This is a real slow-cooker. Pork belly is uncured, un-sliced and unsmoked bacon actually. By chefs, pork belly is generally considered superior to bacon. It has juicy layers of fat covering the meat part which is quite small in proportion to the fat. During cooking it becomes really tender, not so different from pork loin. I simply melts in your mouth, giving a pleasing contrast to the crispiness of the crust on top.
Spring is a wild season, an awakening season, so full of new, fresh perfumes. One of the top ingredient of the season is the wonderful asparagus. So delicious, so versatile, so rich of minerals and vitamins, and so joyfully green, or sweetly pale. Love it on the pizza with eggs, creamy cheese and parmigiano cheese, maybe with an egg, and some parma ham. This one is a wild one, topped with pea pesto as well, pine nuts and detox artichoke. Feta or fresh goat cheese on top. Whole grain pizza loaded with greens.
Icelandic-Italian fusion. Tastes that remind of late summer and autumn. Birch smoked Icelandic trout, barley bread with freshly milled organic barley from Móðir Jörð, Vallanes, Iceland, pomegranate seeds from the amazing autumn fruit, pomegranate, freshly picked in Puglia, sheep ricotta cheese from Staffolo, Marche, a dash of orange Sicilian orange blossom honey and a couple of free range eggs. These fabulous ingredients come together in this “smörrebröd” open sandwich suggestion. The scrambled eggs match heavenly with the trout and the pomegranate gives a great acidity contrast to its slight fattiness. Autumn really tastes good, and this toast is in theme with its beautiful colors as well.
Authentic is a term deriving from the greek authentikos meaning something or someone being genuine. In this evermore virtual world, being authentic and recognizing it in our lives, has been come a really difficult task. Our senses are more and more occupied in memorizing values, flavors, opinions and feelings that are not real and genuine. I will not go further into definition of the subject, but leave that to you readers to reflect on. I will give you in this article an example of what I consider an example of a highly authentic person, doing a highly authentic thing in – what you may call it – an angle of paradise…….. that maybe makes it easier to be be authentic or as Paolo Marazzi says himself: “I put my soul into my mixology and cuisine and create genuine experiences with authentic products, but I need the sea in front of me to produce that magic”.
Camogli, is a splendid small fishing town situated on the west side of the Portofino penisola, in the Paradise Gulf on the Levante Ligurian riviera. Spring is maybe the most magical season to visit this precious gem, a piece of the Ligurian Coast that has preserved a genuine and antique spirit, a timeless elegance. Simple and well kept beauty that is bursting with color and longing to express its most precious perfumes.
This is a version of the classic pasta dish cacio e pepe where pecorino romano sheep cheese generally plays the cheese role.
Here we have a version from chef Lele Emmanuele, chef of La Loggia restaurant in Acqui Terme, with flakes of the unique Piedmont goat cheese Robiola di Roccaverano. The pasta is fresh tagliatelle without eggs. The classical fresh pasta base, that is so easy to make, but very rewarding.
I tasted this Ligurian crispy cake many years a go on a beach picnic with friends. It always has remained in my heart.
This should be near to the original recipe. Its typical crispiness in fact makes it the perfect picnic dessert and it should rigorously be broken with the hands and not cut. Stroscia indicates means literally to break in Ligurian dialect.
When thinking of Iceland, the first connections one makes (at least that is my general experience when nominating my beautiful island of origin), are usually volcanoes, snow and waterfalls. Then often follows the question: “And what do people eat in Iceland”. I find that a great question to answer, because Iceland is rich of all kinds of ingredients that may come as a big surprise. One of the Iceland’s growing miracles, are the products of Móðir Jörð, originated in Vallanes, an organic farm in East Iceland.
Soma d’Aj is a typical recipe from Piedmont. It’s a quite simple slice of country bread rubbed with garlic and then topped with extra virgin olive oil. In Piedmont dialect aj means garlic (abbreviation for aglio) and soma is related to the load put on the back of a beast. An approximate translation for this gastronomic metaphor could be: “Loaded with garlic”.
This heartwarming risotto comes from the Piedmont tradition and is to be found in Giovanni Goria’s book: “Cucina del Piemonte collinare e vignaiolo”.
It is incredibly tasty, and the tomato sauce and rum gives it a an extra spicy and warm flavor.
