Pasta in good shape - Northern Italy

Special feature Northern Italy : Pasta in good shape

Pasta undoubtedly remains the perfect partner for Parmesan - author, Boccace, in his book "Decameron" published in the middle of the 14th century, describes it as 'the final touch of delight on top of a dish of ravioli' -, Parmesan is delicious in slivers with any salad, surprisingly brings out the flavour in a range of fruit (pears, figs, grapes) and simply dashing with a dribble of olive oil, fresh bread and a glass of bold red wine. The other great Parmesan fans are, surprisingly, the nutritionists! In Italy, it is strongly recommended for pregnant or breast feeding women and children needing to gain weight. To sum up, lets say that 4 ounces of Parmesan contains as much protein as 7 ounces of beef or 9 ounces of pork at the same time as being very digestible (45 mn versus 4 hours for meat), that those 4 ounces contain 33% of proteins, 1.30% of calcium, 0.70% of phosphorus, 28% of fat, that has 392 kcal that also include A, B1, B2, B6, B12 and PP vitamins. Basically norhing but wholesome goodness!

An incomparable flavour

Crazy for ham