QUALITALY 141

August /September 2024 XVI MAGAZINE polenta is ready and the cheese inside is fully melted, pour the polenta into earthenware pans to keep the dish hot. With the back of a spoon, make a hollow in the centre of the polenta and pour in the melted butter. At the end, season with pepper to taste. __________________________________ RECIPE Veal cutlet Valle d’Aosta style The recipe from Valle d’Aosta calls for the cutlets to be stuffed with fontina cheese and cooked ham and then dipped first in flour, then in beaten egg and breadcrumbs. They are then fried in butter, rather like the original Viennese schnitzel. The cut of meat to be used is veal chops, but sirloin, or bone-in veal chop, is also fine. Ingredients: • slices of veal 800 g; • cooked ham 150 g; • 120 Fontina cheese; • 2 medium-sized eggs; • flour to taste; • breadcrumbs to taste; • salt, pepper; • clarified butter 200 g (for frying) Preparation Place the meat slices between two sheets of baking paper and thin them with a meat tenderizer. Take a slice of Fontina, cut it in half, add cooked ham on top and cover with the other half of Fontina, as if forming a sandwich. Place the filling on top of the slice of meat, taking care that the edges remain free, and cover with the other piece of meat, folding the meat in two. Flour the cutlets very well on both sides, pressing the edges well with your fingers to seal them. Then dip them in beaten eggs with a pinch of salt and pepper and finally in breadcrumbs. Melt the clarified butter in a frying pan, and when it is hot and begins to bubble, place one or two Valdostana cutlets in it, browning both sides for about 4-5 minutes, until golden brown. Once the excess fat has been removed with paper towels, the Valdostana cutlet can be served. __________________________________ AT PAGE 54 BOOKS #1 Dalla testa alla lisca (From head to tail) BY JOSH NILAND www.giunti.it € 39,00 In From Head to Tail , the highly anticipated sequel to the award-winning Big Book of Fish , celebrity chef Josh Niland continues on his singular mission: to show us that every fish is more than just two fillets held together by a head and a tail. With his sixty ‘head to tail’ recipes, prepared with fifteen varieties of fish - including a swordfish schnitzel, a grouper pot-aufeu, a tuna mapo tofu and a delicate raw plaice - Josh shows us that there are no rules when it comes to cooking fish, only an infinitely creative world of surprising culinary possibilities. BOOKS #2 La dispensa dello chef (The chef ’s pantry) BY STEFANO MASANTI www.bibliothecaculinaria.it € 42,00 Choosing the best fresh ingredients is a priority for every chef, but professionals also know that the contents of their larder are just as important. The items they stock up on less frequently, bottles, jars, tins and containers, which hold food that will keep for a long time, are just as important as a newly cut bouquet of salad or a freshly caught fish. This book is an invitation to re-examine these hidden heroes of the kitchen. It is not an attempt to define an ideal pantry, but an exploration of how one chef took a closer look at what he could create by giving pantry ingredients a greater role. Furthermore, by opening its doors to a rotation of preserved ingredients from around the world, the potential of the pantry becomes exponential. BOOKS #3 Hamburger degli chef (Chefs’ burgers) BY STEFANO MASANTI AND STEFANO CIABARRI www.bibliothecaculinaria.it € 24,00 Few foods have been re-evaluated as much as the hamburger. In recent years, this ‘fast food’ par excellence has been served by Michelin- starred chefs, reinvented by vegetarians and vegans, and turned into the raison d’être of many trendy places. The seemingly simple recipe of bread, protein, vegetables and sauces allows for an infinite number of variations. Even the cooking method (not entirely obvious) can introduce different flavours. Intrigued by how this ‘intruder’ has made its way into Italian gastronomic culture, chefs Stefano Masanti and Stefano Ciabarri decided to delve into the subject starting with a fundamental question: is the hamburger identified by its form or by its content? With the spirit of explorers, the two chefs took apart, reassembled and rethought this classic sandwich. They examine a range of ingredients to propose meat, fish and vegetable burgers. They identify the most suitable sauces and toppings and choose the type of bread that enhances each filling. The result is a kind of hamburgerpedia, a collection of author’s recipes for all the components of the tastiest ‘burgers’ and their most suitable side dishes. All this is accompanied by tips for selecting ingredients, suggestions for varying cooking methods and inspiration for new and appetising combinations.