Monograno Felicetti

Dear {NOMEUTENTE}
The picture here below, illustrating the first news of this newsletter marking the end of June and the beginning of summer, shows the Fettuccine with avocado, tomatoes and garlic buds first course conceived by Daniela Cicioni, vegan-vegetarian chef who divides her time between Milan and the Lake of Como, a summer first course to exalt a fruit which alone hasn’t got a strong personality. The recipe is in the site of Identità, just click here to read it. What matters to me now is reasoning about the names, about how to propose a dish so that it sounds agreeable to the most.

This first course can be in the menu of any Italian restaurant, colorful greedy tagliatelle, fresh and for this reason perfect for the hot days. It is also a vegan delicacy because of the lack of any ingredient of animal origin. However I’m sure that many people who would choose it in a meat or fish restaurant would avoid it if was named Vegan tagliatelle with avocado and tomato in a vegan, not even vegetarian, restaurant.

Words like vegan are worrying, evoke sad canteen and Taliban clients, no joy and little will to eat well, just meet the need to feed. And yet many dishes, many first courses made of pasta are actually vegan. The real challenge for those who love eating, and are not full of prejudices and discriminatory philosophies, will be that of combining intelligence and gluttony, eliminating what is unnecessary (and unhealthy) and exalting good food and tastes. If some proposals are also vegan- however without declaring it- so much the better for our physical and mental well-being.
Paolo Marchi, texts by Gabriele Zanatta
 

Summertime fettuccine, good and even vegan

Fettuccine with avocado, tomatoes and garlic buds, a first course conceived by Daniela Cicioni.
 

Spaghetti and pasta, expanding words

I get the idea from the remark by Alessandro Negrini of the Luogo di Aimo e Nadia (see the post here below) to strengthen the concept expressed by the chef: dry pasta has never been so popular as it is today in Italy and I would say also all over the world. Several cues show it. The most evident to the readers of this newsletter is that now more than ever haute cuisine restaurants love engaging and expressing their creativity in a food too often debased by stereotypes in the past. In the haute cuisine congresses, for instance, this topic is increasingly debated also outside the sessions specifically devoted to pasta. An encouraging sign.

Also the staff of Identità Golose informs me of an interesting figure: in the Guida ai Ristoranti d’Italia, Europa e Mondo (Guide to the restaurants of Italy, Europe and the World) of 2013 the word “spaghetti” appears 66 times: the first one in the card of the Combal.Zero in Rivoli (Cuttlefish ink spaghetti with cuttlefish and caviar carbonara, in the picture), the last one in the card of the restaurant Del Posto in New York City (Spaghetti, crab, and jalapeño). If, as a research key word, we use the most generic term “pasta”, widening the horizons to the fresh and/or stuffed type, we find 126 results: first quote the Ravioli made of durum wheat dough with sweetbread from the Cafè Quinson in Valdaosta; last one again Ravioli but this time lamb ravioli by Giorgio Nava in Cape town, South Africa. Now it will be interesting to check the same recurrences in the Guida di Identità, edition 2014 (to be published next fall, editor’s note).
Riccardo Felicetti
 

Aimo e Nadia: spaghetti to the rescue

«When in November 2007 we obtained the second Michelin star an internet user immediately argued: ‘how is it possible that a restaurant having spaghetti in its menu can obtain such a reward? » Alessandro Negrini remembers together with Fabio Pisani, the soul in the kitchen of the Luogo di Aimo e Nadia in Milan. This phrase explains how dry pasta has developed over the last 5-6 years, both as regards its production processes and our collective imagination: «Today nobody would dare saying it because both chefs and clients have learned to acknowledge the greatness of dry pasta».

