A true pasta dish does not need many ingredients as any Italian can tell you but it does require the best ingredients available. Pasta is the King but what goes with it should as of equal quality!
I love to eat good pasta, simply one of the best dishes, just because it is so simple. A few ingredients like ham, Parmesan cheese flakes, cream and olive oil. With it rocket salad and freshly baked Ciabatta bread dipped in Balsamic and olive oil with some freshly grinded black pepper it can be easily on my dining table every day!

This precious balsamic vinegar arises from Lodovico Campari’s passion for Modena and its origins. Trebbiano grapes are picked at their peak ripeness and the must that is obtained is then left to ferment in open top vessels. Once the cooked must has reduced by two thirds, it is then put in oak barrels where it stands in the dark of the “attics”. From one year to another, Lodovico Campari’s Balsamic Vinegar is transferred from one wood barrel to another, drawing distinctive and unmistakable aromas from each different kind of wood, from cherry to juniper. The Balsamico is then left to the generations experienced master tasters to decide its readiness. The deep sapphire color, the limpidity, the thick velvety texture and the deep contrast between its initial sweet element and its final acidulous one, makes Campari’s Aceto Balsamico one of the true jewels of Modena. It is perfect used as a condiment for meat, fish, vegetables and aged cheeses. For a unique and special treat, try it over strawberries and ice cream. Each bottle contains 8.5 fluid ounces (250 ml.) of Aceto Balsamico di Modena aged 15 years by Acetaia L. Campari from Italy.

The Acetaia L Campari Company is one of the staunch balsamic vinegar producers of Modena, creating a top quality product aimed at higher end of the market. Its ‘tradizionale’ balsamic vinegars, like all authentic balsamic, have received the coveted Modena seal of approval, maintaining the highest standards. Whilst on the expensive side, Campari balsamic vinegar possesses an exquisite richness and depth of flavor. The company concentrates on the mid-range 15 year old balsamic, providing a flavorsome balsamic without the huge prices incurred by older vintages. Acetaia L Campari, in 1986, started developing a strong online presence, making its wonderful balsamic vinegar easily available to customers outside Italy. Campari is rightly lauded as one of the premium producers in Modena, easily justifying the slightly higher price of its ‘black gold.’

Via E Fermi Nr 3 Sorbara Di Bomporto Mo 41030
Italy

acetaiacampari.it

Cadeaux
LE PETIT FLACON COUTURE EN SPRAY 100 ml

Cooking requires not only respect, love and passion but also the very best of ingredients. Getting my hand on a bottle of the finest olive oils from France is just about the best what mother harvest can offer. I do not hide my passion to good olive oil, in previous posts I have tasted oils from Spain and Italy but not from France. That this bottle looks like a Chanel #5 parfume bottle is not an accident, believe me once you have tasted the content you would like to use it almost like a perfume in your collection! A afternoon snack of crunchy bread from the oven, crunchy salad and the finest Jamon ham from Spain with olives is just not the same without fine olive oil like Château d’Estoublon‘s Olive Oil from France.

AOC VALLéE DES BAUX DE PROVENCE OLIVE OILS

Grossane, Salonenque, Béruguette, Picholine … four varieties of olive fruits go into the blend, and represent the typicity of the AOC Vallée des Baux olive oils prepared exclusively with olives which have been hand picked in the Château d’Estoublon olive groves.

Tasting note:
The nose reveals notes of fresh grass and freshly-mown hay, young fresh artichokes and almonds. On the palate, the oil is supple and unctuous, evolving towards a slightly peppery finish. Good food and oil matches: grilled fish, seafood, white meats, poultry, raw, steamed or sautéed vegetables, fresh pasta, goat cheeses.

Characteristics:
A.O.C « Vallée des Baux de Provence », Extra Virgin, 1st Cold Press, unrefined, unfiltered.

HARVESTED BY HAND

Growing between the vineyards and the aromatic scrubland, the olive groves at Château d’Estoublon cover more than 48 hectares within the Valley des Baux appellation, the Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée Vallée des Baux de Provence. Estoublon is one of the rare estates in this Alpilles region which chose to replant its olive trees after the devastating frost in 1956. Thus, the history of Estoublon remains inextricably linked to the history of olives and olive oil production in Provence.

There are four varieties of olives – Grossane, Salonenque, Béruguette, and Picholine which make up the blends and stand behind the typicity of the olive oils made at Château d’Estoublon. Four varieties of olives which are harvested exclusively by hand, from early November to late December, following a ripeness schedules which varies sharply from one olive to another.

ABOVE AND BEYOND THE AOC

At Estoublon, harvesting by hand is a golden rule. The olive pickers gather the olives using a small rake which they pass through the branches, dropping the olives into the fine nets laid at the base of the tree. The net protects the olive from any contact with the soil, avoiding any damage. Workers sort the olives and rid them of any leaves or twigs, piling them into crates to carry them to the mill.

The Vallée des Baux de Provence AOC requires that the master miller press the olive within three days of the harvest. This avoids any start of the fermentation process. However, the owners at Château d’Estoublon have chosen to go beyond the strict AOC requirements. They have shortened this deadline to 24 hours, for the health condition of the olives is indeed the very best guarantee you can have of the quality of the olive oil.

PURE JUICE OF THE OLIVE FRUIT

The olives go onto a conveyor belt where they are washed and rid of any remaining leaves. Then, they are crushed in grinder which crushes the pulp and the pit into a thick paste. This paste is then pressed in a machine with an endless screw. The oil slowly flows out of the paste for approximately 30 minutes. The press juice then goes into a centrifuge which separates the oil from the water contained in the olive. The entire operation lasts no more than one hour.

Extra Virgin olive oil from Château d’Estoublon is the pure juice of the olive fruit, obtained from the first cold press. No chemical products are added, no refining takes place. It is the only oil which can boast of such a production process.

CAPPED TANKS

Yet, in terms of quality, the label first cold press is no longer sufficient guarantee, in that today, all the mills now have sufficiently powerful presses to extract all the oil contained in the paste at the very first press. Indeed, the quality criteria for Extra Virgin olive oil are much more subtle than such an all-encompassing label can convey.

That is why the Château d’Estoublon has chosen to implement a very strict set of specifications which enables the olive grower to control the quality of the product from the work in the olive groves up to the bottling stage. Still somewhat cloudy, the new olive oil is immediately brought to the cellars in the Château d’Estoublon, where it resides several months, sheltered from air and light in the special capped tanks at the château.

BOTTLED AT THE CHATEAU

Olive oil is a fragile product, sensitive to both heat and light. If stored in poor conditions, it can quickly lose its freshness and its aromas.

Again, the owners of the Château d’Estoublon have chosen to personally supervise the decanting operations, during which the olive oil settles naturally, and becomes perfectly clear. The bottling steps also take place at the Château, just in time to meet the orders.

As with everything in life, there are things one likes and others don’t! For me I love pork meat and the sourish and tard taste of Passion fruit. The latter is manly used in desserts but for this dish I used passion fruit and white wine to marinade the pork loin with passion fruit puree for six hours before pan fry. With some marinaded vegetable it presented its self to a wonderful light and refreshing lunch. Freeze dried Passion fruit clusters from Sosa, Spain just gave the dish an extra kick!

Sosa from Spain