And the winner is…

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All you need to know about Parmigiano Reggiano

Thanksgiving weekend is here and we all have so many things to be thankful for. It gives us a chance to reflect on all the good things that have happened to us within the past year, to spend quality time with our loved ones, friends and family, and to allow us to be grateful for what we have. As always the highlight is the good food that will be consumed from the harvest.

I slowly started in the beginning of this week, to show you how Parmigiano cheese can be used in the most simplest ways at home, with a preparation made by Paolo Macchi and a recipe of mine, to the more elegant ways of presentation in a restaurant created by Chef Roberto Stabile from Restaurant Primo and Secondo , and now I think it's time for me to share a little bit of the history and making of this 'King of cheeses' – The Parmigiano Reggiano -.

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ANNOUNCING, FOR THE THIRD TIME, A GIVEAWAY FOR A 5 COURSE TASTING MENU FOR TWO AT BRONTE RESTAURANT

I am so excited that Brontë has decided to give me a THIRD prize to give away on my blog!

The Prize: A FIVE COURSE TASTING MENU FOR TWO AT FIVE STAR RESTAURANT BRONTË

So Easy to Participate:

You just have to tell me in the comment section below which one of the ‘A chefs take’ posts is your favorite and why! Who Wins?

1. The winner will be selected randomly using http://www.random.org
2. The winner will be announced in the comment section below on Wednesday, October 14th at 9:00 PM

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A chef's take on Parmigiano at Restaurant Primo and Secondo

Primo and Secondo has been a milestone for Italian cooking  in little Italy for a while now, we have enjoyed many dishes made by part owner and executive Chef Roberto Stabile. Roberto, his wife Natalina and family have over the years been faithful and valued clients of ours here at Macchi Inc. and Paolo and I have personally experienced many  exciting dining experiences over there. I’m sure you have read some of the write ups that have been made by food and restaurant critics in the past and he keeps on evolving with all the upcoming food trends.

Here is an expample of how Chef Roberto Stabile will present a plate with parmigiano reggiano:

Prosciutto Appetizer w. figs and Parmigiano reggiano

• Prosciutto friulano riserva
• fresh figs
• arugula salad
• Parmigiano reggiano shavings

Trust me, it tastes just as good as it looks!

Off course the plates change depending on the season and what fruits and vegetables are available on the market. Since the Jean Talon market is practically in the ‘backyard’ of the restaurant, it makes it extremely easy for him to ‘work-as-he-goes’ during the summer season.

As usual, I would be extremely appreciative to hear your thoughts on this and if you get a chance to go and have this there let me know what you think.

Until tomorrow, have a good  one!

 

MrsMacchi's recipe with Grana Padano

Previously today I showed you how you can really enjoy having parmigiano on it’s own without hardly any preparation! I will now show you one of my favorite recipes, with my favorite parmigiano cheese, The Grana Padano. I really love this cheese, it is similar to the reggiano but creamier. This cheese is off course a cheese that we supply our clients with here at Macchi Inc. It is important for me to let you all know that we do not import our cheeses ourselves since we  do not have any cheese quotas. What we import here at Macchi Inc. is the Citterio brand, bottarga and truffles and in the future hopefully we will import more.

Baby spinach salad with strawberries and Grana Padano

This is a perfect light salad with lots of flavour, assemble in a bowl: Baby spinach leaves, sliced strawberry’s and some Grana padano shavings. For this, all you need to add is a little  cracked black pepper, evoo and some balsamic vinegar. There  is no need to add any salt because the parmiggiano brings all the salt you need to the dish. Buon Appetitio! As usual, let me know how you liked it or if you made your own recipe, don’t hesitate to share it with me.

 

Paolo Macchi preparing a plate with Parmigiano Reggiano

Hi I’m back and here to stay! Here we are, Monday morning and a whole week a head of us, but since the Canadian thanks giving weekend is coming up it doesn’t feel as depressing as most Mondays do to me.
I have, since I started blogging, been looking forward to talking about this weeks product. It is a product that we all have used or consumed and some just can’t have a pasta plate without it! This product would amongst stone be considered as the diamond, amongst metal it would be considered platinum and amongst the cheeses it is by far ‘the King of Cheeses’, I am talking about – Parmigiano -.

I wanted to give this week a soft start and begin with showing you how we enjoy having this cheese at the Macchi residence!

Paolo’s Parmigiano reggiano plate

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