It isn’t only for the Spaghetti with spring onion and chili pepper by Aimo Moroni, one of the most venerated versions of spaghetti in the history of Italian haute cuisine: the menu in the restaurant of Via Montecuccoli sings a hymn to great first courses every day. «We always have five first courses: long-shaped dry pasta, fresh pasta with meat, stuffed pasta, risotto, and soup. So the client can always choose among different types». The option long-shaped dry (in the picture by Guido Rizzuti) at present is: Benedetto Cavalieri spaghettoni with oysters from Manfredonia, caciocavallo cheese from Campania, fresh broad beans, green celery and Kuching pepper.

«The absolute protagonist is the caciocavallo cheese from Campania, a special kind of cheese we have discovered thanks to the people of La Tradizione, a paradise of delicacies located in Vico Equense, in the Sorrentine Peninsula: it has unusual iodized smells which amplify those already marked of the oysters. A first course combining savory and freshness while matching seafood and cheese, two worlds that in our Southern tradition meet more often than we imagine». A first course which contradicts the maxim of Marchesi ‘first, taking away”: «To us adding is important because it defies us to build difficult balances on paper». A hymn to richness, like the richness of the second course menu at Aimo e Nadia: nine dishes in the menu. «In a period of crisis», Negrini concludes, «we prefer increasing options instead of reducing them». Passion and courage.
 

Pasta-philosophy by Di Giacinto and Anello

Before talking about their pasta-philosophy, it is worth mentioning the irresistible rise of Riccardo Di Giacinto and Ramona Anello, a couple at work and in the life who along 6 years passed from the opening of the restaurant All’Oro located in via Duse («many zeros at the beginning», the maître/sommelier remembers ), to one Michelin star up to the management of 3 concerns at the same time (All’Oro, roof garden O°300° and food cocktail-bar Misceliamo, all under the roof of the First Hotel) plus a fourth restaurant offering traditional Italian recipes, especially from the Abruzzi, called Sm’All, in the old seat of the Parioli district.

Pasta is certainly one of the most strategic crampons in this rise, especially fresh pasta «because the chef», his wife explains, «loves making pasta with his hands». Some time ago we have published Di Giacinto most beloved first course recipe: Cappelletti in “dry” broth, parmesan cheese, saffron and lemon. However we didn’t explain its sense, interesting here to know. The broth is inside pasta, an idea from Adrià (by the way Di Giacinto spent one full year at the Bulli, 10 years ago) that the chef from the Abruzzi customized avoiding the use of jellies. The fatter parts of the cartilages (knees, muscles, chuck) put in the broth have a thickening effect: the broth (very concentrated since it is “double”), left at room temperature for one moment, develops a natural jelly. «When I tasted it the first time» Ramona real shadow of the chef recalls, «I remember a tear».

Blood, sweat and tears we shed also after the fiscal blows of the previous government. A period the staff at the All’Oro wanted to remember with the Spaghetto Mario Monti (in the picture by Scattidigusto) dressed only with onion but in five different versions (broth, ash, bread, dyeing-reduction and mousse). Just to show that tightening one’s belt and cooking rich dishes can go well together. Taste first of all, in short. This is the principle that always moves Di Giacinto’s hand, also and not only when he conceives dishes like the Mascarpone (mild creamy cheese) raviolini with duck ragout and red wine reduction, «that we cannot take away from the menu», Ramona intervenes, «because it reassures the most bewildered clients». The rare case of a pair who observes the client and not only its bents.
 

Al Mercato: rolled pasta dough on holidays in Greece

The restaurant Al Mercato in Milan is a special place since it has a double soul: the right entrance gives access to the Burger Bar to gorge on big hamburgers (even the New York Times has talked about it) and street-whims from all over the world such as the chicharones thai or the kimchi from Korea. Instead, the other door on the left allows accessing the real restaurant, 4 tables with 20 cm narrow spaces separating on from the other, real slots where the new maître Giacomo Gironi jams to tell the clients in the hall about the tasting evolutions made of 6 or 8 courses conceived in the kitchen, located in the middle, by the two chefs Beniamino Nespor and Eugenio Roncoroni and the pastry-talent Luca De Santi and his companions.

