Friday Foodie Fix
This week’s secret ingredient for Friday Foodie Fix is balsamic vinegar. This dark delicious liquid can be used for savory and sweet dishes. Balsamic vinegar is made in and around the areas of Modena and Reggio Emilia and is produced from white Trebbiano grapes. Once cooked, the vinegar is aged for 3-5 years (young), 6-12 years (middle aged), 12 to over 100 years (noble).
Did you know that Marcella Hazan has been credited with starting the balsamic vinegar craze in addition to introducing us to Italian cooking techniques? We have a lot to thank her for. I was lucky enough to meet her daughter in law Lael Hazan at BlogHer Food. We adopted her into our gluten free group and I hope I’ve kept my adoption into the Italian food world. If you get a chance visit her blog, Educated Palate. There is a lot of great food there and a lot to be learned. If you need any help adapting anything to gluten free please let me know.
How do you use balsamic vinegar? Most recently I’ve created dishes like Roasted Balsamic Chicken with Figs and Onions and Pesto Shrimp on Polenta Portobellos.
Please share your recipes here via Mr. Linky.
Guidelines:
- Share your recipe title along with your name and blog name. example- Diane@ The WHOLE Gang-Roasted Balsamic Chicken with Figs and Onions.
- Link to your individual post, not your homepage and then link back to this post. This completes the circle and allows your readers to find more recipes using the secret ingredient.
- Include your name and recipe title. Please link back to this post in your recipe post.
Please follow these guidelines so I don’t have to delete your link. Every week some get deleted.
Next week’s secret ingredient is ……………Thyme!
October 29th …..Pepitas
November 5th …..Lentils
November 12th …..Cinnamon
November 19th …..Sage
November 26th …..Thanksgiving Inspired Meals
Hi Diane! Linked up my Pork Tenderloin w/Balsamic Reduction. Forgot to put my blog name, but oh well! Looking forward to some of the upcoming ingredients!!
xo
I linked my salmon recipe, but have to say that I also love to use balsamic vinegar to bring out flavors in fruits and vegetables.
Hi Diane, hope I've linked properly. I made great GF dinner rolls today and topped them with goats cheese, raspberries, spring greens and balsamic vinegar. We love balsamic vinegar too!
Thanks!
Nicola
p.s. I linked to my homepage incorrectly the first time. Can you delete? Sorry!!!! xo
I love using balsamic vinegar, either as a salad dressing or with meats or veggies… what interesting information you share! I'd have never guessed it was all due to Marcella Hazan, she is seriously my Italian cooking idol 🙂
Diane
This is my favorite salad recipe. It was great getting to know Lael and adopting her into our little gf community. The non-gf folks who want to hang out with us at conferences have been so much fun and always add to my culinary knowledge and my perspective on the food blogging world. So glad we don't discriminate against gluten-eaters.
Wow, how cool is that regarding Marcella Hazan making balsamic vinegar a staple food in the U.S.! I knew I was rooming with Hazan greatness in the form of Lael :-), but, boy, the Hazan family has done so much for cooking all over the world–must read more, including Lael and Giuliano's blog, and pick Lael's brain when we chat. 😉
I spent most of my life not knowing the wonder that is balsamic vinegar, but I'm making up for it now! Most often I just use it on veggies and as salad dressing, but I've linked up several gfe recipes that include balsamic vinegar. I think it's truly a miracle worker for the amazing flavor it adds to dishes. 🙂
Shirley
I love balsamic vinegar – we have salad every night with dinner and we make a home made balsamic dressing, but instead of that recipe (because I just wing it every night, ha) I linked the balsamic beef recipe from my blog.
Okay, so I double "entered" sorry. You can delete one. And of course being a newby I just inserted "Lexie @" HULLLO! Can't edit now. Can you fix for me? Thanks : ) This is fun, next time I will know how to do it right.
Okay, so I triple "entered" sorry. You can delete the first two? And of course being a newby I just inserted "Lexie @" HULLLO! Can't edit now. Can you fix for me? Thanks : ) This is fun, next time I will know how to do it right.
Good gracious! Now I can't even spell my own blog name right. I QUIT for the day!!!
Thanks for the opportunity to share my recipe for Soy Free Teriyaki Style Marinade. It is a nice recipe who can't eat soy but love the flavor of Teriyaki sauce.
My favorite brand of balsamic vinegar for special recipes (because it's expensive) is Elsa. The 6 year aged sells for about $17 and the 12 year is about $33. Now I only use it a little at a time!