sip and make some noise in honor of this year's greatest novelty, almost-silent film.

Here's the recipe

2. The Help

Minny Jackson thinks fried chicken just tends to make you feel better about life. So does this chocolate pie. The social structures of 1960s Jackson Mississippi may be difficult for modern audiences to swallow, but this pie isn't. It's a dessert that also plays an important role in the film. Though rest easy, this version has nothing to do with Minny's "terrible awful." It's just sweet, stickily rich and comforting as all get out. If you're a dab hand in the kitchen you can make the crust yourself, or else feel free to buy one from the store. All that's left to do is respectfully meld together the lily hues of condensed milk with cocoa, butter and eggs and hope that everything plays together nicely. Cream on top is optional.

Recipe here

3. Moneyball

These are not baseballs. They're lumps of popcorn, a dusting of Parmesan and a lick of truffle, bound together like an island of misfit toys. It's worth noting; these do not contain real truffle. If you can afford real truffle in your popcorn, you're probably not making snacks. Your butler is.
But since truffle oil still carries a ghost of the truffle's flavor these treats nicely ape Oakland A's General Manager Billy Beane's philosophy of making cheap things work harder for you.

And for those with an oral fixation (Brad Pitt, seen once again on screen continuously chewing, I'm looking at you) they're the perfect snack to tide you over until the main event starts.

One thing to watch; pressing scalding hot balls of honey and oil together into balls can hurt; so you'll want to wear a glove. I went for a Marigold, but you may just have something left over from Little League that you can put back into rotation.

Recipe here.

4. Extremely loud and incredibly close

When life is very hard, sometimes the best answer is cake. This New York deli treat might have come in handy for nine year old Oskar Schell; (explorer, jeweler, inventor, tambourine player and vegan pacifist). He's mourning his Dad who passed when the towers fell. To keep his memory alive he's on a quest across five boroughs to discover the truth about a key that belonged to someone named Black.

Oskar's about to discover that, unlike these cookies, life isn't always black and white. If you're craving some dichotomy in your day you could make like 'The Renter' and tattoo 'yes' and 'no' on your palms. Then again, you could just have it inscribed on a cookie (don't worry Oskar- these ones are vegan friendly).

Recipe here

5. Midnight in Paris

Gil (Owen Wilson in the best interpretation of chicken-legged Woody Allen since the man himself) believes there is nowhere finer than Paris, at night, in the rain. He and his fiancée Inez thought they were just hitching along with her parents to the city of light. Instead, when the clock strikes midnight Gil gets whisked away to the Paris of writer's and artist's fantasies.

This Coq au Vin is exactly the kind of dish that could get me out of bed at midnight. The taste takes you straight to Paris. The flavors are soothing enough to heal if you can't scrounge up enough witty banter to play with Hemingway. The texture is as gentle as this plot. And frankly, it's a better use for a bottle of burgundy than bleating about its merits on a balcony with Michael Sheen.

Recipe here

6. Hugo

A story about an orphan boy who lives in the clocks in Paris' Gare Montparnasse station in 1930 and the magic of cinema. This Boursin soufflé does not stand in for Hugo because a baguette with Boursin cheese is the classic picnic to take on a train.

It does not stand in for Hugo because of the resemblance between a baguette speared soufflé and the film's celebration of George Melies' Man in the Moon with a rocket in his eye.

Nor because the rise of a proper soufflé is an action best captured by 3D technology.

It's more about the alchemy that happens when you combine the right things; here it's the levity of egg whites and a little bit of cheese. It's about the importance of timing, in a train station, a dish and a life. It's about not giving up hope if something flops. And it's about knowing how much gooey cheesiness you can get your audience to swallow. Scorsese got it right. This soufflé does too.

Recipe here

7. The Descendants

Matt King is just trying to keep his head above water, what with his tempestuous daughters and coma-bound wife. As he's keen to point out to us, it might look like heaven in Hawaii, but the tips and turns of life are just as rough as elsewhere. This archipelago of cucumber slices and diced fish gives us the taste of paradise, without having to get on a plane. It's a version of poke; the classic Hawaiian dish found in most pupus (snacks usually eaten while moonily looking at a sunset).

Like the emotions generated by "The Descendants," here the protein is raw. There's also plenty of salt from the soy sauce, a good stand in for the tears you'll shed while watching George Clooney ugly-run in boat shoes.

Recipe here

8. Tree of Life

Where does life begin and end? Where is mercy? Are they eating mince for dinner again? These are some of the questions that dog Terrence Malick's loosely plotted family drama/examination of our place in the universe. For some, the appeal lies in the early cameos of supernova's and dinosaurs. For others, it's how fetchingly Brad Pitt's profile is lit. And for a few of us disbelievers, the true appeal in the film lies in the fact that its natural food pairing is a Scotch Egg.

