QUALITALY

FEB. MAR. 2017

XIII

In reality I’m neither an artist nor a

magician or an illusionist. I am just a

person who loves being in love with

what I’m doing, a great enthusiast

who acts and cooks very often guided

by instinct.

You said that, with your staff, you

do yoga and laze for a quarter of

an hour a day “because creativity

comes from idleness”...

In my opinion it is important to carve

out some space to cultivate one’s own

creativity. It is fundamental to have

moments where you stay away from

the kitchen to see also the rest of the

world. If you close yourself within

this small protected space you can’t

have a comparison and you risk it

becoming your prison. I love staying

outdoors, staying in contact with

nature, but in certain cases my escape

can also just be mental. Because life

is a mental situation.

What is the biggest obstacle when

you open a restaurant?

For me it was the fear of cooking.

The kitchen is a part of me, through

which I offer myself to people. Thus

opening my restaurant was a huge

challenge for me, strongly doubting

myself. It may seem paradoxical, but

it is when you have fear that you are

able to push to the maximum.

You are a part of the school that

believes it is essential to make

mistakes in order to understand

the true direction. What do you

feel to say about this to those who

approach this profession today?

Yes, for me mistakes are important,

but I also know that nowadays it is

not allowed to lose too much time. To

have clear objectives is crucial. When

you are very young you can also

afford to wander without purpose,

but at a certain point you need to

find the right direction. Mistakes will

come anyway, but at least you have a

path to follow.

How do you see yourself in a few

years?

Always better I hope; I’ve just started!

You were also a judge in a talent

programme. Apart from the

controversy linked to excessive

exposure in TV of some chefs today,

can an experience of this kind really

be useful?

Personally, the experience has been

helpful. I think that you grow with

comparison and I received so much

from the encounter with the other

judges, with the competitors and with

the entire production.

Would you give us one of your

recipes?

With pleasure. Considering that we

talked about mistake, I will give you a

recipe born by mistake from trying to

make a porcini mushrooms yoghurt.

In fact, the mushrooms curdled the

milk, producing a lovely acid cheese.

Since that day I use it to make ravioli

which I serve with a pumpkin cream

and lemon geranium.

______________________________

RECIPE

Ravioli cheese with pumpkin and

lemon geranium

For the pasta

90 g semolina 10 g of flour 50 g egg

yolk 10 g egg white Form a dough.

Roll out the pastry thinly and form

disks with a weight of approximately

3 g

For the filling

1 l milk

1 sachet of yeast

20 g dried porcini

Bring the milk to a boil in a

saucepan, take it to 41° immerging it

in a container with ice and water, add

the yeast and porcini mushrooms and

transfer it to a glass jar. Put it in the

Roner at 41° immersed in water for

six hours. Once coagulated filter it to

keep the fat. For each raviolo 13 g of

yoghurt is required.

For the pumpkin

Bake in the oven at 160° for an hour

and a half wrapped in aluminium foil,

peel it and mash it with a fork, then

form a fricassee. For each raviolo 4 g

of pumpkin is necessary.

Close the ravioli immediately with the

cheese filling, cook in salted water

and drain. Rehydrate them in a pan

with raw milk butter and a sprinkling

of cassia. Serve in a terrine decorating

with pumpkin and sprayed butter.

Serve with a sprinkle of cassia and

pieces of lemon geranium.

______________________________

AT PAGE 34

Fresh at -18°C

Quality frozen products in the

catering industry: a possibility for

the sector that is overcoming the

latest mistrust

By Maria Elena Dipace

For some time we’ve been speaking

of a growing demand on the part

of the consumer of “quality at the

right price”. This can be seen in the

shopping every day: the average

Italian, especially in this moment of

economic crisis has found himself

forced to make drastic cuts to daily

expenses.

What they did not want to give up

were the typical flavours of the

Mediterranean cuisine, i.e. all those

authentic foods that have made our

cuisine famous at international level.

However, it is not always possible to

find fresh ingredients. The enormous

interest received by the entry of

frozen foods not only in Italian

homes, but also in the kitchens of the

restaurants, justifies this.

FUNCTIONALITY

AND TRACEABILITY

Frozen food solves different problems:

first of all, it allows the possibility to

always have stocks in the refrigerator,

and moreover, are already ready for

use, there is no waste and there is a

guaranteed consistency of quality.

However, there are still a few

restaurateurs who have put frozen

food between the basic ingredients of

their cuisine; often the chefs consider

them B Series products or maybe not

suitable for the catering industry. It is