Oct 18, 2010


As many of you know, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month worldwide.

The annual international health campaign organized by major breast cancer charities and organizations every October works toward increasing awareness of the disease and raising funds for research into its cause, prevention and cure. Charities like Pink Ribbon aim to create a global community to support breast cancer patients, survivors and their families.

As well as providing a platform for breast cancer charities to raise awareness of their work and of the disease, this is also a prime opportunity to remind women to test with mammography and ultrasound for early detection.

Many native Italian and expat bloggers in Italy–as part of the 17th Nastro Rosa campaign–are blogging in pink today.

Our gracious hosts Barbara, Chiara and Carolina were the minds behind this important joint blog event. I am honored to participate, and I thank Rosa at Bell’Avventura for letting me know of this opportunity. Please visit Mamma Felice for a complete list of participants.

My contribution for today's worldwide effort to spread the word about breast cancer awareness is... you guessed it, a recipe!

Blushing Pink Strawberry Risotto
Ingredients
2 tablespoons minced onion (I use shallot)
3 tablespoons celery, julienned
50 g (1/4 cup) butter
400 g (2 cups) Arborio or Carnaroli rice
250 ml (1 cup) good quality dry sparkling wine, or prosecco
Simmering vegetable broth (chicken broth is OK too)
300 g (1 1/2 cups) firm strawberries, calyx removed and finely sliced
4 tablespoons Parmigiano, grated

Sauté the onion and celery until translucent in 2/3 of the butter, then remove with a slotted spoon and set them aside.

Toast the rice in the butter and cook over a moderate heat, stirring with a wooden spoon for 5 minutes. Return the bruised onion and celery back into the rice, mixing to heat through, and add the bubbly. Continue stirring until the sparkling wine is completely evaporated; then start adding the broth, one ladle at a time.

The rice should be done in about 15 minutes: this is when you add the strawberries.

Cook stirring gently for one more minute, turn off the heat, and fold in the remaining butter and the cheese. Cover for a minute, and then serve in individual portions, with the four prettiest heart-shaped strawberries, placed on each. You can also garnish each bowl of risotto with a sprig of mint or fresh basil leaves.

Image © thechefisonthetable

Raise your pink champagne glasses with me and let's toast: SALUTE! To our health!

VERSIONE ITALIANA

Come molte di voi sanno, ottobre è il mese della prevenzione del tumore al seno.

La campagna annuale organizzata da istituzioni benefiche nel mese di ottobre è volta a sensibilizzare la consapevolezza riguardo a questa malattia; e nella raccolta fondi per la ricerca, prevenzione e cura del tumore alla mammella.

La campagna mondiale è anche un'opportunità per ricordare a tutte noi donne di sottoporsi a regolari controlli ed esami di diagnosi precoce quali mammografia e ecografia, per sconfiggere sul tempo eventuali insorgenze.

In Italia, la campagna Nastro Rosa è organizzata dalla LILT, che da anni si dedica alla prevenzione del tumore al seno. La campagna non opera unicamente come raccolta fondi e nello svolgimento di varie attività benefiche, ma anche a sostegno attivo nell'offrire informazioni a donne affette da tumore al seno, alle sopravvissute e alle loro famiglie.

In occasione della 17esima edizione della campagna Nastro Rosa, molti blogger Italiani e stranieri della Penisola oggi si tingono di rosa. Grazie alle generose Barbara di Mamma Felice con Chiara di Ma Che Davvero e Carolina di Semplicemente Pepe Rosa–le tre menti dietro all'iniziativa del post collettivo–per averci dato modo di partecipare a questo evento internazionale di straordinaria importanza. Ringrazio inoltre Rosa di Bell'Avventura per avermi invitato a partecipare.

Il mio contributo per la campagna è una ricetta... tutta in rosa!

Risotto alle Fragole

Ingredienti
2 cucchiai di cipolle tritate (io uso lo scalogno)
3 cucchiai di sedano, affettato a julienne
50 g burro
400 g riso Arborio o Carnaroli
250 ml buon vino frizzante secco, o prosecco
Brodo vegetale (ma anche quello di pollo va bene)
300 g fragole, private della corolla, e affettate sottilmente
4 cucchiai di Parmigiano grattugiato

Salta la cipolla e il sedano in 3/4 del burro fino a farli appassire. Togli dalla pentola e tieni da parte. Tosta il riso nel burro e cuoci a fuoco moderato, mescolando per 5 minuti. Aggiungi la cipolla e il sedano appassiti e riscalda. A questo punto versa il prosecco, mescolando fino a farlo evaporare del tutto. Un mestolo alla volta, aggiungi il brodo caldo, man mano che il risotto lo assorbe in cottura.

