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(theme music)
Rocco: Hey everybody, I'm Rocco Dispirito.
In my new book Now Eat This Italian,
I make our favorite Italian-American classics all under 350 calories.
I came to Italy to learn the original techniques
from the very best cooks from the world, Italian mamas.
Here's how I did it.
(bottle pops)
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We're here in La Sorgente which is named after a fresh water spring.
Maria Ercolano is the master cheese maker.
She makes fresh cows milk mozzarella.
Okay.
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(camera click)
It's a real lesson in Italian, simplicity.
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That's bocconcini, that means little mouthfuls.
This is a tomato from Sorrento and it's called -
Yeah, okay. (laughs)
It looks under ripe.
The thing I love about this tomato is not only how it taste
because it's delicious but how it looks.
It's just a work of art, to me that's a still life.
No measurements here but they have an instinct and a touch
that comes from many, many generations and many years of cooking.
So it's red, white and green just like the Italian flag.
The same way pizza margheritas.
(music)
It's really good.
(laughing)
I hate to use some music analogy but the word symphony comes in mind.
There are a few ingredients here doing crazy things on my palette.
The thing with mine is I'm a little more specific about my measurements.
Let's start with the cheese.
Maria made me this beautiful mozzarella and it's been sitting in brime
so it's salted now.
I cut it a little bit thinner because I just want more surface area.
When you're very specific about your measurements,
the way to make it look bigger is by cutting it thinner.
You'll just get more bites out of it be more pleasurable, more enjoyable.
The good news about making another version of Caprese
is I don't have to change anything but the olive oil.
The olive oil is really the place where the fat and calories come from.
And mozzarella is among the lowest calorie cheese that exists.
The tomatoes obviously are extremely good for you
and have calories that you don't even need to count.
Let me slice this, beautiful Cuore di Bue tomato and also make it thin.
Also just lay it out the way Maria Ercolano did.
Tomato and another piece of cheese.
Even though this is less cheese than Maria used,
it looks like a big plate of Caprese Salad.
Since your eyes are bigger than your stomach you might as well feed them well.
Let's make the olive oil now.
Now I call it olive oil, I have to use quotes
because it's not actually olive oil.
It starts off with water and green olive brime.
This is the liquid that olives are kept in while they're being [soaked],
this is how they're stored.
It tastes like olives that's why I use it as a base.
In addition to that I'm going to add some Xanthan Gum.
Xanthan Gum is a thickener that you can find at any store these days.
This is borrowing from the molecular gastronomy a little bit.
And then use it to thicken this mixture of water and green olive brime.
You get a thick viscous liquid that tastes like olive
which is essentially olive oil except it will have no calories.
Slowly add the Xanthan Gum because it does thicken up in one clump
if you add it too quickly.
I'm going to have the water and the olive brime spinning
as I sprinkle in the powder little by little.
It has an olive flavor, the [simple thing].
Now, we're going to add some actual olive oil
because you want to throw the [baby out] with the bath water.
Olive oil is delicious and there really is nothing else like it.
Fortunately it carries a little few [tomato] calories for us.
I'm going to blend that in as well.
Now taste it, tell me what you think.
She said, "Uh olive."
That was the goal.
All right now we're going to add some basil.
So far we are only replacing one ingredient.
As a matter of fact, we're only going to replace one ingredient
in this entire remake of the Italian Classic Caprese.
We're going to add some salt as well and then we're going to dress it.
All right Maria, ready to taste?
Okay, good.
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This is one of the rare cases where there's almost no difference
except in the amount of calories.
The original version of Caprese Salad is 450 calories, 42 grams of fat.
Now with this version has only a 167 calories and just under 12 grams of fat.
I know you want to eat this Caprese but now eat this Caprese.
You want to come to Sorrento, learn how to make mozzarella,
this is where you should come.
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