The picture shows one of the first courses in the menu beyond the door on the left. It is called Rolled pasta dough, lamb, egg-plants, mint and feta cheese: under the pressed egg-plants there are two disks of pasta, rolled like lasagna (or the open Raviolo by Marchesi to be more learned). It is a dish which expresses well the philosophy of the two guys: Italy is seen like the box to have the creative pole fly among the suggestions from all over the world. In this case the taking off leads to one of the most traditional Greek dishes: lamb with feta cheese and egg-plants. It is only one of the many global jumps of the chefs Nespor and Roncoroni who will soon land to Russia (salmon and sour cream), the Basque Country (plays among pork and seafood) and mainly Asia (the pickling with Sichuan pepper and paprika, shooting explorations of spicy flavors).

Who is taking care of first courses? «Both of us: we don’t split up tasks strictly but we cook two and two dishes for each station», they explain. So give it up you that are looking for the authorship of the Tagliolini with spicy squids and saffron, the Potato gnocchi with cuttlefish ink and gurnard or the Risotto with broad beans, smoked eel and Ikura, the Italian-global first courses in the menu at present. «Were they prepared by Eugenio or Beniamino?». It isn’t so important, is it?
 

Roberto Petza and the pride of Sardinian durum wheat

On the 9th of June in Siddi, Sardinia, the first day of the Sardinian durum wheat artisan pasta took place. Strongly wanted by the chef Roberto Petza, who took up the cause of the renaissance of small high quality agricultural and food productions, it was an opportunity to talk about, discuss and taste Sardinian delicacies originating from the wheat fields of the Marmilla and the whole island.

If there are sound reasons to call Sardinia a real Continent one of these is pasta. Yes, exactly, Sardinian durum wheat pasta made by expert hands which have conveyed know-how and tastes for centuries. It’s enough to think of the tens of types produced in the Region, sometimes with slight differences (of making and name) that can change only a few kilometers away. The event turned out to be the opportunity to take stock of the situation of the Sardinian durum wheat chain of production (especially the Senatore Cappelli variety) through a debate to which the journalists Gilberto Arru and Giovanni Fancello took part, followed by the live cooking of several chefs who have prepared traditional and innovative recipes rigorously made with Sardinian wheat pasta.

«We would like to connect the Sardinian concerns working in this sector and have them talk – Roberto Petza explains- and we believe that the best way is supporting actions of cultural promotion, intended as real knowledge of the chain of production which leads to the final product. Durum wheat is one of the raw materials belonging to the great tradition of our island and through Sardinian pasta we have the opportunity to encourage and support a special value of our territory, thus allowing taking possession again of our own identity».

The program was full of events: after the debate, which introduced the show of ancient pasta made by hand by housewives who convey old recipes with their hard work and several laboratories for children, the day went on with the chefs Pierluigi Fais from the restaurant Josto al Duomo in Oristano, Roberto Flore from the Antica Dimora del Gruccione in Santulussurgiu (Or) and Roberto Serra from the Su Carduleu in Abbasanta (Or) obviously commanded by Petza. All young people, looking to the future pushed by a great passion and with the meaning of the value of the past well clear in their minds. Starting from the pasta of their Island. (picture by Pietro Pio Pitzalis, Reporter Gourmet)
Giuseppe Carrus
 

The arriminate (stirred) linguine from Caltagirone

At the Coria in Caltagirone (Catania) there are two brains in the kitchen: Francesco Patti and Domenica Colonnetta. They take care of naturally different stations. Patti is in charge of first courses, his real passion. The boy goes on sounding out the history of the insular dishes to which he applies a certain revisionism, which corrects them with the red traits of modern times. The dish in the picture: Black linguine with stirred broccoli pesto (pesto di broccoli arriminati), baked mullet and light anchovy sauce. It is a dish which combines two recipes of the tradition: the Cuttlefish ink pasta and the Pasta coi broccoli arriminati (Pasta with stirred broccoli).