Not just any Scotch eggs, but a metaphoric one to boot. An enigma and a riddle bound together; this is a chicken-wrapped egg. Nobody's really sure in the grand scheme of things which one came first, but when making these you need to tend to the eggs first; soft boiling to maintain the innocence of the yolk. They're then coated in a thyme speckled, pulverized mix of chicken. Then like many things you'll find in the film's setting of suburban Texas, they're breaded and fried.

If you've got the timing right the yolk should ooze like a star burst across the plate when cleaved open. If not, you're still going to be eating a delicious snack -- and unlike the film, consuming this won't chew up 139 minutes of your life.

Recipe here

9. War Horse

To be sure, there wasn't a lot of cake in the trenches of World War 1. And there certainly weren't many treats for the horses. This cake celebrates the highs and the lows of Stephen Spielberg's War Horse. In it you'll find the apple which Albert (human) first uses to befriend Joey (horse). There's carrot, which may proved a better motivating tool to get beasts to lug artillery through mud than a big stick. There are oats for fortitude and rosemary for remembrance (though its visual resemblance to the tangles of barbed wire that dogged No Man's Land is hardly coincidental). The cake itself is as orange as the Gone with the Wind hued skies that streak the frames of the film, and the icing is as white as the well loved bands down Joey's nose and shins.

If there aren't any strapping 16 hand bays around to eat this cake beside, feel free to consume it all yourself (or buy a novelty miniature one to adorn your serving plate). I know not all of us were blessed with drunk dads who irresponsibly brought home a thoroughbred when we were kids -- certainly my little pony was a wee bit different -- (and very, very plastic).

Recipe here

Enjoy Oscars 2012 this Sunday!

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Bravo Italy Gourmet at Prodexpo 2012.

This week, Bravo Italy Gourmet participates in Prodexpo fairs held in Moscow, Russia. 

According to what we can read on the official Prodexpo website:

PRODEXPO is the largest annual specialized exhibition in Russia and Eastern Europe. For 17 years, it has determined the development of the domestic food industry. Over the years of its existence, the PRODEXPO exhibition has played an important role in stimulating the Russian food industry. Promoting high-quality foodstuffs to the domestic market, the PRODEXPO trade show contributes to implementing high-priority federal projects aimed at improving the quality of life of the Russian citizens. 
Since Bravo Italy Gourmet is willing to start to operate also on the Easter European markets, it was a great experience to get to know local importers as well as companies who we might soon start a collaboration with.

Here are some pics from the fairs:

More pictures on our Flickr website!

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Happy Valentine's Day!

A few days ago, I wrote a post about how Valentine's Day was just around the corner. Well, it's finally here! For those of you who couldn't prepare any of the recipes I mentioned last time, here's a brief list of other "love ingredients" you can use to create special dishes for a candle light dinner only for two.

1. Fruits & Vegetables

Source: thischickcooks.blogspot.com via Mallory on Pinterest

 

Garlic, Endive, Fennel, Asparagus, Celery, Radishes, Broccoli, Carrots, Beans, Tomatoes, Figs, Grapes and Banana

2. Seafood

Source: inchmark.squarespace.com via Olivia on Pinterest

Oysters, Shrimp, Caviar  

3. Herbs And Seasonings

Source: blomsterverkstad.blogspot.com via raccoon on Pinterest

Ginger, Vanilla, Cloves, Allspice, Saffron, Chili, Horseradish, Rosemary, Dill, Nutmeg

4. Other

Source: sparklingink.com via Liesel on Pinterest

Chocolate, Nuts, Champagne, Truffles, Coffee, Ginseng

Use your imagination and be creative! I'm sure this will be a unique evening! And in order to heat up the atmosphere even more, use the right words in the right language (Italian, of course!). Here are some exaamples of phrases which whispered into your beloved person's ear can really work miracles!

Ti penso sempre - I always think of you.

Come sei bella (questa sera)- How beautiful you are (this evening)

Voglio verderti stasera - I want to see you tonight.

Tu sei una stella….la mia stella - You are a star….my star.

Ti amo!- I love you!

Mi vuoi sposare?- Will you marry me?

Happy Valentine's Day!

(source: italianfoodforever.com)

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La cena romantica per San Valentino..

Sta arrivando.. Piano piano, ma comunque già si sente. San Valentino. Avete già pensato a cosa comprare? Fare un regalo o andare ad un ristorante romantico? Forse meglio la seconda opzione. Con i regali non si sa mai se sceglieremo la cosa giusta, e se piacerà... D'altra parte, il cibo e l'amore sono sempre molto connessi. Il prezzo medio per due persone quest'anno di una cena romantica oscilla tra 60 e 100 euro! Perché non preparare qualcosa a casa e fare una sorpresa alle persone care?