Il riso sarà cotto in circa 15 minuti: a questo punto aggiungi le fragole affettate.

Ultima la cottura mescolando dolcemente per un altro minuto appena, togli dalla fiamma, e incorpora il restante burro e il Parmigiano grattuggiato. Fai riposare coperto per un minuto e poi servi in porzioni individuali decorate con spicchi di fragola (tieni da parte le 4 più belle a forma di cuore) ed eventuale fogliolina di menta o basilico fresche.

In alto i calici di champagne rosé e brindate con me: ALLA NOSTRA SALUTE!


 

16 comments:

  1. Wow, you have certainly outdone yourself for originality here! Looks intriguing and very pretty.
    Thank you for posting for this cause!

    ReplyDelete
  2. delizioso quel risotto! Ho partecipato anche io alla campagna contro il cancro ma ho postato ieri...buona giornata....

    ReplyDelete
  3. Bless your heart! Such a pretty post (pink risotto and champagne!) for such an important cause.

    Thank you for this Lola, YES, Good health for all.

    xxx

    ReplyDelete
  4. It was great to see so many blogging friends joining in with this Action Day. I have never heard of Strawberry risotto is this your own invention?

    ReplyDelete
  5. that is certainly an interesting color of risotto...but for those that suffer under this dreadful disease i would certainly...thanks for raising hte awareness...

    ReplyDelete
  6. As Scintilla said , WOW such an original and wonderful post , but for such a good cause too :-)

    I took part in this too, but mine is a little tame.. and yes your name is on my blog ..:-)

    ReplyDelete
  7. A good friend of mine has just died of breast cancer, but many have survived. It is such a bad disease, causing so much pain, so I surely support your cause!
    And now I`m off to write you back, cara!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Very inspiring! I will definitely be trying this in spring! Lovely post.

    ReplyDelete
  9. First recipe I'll try when my mom leaves for the weekend and I have the kitchen kingdom all to myself!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Rosa~
    Pinkalicious! I'm glad you liked this.

    ~~~~~~~

    Cherrye~
    Thanks!

    ~~~~~~~

    Chiara~
    Anche a te buona giornata! Grazie della visita e del tuo gentile commento.

    ~~~~~~~

    Lori~
    Thank you for toasting with me. I did this for all women, but with Renee in my heart.

    ~~~~~~~

    Linda~
    I was inspired by a funny scene in "Hollywodd Party" in which Peter Sellers is served strawberry soup at a posh Hollywood dinner. Then I found out pink risotto is all over the web...

    ~~~~~~~

    Brian~
    Thanks for stopping by, Brian. In this cause, everyone's support is appreciated!

    ~~~~~~~

    Anne~
    The more the merrier! If we join we are stronger.

    ~~~~~~~

    Geli~
    I can't wait! Smiles.

    ~~~~~~~

    Joanne~
    It's wonderful to hear back from you. I unfortunately had a hard time finding you! Ma adesso... :)

    ~~~~~~~

    Cristina~
    You have a territorial mom in the kitchen too, eh? ;)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Oh yum! What a beautiful dish, Eleonora. Thanks for sharing!!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hmmmm. I can do something small, I guess. I'll change my header from green to pink for the rest of the month.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Laura~
    I'm happy you like it. I realise I've been posting a series of extravagant dishes lately! I'll be back to blogging traditional Italian soon, I promise!

    ~~~~~~~

    Jim~
    Nothing is ever small, if done with conscience. Raise that awareness! Grazie from the bottom of our hearts (and bosoms)!!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Interesting dish and fantastic that you also posted it in Italian! Mi piacciono entrambi - the dish and the Italian! If you keep up posting in Italian, as well as the extravagant and eccentric dishes, there would definitely be a place for you over at my blog: "Diario di una Studentessa Matta"!!! A little crazy is a good thing! Let me know if you might consider doing a guest blog! a presto!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Melissa~
    I would LOVE to guest post over at your loony student place. Grazie dell'offerta!

    ReplyDelete

Share!