«In our dialect», the chef explains, «arriminare means stirring, putting all together. Only if there is a sense, otherwise it’s chaos. There are endless versions of the pasta with broccoli arriminati in Sicily, depending on the town. However, there is always a dominant idea: anchovy, raisins, caper and dry tomato that I have kept. The linguina doesn’t need eggs: I make it kneading durum wheat bran with the cuttlefish ink ragout and then I extrude it through bronze dies. The ragout is the classical one, made with whole cuttlefish and the sauce is first filtered and then kneaded. The mullet is put both in the dough and on top of the dish to finish it». A really hearty dish.

At the Coria all pasta dishes have bread crumbs on top: «When I was working in Northern Italy they always looked at me astonished: ‘what? Do you put bread on the fish?’ Well, yes, it’s our habit». Dry pasta is never in the menu «first of all because it isn’t a tradition of our island and then because the universe of fresh pasta is so wide that even the same dish will never be identical to the following one. In fact I never leave the station, I control everything». And there is no comparison between long and short pasta: «The first one gives me much more satisfaction because it creates that creamy thickness the short one cannot give. It is also a question of temperatures: the long one can keep them much longer».
 

Here is the pasta-sommelier

The idea comes from the Delverde pasta-factory in the Abruzzi: they have conceived a format to teach consumers how to distinguish quality pasta. Exactly like the sommelier for wine (or more recently the hydro-sommelier for water) the pasta-sommelier makes a careful analysis of the characteristics of pasta, both raw and after cooking: color, smells, consistency, for instance.

It gave origin to a tasting protocol summed up into 5 "fun actions”: observing, smelling, touching, tasting and dressing. The peculiar aspect is that the assessment procedure involves four steps linked to the 4 senses: visual (before, during, and after cooking), tactile (before and after), olfactory (before, during, and after cooking) and gustatory (after).

The elements for the assessment are: shape (long, short, origin, thickness: they suggest to use smooth pasta); cooking time (that is “right” when the whole section is fully cooked); the characteristics of cooking water (hardness, presence of chlorine, purity); the height of the place where water boils (atmospheric pressure); the type of pot used (dimensions and materials); the ratio quantity of water/pasta (1 liter every 100 grams, but also 1.5 liters if the pot has a wide diameter) and the power of fire and therefore of boiling. In the picture, Mark Ladner, chef of the restaurant Del Posto in New York City (picture Bon Appetit).
 

Mixed pasta by Viviana Varese

Pasta and beans, octopus and mussels by Viviana Varese from the restaurant Alice in Milan (picture Brambilla/Serrani), a happy new proposal of a popular dish from Campania whose roots plunge into the popular culture of fishermen who used to put in the dish fish and the most varied shapes of pasta. The beans are borlotti and cannellini and the detailed recipe is in the book "Alice e le meraviglie del pesce" (Alice and the wonders of fish (Giunti, 14.90 euro).

Another chef from Campania Gennaro Esposito from the restaurant Torre del Saracino in Vico Equense (Naples) is well known for a new version of the same recipe, a Soup of mixed pasta with shellfish and small rock fish. What a blast!
 

Danish burn-proof pot-holders

We don’t know about you but we barbarians who cook pasta at home have big problems with accessories. Let’s take fabric pot-holders, for instance: they never fit to the pot, they aren’t heat-resistant and the result is a burn every time we have to drain pasta into the colander, either touching the hot surface of the pot or with a splash of cooking water on the arms. The pot-holders in the picture are a good solution because they are made of silicon and are therefore very flexible and insulating: the risk of burns is zeroed. Two pot-holders cost 34.50 euro, they are produced by the Danish Evasolo and distributed in Italy by Schönhuber, together with many other smart accessories of the series Let’s Pasta, a collection of very handy objects such as the pasta-taster Küchenprofi to avoid the fall of spaghetti or the usual burn of the tongue. Or the lid Lékué preventing water leakages while cooking.