I am so excited to share these three recipes with you this week! I found them on other blogs and what got me to choose these recipes and amazes me the most is that it just goes to show how food travels around the world and really brings people together.

We have” Labneh” that originates from the arab speaking areas in the middle east that is traditionally prepared without the saffron, instead it is usually served with olive oil and crushed dried mint leaves on top. Here it is prepared by an Italian with the chefs own twist, adding the saffron and some balsamic vinegar, how could you not want to give that a try!

We also have a classical Italian dish like, Risotto Milanese, that is explained in detail of how it’s made traditionally, by an American! It looks so delicious and just by reading the recipe and looking at the picture I am getting overwhelmed by the feeling of “authenticity”.

Last but not least, close to my heart and also a request by one of my readers, Domenico, the delicious and comforting “Saffrans Bullar” (Saffron buns) or “Lusse Bullar/katter” (Lucia buns). This recipe is on a blog by Anne, who is Swedish and besides from the great recipe I loved her picture!

If you have any questions with regards to how to bake these buns, don’t hesitate to ask.
I usually don’t burn them .

Have a great week end!

1. LABNE ZAFFERANO BY ESSENZALIMENTARE
2. CLASSIC SAFFRON RISOTTO MILANESE BY LIFE 123
3. LUCIA BUNS (SAFFRANS BULLAR) BY ANNE’S FOOD

Fregola Sarda Seafood Risotto

FREGOLA SARDA SEAFOOD RISOTTO

1. Fregola sarda, tomato, onions, garlic, chili, Dry white vermouth, clam juice, terragon, saffron
2. Cuttle fish, clams, rock shrimp, lobster
3. Seared tuna, lobster bisque sauce, saffron
4. Roasted banana pepper, sicilian green olive, brown butter

A Blend of Colors and Flavors

This is art and it can be admired but in difference to a picture you can actually taste it and receive double the pleasure!

I love my job =).

I made a doe, one that I have never managed to make as good before, and it had the perfect texture. It made it so easy to work with! None the less, between dealing with the window cleaner that we had contracted for yesterday, the guy that was treating our wood doors and my four year-old making sure I was catering to his EVERY need, my “bullar” turned into charcoal =/!
I can’t even believe my fire alarm didn’t go off, my gas alarm goes of every time I use hairspray! I was so upset that I quickly sent them into the garbage, thinking back now I wish i had taken a picture of them. So, having that said, there is no recipe from MrsMacchi this week but thank good for Paolo (MrMacchi), he knew about my unsuccessful baking attempt and came home and cooked one of my all time favorite dishes of his and that is what I will be sharing with you today!

LINGUINI WITH SHRIMP IN A SAFFRON & CREAM SAUCE

1. Cook your linguini and set it aside
2. In a deep sauce pan, melt some butter with olive oil and add chopped garlic & dried chilli flakes.cook for 2 minutes,or until the garlic becomes soft.
3. Add 250 ml of 15 % cream with 2 small packs of saffran. Cook on medium-high until the cream reduces a little bit.
4. Add 1 lbs of “matane “ shrimps, be careful not to overheat the shrimp. They will shrink and become chevy. Remember, the shrimp are all ready cooked, you just need to heat them up.
5. Add the cooked pasta to the pan and leave on the heat for 30 seconds so that the pasta soaks in all the sauce.*
6. Add some freshly chopped parsley and voila……….

* I like to let the pasta out for about 5 min to let it dry out and so that it gets a little sticky. This will help it absorb the saffron cream sauce a lot better

As a garnish, I like to use the remainder of the parsley, (leaves and stalks). Cut them coarsely and put them in the food processor with some olive oil and blend until smooth. I like to add a good amount of salt to this mixture because the cream tends to make the sauce a little bland.
If you do not make the parsley sauce, make sure to taste you cream sauce and add the necessary amount of salt.
Buon Appetito!

Macchi Inc.’s Saffron – by Montreal Photographer Vadim Daniel

The quality of any spice is usually something that is very difficult for the end consumer to determine. I will do my best to try to give you some valuable tips and tricks to keep in mind when you are purchasing your saffron

So let’s start with this….

How to know a better quality saffron and why should you pay more, when you can pay less.

As I mentioned yesterday; Saffron is slightly bitter in it’s flavor, but if you add the right amount during preparation that flavor does not over power the other ingredients it is actually so subtle that something as mild as cream is enough to “hide” the bitterness of saffron. It is the aroma and the extremely overpowering and magical color that we want to experience.

