Mashed Purple Potatos with Sicilian Red Shrimp Salad and Sauternes Sauce

Mashed Purple Potatos with Sicilian Red Shrimp Salad and Sauternes Sauce

When I ask a foreigner to talk to me about Italian food, the person almost always tells me about oversized bowls of pasta, wood fire pizzas and the incredible flavor of the fresh ingredients. Without a doubt, Italy has a grand cuisine based on tradition, but not only. You can also find extreme innovation and creativity in the alta cucina, or gourmet cuisine.

Purple-Potato-Pure-with-Red-Shrimp-SaladIt’s difficult to eat poorly in Italy, and therefore during my first years of living in Emilia-Romagna I was never that enthused to spend a lot of money for small portion sized gourmet dishes. In Italy, the fact is that you can eat extremely well spending only a small amount of money.

Purple-Potato-Pure-with-Red-Shrimp-Salad-3 Working as a food blogger, I eat constantly for my job. I create my own recipes, I try traditional dishes and I’ve even had the opportunity to taste gourmet plates. I finally understand why people READ MORE

Barolo Risotto with Radicchio and Fontina

Barolo Risotto with Radicchio and Fontina

It was only fitting that I made Barolo Risotto with Radicchio and Fontina this week. First off, the color is perfect for an upcoming romantic Valentine’s Day dinner, and secondly, there is wine involved. Every since I passed the AIS Italian sommelier exam last week, I have been finding every excuse I can to open a bottle of wine :: vino and analyze the liquid inside. Studying is absolutely important, but to really get to know wine, a lot of field work is required. Poor me. 🙂

Barolo-Risotto-with-Radicchio-FontinaAlthough any good red wine can be used for this recipe, I’ve selected Barolo as my wine of choice. Why? For starters, what they taught us during the wine and food pairing part of the sommelier course, is that a recipe made with wine should ideally be paired with READ MORE