April News from Active Gourmet Holidays

SPRING IS HERE!!!!
April 2012


 Active Gourmet Holidays

Greetings from Active Gourmet Holidays!

 

 

This month we are happy to offer a couple of wonderful new tours, one featuring truffles in Le Marche, "Truffles, Wine & Cooking in Le Marche" along with a simple and delicious spring recipe. Check out the details below.  
 

Also, how about a week's culinary vacation in the Roman countryside in an 18th Century renovated villa? Check out our "Tastes of A Roman Holiday" (inquire about our special pricing for August 5-11).

 

Active Gourmet Holidays is now on Facebook! Click here to like us and please share photos of your trip with everyone! We would LOVE to see!  www.facebook.com/ActiveGourmetHolidays

 

 

For more information on specific tours or pricing, please email Jo-Ann Gaidosz at joann@activegourmetholidays.com or visit our website at www.activegourmetholidays.com.

 

To ensure delivery of your Active Gourmet Holidays emails, be sure to add info@activegourmetholidays.com to your Address Book or "Known Senders" list!

 

 

April 2012 News Truffles Le MarcheNEW! Truffles, Wine & Cooking in Le Marche

Le Marche, Italy - 7 nights
Available year round

 

Discover the secret of Italy. When you visit Le Marche you will inevitably be struck by the wonderful bucolic landscape, the rich cultural heritage, the historic architecture and the quality of the local produce. But we would like to help you get under Le Marche's skin, meeting local artisans and experiencing the true rural life. Stay in a beautiful country home in a quiet setting, go on a truffle hunt, take cooking classes and get to know this region like a local.

 

 

Read More: Truffles, Wine & Cooking in Le Marche

 

April News 2012 Cooking in ParisCooking in Paris
Paris, France - Day Cooking Classes and Market Tours
Available year round

 

   

Come and discover Paris through hands-on cooking classes learning a variety of recipes to recreate at home to share with your family and friends. You will learn the art of French cooking in a fun, relaxed atmosphere in magical Montmartre, Paris. Choose from a wide range of choices for classes taught in English. Choose from macaron making, baking, bread making, molecular gastronomy, cheese and wine courses and more.

 

Read more: Cooking in Paris 

 

April 2012 News Tastes of Roman Holiday

NEW! The Tastes of a Roman Holiday
Rome, Italy - 4 or 6 nights

 
Available year round  

 

 

 

Enjoy a four or six night culinary holiday in the region of Lazio in the Roman countryside, an hour outside of Rome. You will stay in a completely renovated 18th century villa with beautifully decorated rooms in this lovely medieval hamlet. Through hands on cooking classes you will learn traditional recipes from local cooks whose recipes have been passed down from generation to generation.    

 

Read more: The Tastes of a Roman Holiday

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Client Testimonial

 

"GOURMET RIOJA"

 

 

 Fourth Time Active Gourmet Holidays Travelers:

 

April 2012 News Client Remark

 

"Dear Jo-Ann

We had a wonderful time...your people were GREAT!! Thanks for everything!"

  

  Isabel, Paola, Monica C. - Houston, Texas

  

 

Recipe of the Month

                             

    OLIVE ALL'ASCOLANA
("Truffles, Wine & Cooking in Le Marche" Tour)

  As one might guess from the name, Olive all'Ascolana are from Ascoli, in the Marches. They are among the best-known Italian stuffed olives, and booths selling them at fairs are invariably mobbed.

If at all possible you should use olives of the Ascolana strain, which are large, green and mild, and were already renowned in Roman times, though the recipe for transforming them into stuffed olives is more recent, dating to the 17th century. Though they're generally classified as an antipasto, they're a superb finger food and will also work well as a first course, or as part of a platter of
mixed fried foods.

 

 

 

Prep Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 2 hours

April 2012 News Recipe Photo

Ingredients:

  • A pound (400 g) of very large mild olives, packed in brine (r)
  • 4 ounces (100 g) fresh mild pork sausage
  • 4 ounces (100 g) ground veal
  • 1/2 cup meat broth (bouillon is fine)
  • 2 ounces (50 g) diced cured lard (buy this from a delicatessen, or use pancetta or prosciutto fat)
  • 10 ounces (250 g) fine bread crumbs (this will be about 2 1/2 cups)
  • 1/2 cup dry white wine
  • 1 cup (50 g) freshly grated Parmigiano
  • 2 eggs

 

 Instructions:

  

  1. Pit olives if you didn't buy them already pitted.
  2. Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat.  Remove the casing and crumble the sausage into the skillet.  Cook for several minutes until browned.  Add the wine, scraping up the little bits from the bottom of the pan.  Cook for about 5 minutes until most of the wine has evaporated.  Add in the beef broth and cook another 5 minutes.  Remove the sausage to a bowl with a slotted spoon, leaving the drippings in the pan.
  3. Using a meat grinder or a food processor, grind the meat. 
  4. Removing the pan from the heat, add 1 tablespoon of breadcrumbs to the drippings in the pan.  Return the meat to the pan as well.  Add the parmigiano cheese and 1 egg (beaten) to the pan.  Combine together to make the stuffing mixture for the olives.  Let the mixture rest for a bit to cool.
  5. Once cool, stuff each olive with some of the sausage mixture.  Don't over stuff the olives or they may break apart. 
  6. Set up a breading station.  Make 1 plate of the flour, 1 bowl of the remaining egg, and 1 plate of the remaining breadcrumb.  Coat each olive in flour, then in egg, and finally in breadcrumbs.
  7. Heat the oil to a medium heat.  Don't make it to hot or it will burn the olives.  Once the oil is hot, fry the olives (in batches, depending on the size of your pot) just until they are a golden brown color.  Using a slotted spoon, remove the olives from the oil to a paper towel to drain them.  Let the olives cool a little before serving.

 

Credits:

 

cucinadibella.typepad.com

http://italianfood.about.com

 

 

 

 

 

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Contact Information
Active Gourmet Holidays
Jo-Ann Gaidosz
Phone: 1.203.732.0771
Fax: 1.203.734.6903
Email: info@activegourmetholidays.com
Website: www.activegourmetholidays.com
Skype: active.gourmet.holidays