Prima di tutto dobbiamo conoscere quali prodotti agroalimentari sono i più afrodisiaci e poi fare un piccolo sforzo per preparare un piatto (o due). Allora nella lista della spesa non possono mancare i seguenti:

-cioccolata

-fichi

-miele

-ostriche

Ecco delle proposte del sito epicurious.com che personalmente adoro.

Gelato con miele e lavanda

La Lavanda è conoscuta già dai Egizi, Greci e Romani che hanno usato questa erba non solo per le loro proprietà medicinali ma anche come un cosmetico. Nella Roma antica, le donne spruzzavano il letto con il profumo di lavanda per attirare l'attenzione dei loro mariti. Ecco la ricetta qua.

Panna cotta con melagrano

Aluni scienziati dichiarano che Eva ha sedotto Adamo non con una mela ma con un melagrano. Ricetta qua.

Ostriche con aceto allo champagne

Alcuni dicono che il famoso Casanova ha mangiato circa 50 ostriche al giorno. Ricche di zinco, aiutano a mantenere un livello alto di testosterone. Ma i benefici di queti frutti di mare sono conosciuti non solo dagli uomini. Quindi è un ingrediente perfetto per una cena romantica!

Ricetta qua.

Dolci con vanilla e coco

Ricetta qua

Clementine con zenzero

Lo Zenzero riesce a riscaldare tutto il corpo (e specialmente il cuore!) in un momento solo. Provate! Ricetta qua.

Cheescake con miele

Ricetta qua

Torta al cioccolato fondente

Ricetta qua

Insalata con fichi, yogurt di capra e crescione di peppe

Ricetta qua

Pollo con albicocche e pinoli

Ricetta qui

Halibut con aglio

Ricetta qua

Inoltre, ricordatevi che la maggior parte dei prodotti menzionati nelle ricette, potete ordinare grazie a noi, Bravo Italy Gourmet. Andate sul nostro sito, fate una ricerca e contattateci via email o telefono!

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Spaghetti al tartufo nero

Oggi un'altra ricetta, ma questa volta in italiano. Ricordatevi che è la stagione del tartufo nero invernale (Melanosporum) che potete acquistare contattando Bravo Italy Gourmet. Prima, guardate il nostro sito Big Quality, dove troverete le foto del tartufo che Vi offriamo.

Questo weekend, Vi proponiamio semplicissima pasta da pareparare in mezz'oretta!

nonsolopastaepizza-ricette.com

Ingredienti: dosi per 4 persone

Un grosso tartufo nero, mezzo bicchiere di olio, uno spicchio di aglio, due alici sott’olio, sale, 500 g di spaghetti

Tempo di preparazione: 25 min

Spazzolate il tartufo sotto l’acqua e tritatelo.

Fate scaldare in un tegame l’olio, poi levatelo dal fuoco e aggiungete il tartufo, mescolando fino a raggiungere una salsa omogenea.

Rimettete sul fuoco a fiamma bassa; unite l’aglio e le alici che spappolerete con il cucchiaio di legno.

Lasciate cuocere per pochi secondi impedendo che arrivi a ebollizione.

Lasciate cuocere gli spaghetti in abbondante acqua salata. Scolateli e versateli in una zuppiera. Versatevi la salsa al tartufo  e mescolate a lungo.

Servite subito.

Buon appetito!

(source: nonsolopastaepizza-ricette.com)

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Something savory for the weekend: Pasta and White Truffle Gratin

Ingredients

- 1 pound fresh linguine

- 2 tablespoons olive oil

- 10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) butter, divided

- 1/2 cup all purpose flour

- 4 cups warm milk

- Dash of ground nutmeg

- 1 teaspoon white truffle powder or truffle flour, or truffle oil to taste

Preparation:

Cook pasta until tender but still firm to bite. Drain. Rinse under cold water; drain well. Drizzle with oil; toss. Set aside.

Melt 8 tablespoons butter in large pot over medium heat. Whisk in flour. Stir constantly for 3 minutes (do not brown). Gradually whisk in milk. Bring to boil, whisking. Reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer until sauce is thick and smooth, whisking often, about 5 minutes. Add nutmeg. Season with salt and pepper. Cool 30 minutes, whisking occasionally. Whisk in truffle powder. Add pasta; toss to coat. Divide among eight 1-cup ramekins or custard cups. Do ahead Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover; chill.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in medium skillet over medium heat. Add panko; toss until golden, about 5 minutes. Transfer ramekins to rimmed baking sheet. Sprinkle with panko. Bake until bubbling at edges and golden brown on top, about 15 minutes. (If chilled, bake 15 minutes covered with foil. Uncover, sprinkle with panko, and bake uncovered 15 minutes.)

If you need some truffles, why don't you order with Bravo Italy Gourmet and its exclusive new launched line "Big Quality"? Contact us!

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Bravo Italy Gourmet at the B2B workshop with Swedish buyers. Pictures.

Qua, altre foto dal workshop con i venditori svedesi. Buona visione! : )

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