Saffron is sold in two different “shapes”, you can get it in, tiny “threads” or powdered. I have over the years heard that some people prefer to get the filaments ( threads) because they can ensure the quality and authenticity of the saffron, i would have to disagree. Which ever one you choose to use make sure it is in a a sealed container or a pouch that has the name of a company and a product description in the back and don’t forget to check the best-before-date!

The intensity of the color is usually the first and most accurate “give-away” to know a good quality saffron. Buy buying a lesser quality you will have to use twice the amount and that can sometimes increase the risks of your dish tasting bitter.

Why is it so expensive?

Saffron is the dried stigmas of the saffron flower, these threads must be picked by hand from each flower, and more than 75,000 of these flowers are needed to produce just one pound (0,44 kg) of Saffron filaments, 40 hours of labour are needed to pick 150,000 flowers! The retail price of saffron is aprox. US$ 1,000/pound ( US$ 2,200/kg). Don’t let these prices scare you though!
Remember all we need is 0.1 gram (0.0001 kg) for 4 people.

The saffron that we supply at Macchi Inc. is the one in the powdered format and it says on the packaging “Il fior fiore dello Zafferano”. It can for retail be found at Marche Milano and La Baia both stores are in Montreal. Each package is in a 0.125g format which is the calculated amount for one portion, which makes it so easy to use in cooking and baking, both for home and public kitchens.

Use saffron in cream based or tomato based pasta sauces, it can be used in soups as well as in stews. Saffron also gives rice a beautiful color and it is often used in baking. In Sweden, where I am born and raised, we make these delicious “buns” called “Saffrans Bullar” (Saffron Buns). It has become tradition to have them made for November 13, when we celebrate the Italian saint “Santa Lucia” and they are absolutely delicious!

Because of this, saffron has a huge impact in my life and gives me a lot of dear memories and sentiment.

I wish for you to now, bring saffron into your home, find your favorite recipes and make your own memories for you and your family….

Saffron

Say hello to the royalty of spices: SAFFRON or as many others say “The Gold” of spices.

Since Saffron is an ancient, respectable and world spread spice, I felt a lot of pressure in finding the “right” information and have therefore literarily spent a whole week making my research and done a lot of cross referencing before I reached MY conclusion of what I would like to share with you on this exquisite product.

Saffron has apparently been around since the 7th Century BC, in Mesopotamia (Iraq), but then it was mostly used as a colorant/dye and also for medicinal use. With time it was spread around Asia, the Mediterranean basin and Europe and started also being used for aesthetic and cosmetic use as in perfumes, mascaras and potpourris. It is also said that Cleopatra used saffron in her baths so that lovemaking would be more pleasurable!

What’s important to know though is that specific breed, the Saffron Crocus, was a “wilder” version of the one that we are using today and what I, to my surprise, found out is that this specific domesticated breed of the saffron Crocus, was first detected on the island of Crete!

On it’s own, saffron is not really very tasty (at least not for me) as I am tasting it right now I am first tasting bitter and after a distinct taste of Iron. As I continued my research I stumbled over the words; “honey” and “hay-like” as other descriptions of how saffron tastes like.

But that is not why we love to use this product in our food, it’s the heavenly aroma, how can something that tastes bitter, smell so sweet!

Saffron - Photo by Montreal Photographer Vadim Daniel

And last but not least let’s not forget the hypnotic colour of “golden-red”! By just adding a small amount of saffron in a dish, it makes it look as if there has just been a drop of gold added in it.

Where is Saffron grown today?

Spain’s varieties, are generally mellower in colour, flavour, and aroma; Italian varieties are slightly more potent than Spanish, while the most intense varieties tend to be Persian (Iran) in origin. India, but they have banned the export of high-grade saffron abroad. Aside from these, various “boutique” crops are available from New Zealand, France, Switzerland, England and the US. In the US, Pennsylvania Dutch saffron is known for its earthy notes and is marketed in small quantities.

Consumers regard certain “growers” as “premium” quality. The “Aquila” saffron (zafferano dell’ Aquila) has an unusually pungent aroma, and intense color and is grown exclusively on eight hectares in the Navelli Valley of Italy’s Abruzzo region, near L’Aquila.

But in Italy the biggest saffron cultivation, for quality and quantity, is in San Gavino Monreale, Sardinia. This is where “our” saffron that we sell comes from and is then shipped to and packaged in Milano.

There is off course so much more to say about this “royalty” that is over 2000 years-old, but as we all know the secret always “lies within” and this time it’s within the experience of Saffron…