QUALITALY_144

MAGAZINE Februar y/March 2025 WHAT ABOUT THE TAGLIATELLE? The idea is very simple: to make a totally white dish using only two products. Being by the sea, the choice immediately fell on cuttlefish which, when lightly blanched and served warm, main- tains a snowy white colour. The idea of combi- ning it with a product from the land prompted us to try squacquerone cheese. Everyone likes it with piadina. They'll like it with cuttlefish too. In 2006 I made this dish and it's been on the menu ever since. BUT WHAT DOES A MICHELIN-STARRED CHEF EAT? Probably flatbread for life, with radicchio and onion. The smaller one I was used to as a child, given my parents' rural origins. Up in the hills, the flatbread is thinner, cooked quickly, a little burnt. LET'S GO BACK TO BEING CHILDREN. DO YOU HAVE A CHILDHOOD MEMORY? My father, when he used to take us to the Me- tropole cinema on Sunday mornings where they showed all the Disney films or classic films like Ben Hur. I have this wonderful memory of Sun- day mornings at the cinema... REFLECTIONS... The ‘Circus of Life’ bench is the installation in Piazza Malatesta that celebrates the ending of 8 ½. It has a radius of 8 and a half metres and is illuminated by more than 400 LEDs. Sitting here watching a passer-by distracted by the notes of ‘La passerella d'addio’ by Nino Rota that bring Fellini's most daring masterpiece to a close, I am taken over by a mental leitmotif that comes to life in a crescendo of immaterial ima- ges against the backdrop of Castel Sismondo. I reflect on how well I ate at Raschi last night. And I don't usually comment on the quality of a Michelin-starred dinner, which, here in Rimini, Gianpaolo's creative ability has translated into very imaginative terms. For me, creating has never been a losing act when I write. I was born a poet and I'm growing old as a writer of the WHAT DO THEY REPRESENT? Sand is the region, the land, the roots, the be- longing. The sea has become the sole source of ingredients. Then you go up to the sky where there are ideas, projects, thoughts and creati- vity. My key words as a man, as a cook and as a cuisine are: region, ingredients and ideas. FISH DISHES ON THE MENU? Only fish, mainly from the Adriatic. CHARM AND WEAKNESSES OF THIS POOR BUT TASTY FISH? Endless weakness for poor fish, and lots of it. I appreciate an anchovy or a mullet more than a seabass. Sometimes I am confronted with fish I have never seen before. And also with their offal. The fish of the Adriatic has such a strong identity that it needs to be cooked quickly, es- sentially briefly. It should not be distorted. FAMILY AND LOCAL CUISINE... Cooking must be a product of the local area. At least that's what Tonino Guerra said. In our little world, which is Rimini after all, but also in the surrounding area, it's normal for the cuisine to be local, using local products. We have been ‘fed for decades, from childhood to old age, with a few dishes, motherly, always recognisable, season after season’*1. The cook's knowledge is linked to his or her land. LET'S TALK ABOUT YOUR RECIPES. THE CUTTLEFISH CAPPUCCINO? It was born from the need to use up the leftover part of the plate of Tagliatelle with Squacquero- ne cheese, using the white and more noble part of the cuttlefish: the mantle. The head, skin and all the rest is thrown away. Sometimes you give it to the staff, sometimes you make a cuttlefish sauce with it, and sometimes you don't know what to do with it. These are the dishes that are created in this way, out of necessity or intuition. HOW DO YOU PREPARE IT? I use the scraps to make a dark stock, very toasted, intense, savoury and with a hint of the sea. The noblest part is used to make the frothy part of cappuccino. With the ink bags, dried in the oven and blended with salt, we make a fake cocoa that we used to put on cappuccino at the bar. It has become a signature dish of the place and I must confess that I am forced to buy cuttlefish to make cappuccinos. YOUR FAMOUS SPAGHETTI WITH OYSTERS? In France, oysters are usually served with butter and onion. I thought, why not combine a French product with an Italian one, like pasta? And so this iconic dish was created: hot pasta with raw oysters, pepper, lemon zest and butter. THE SEAFOOD PIZZA? There is no flour. It is a mix of raw seafood in small pieces with tomato, fresh curd and oregano. ning. But they knew how to make food and they shared the domestic habit of having to cook a quick meal with the tourists of the time. FROM A HOME KITCHEN TO A STARRED KITCHEN It has been a long transition, forty years of hi- story and life spanning three generations. In 1946 there were Guido and Augusta, to whom we dedicated a restaurant opened a few ye- ars ago in the city centre. My mother Tiziana, born in 1936, continued the family business. My brother Gianluca and I came into our own in the late 1980s. The change came in 2001 when my parents left the restaurant, and I decided with Gianluca to rebuild the place, setting the focus on higher quality cuisine and more pre- cise service in the dining room. The (Michelin) star arrived in 2007. CURIOUSLY, YOU DRAW YOUR RECIPES... I jot down on paper a sketch that gives an idea. (Actually, Gianpaolo has a deft touch and in this he is reminiscent of Fellini, a caricaturist - cartoonist and disenchanted illustrator... The sketches hang in the restaurant. After all, as Fel- lini liked to say that he filmed his own dreams, Raschi translates his own cooking into images). WHAT ARE THE THREE KEY WORDS THAT CHARACTERISE YOUR COOKING? I am sitting here in the lounge. The beach no longer has umbrellas. In front of me I have three bands of colour: that of the sand, ivory-camel; that of the sea, which is now grey-blue; that of the sky, which is lighter. Sand, sea and sky have always been my reference point. VIII