Our pasta between design and food festivals

It’s the 15^th of May and has been already a really busy month for Pastificio dei Campi.

Milan can’t stay without the southern vibe of this pasta and any excuse is good to bring back the brand in the city and to place it under the spotlight.

At the beginning of the month in fact Pastificio dei Campi has been the protagonist of an interesting show: I “Campotti” one of the latest interesting shape created by the brand, has been chosen by ADI (association for the industrial design) to be part of an exhibition about 30 design objects connected with food: Dal cucchiaio al cucchiaio. The shape designed by Mauro Olivieri is in fact pretty innovative, beautiful and functional to highlight all the quality of this pasta.

And it’s not all: from the 17^th of May Pastificio dei Campi will be also present at Taste of Milan the first of the international taste food festivals that will take place in the main cities all around the world.

Between demonstrations from famous chefs, cooking classes and lots of good recipes to try, you will find our pasta too and if it’s not enough come to "taste" it in one of the shows of the Saturday night.

Are you planning a little foodie break? Maybe now you know where to go.

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I went to Alloro and I loved it!

On monday night was released the list of the 50 best restaurants in the world and if nothing happened to the first three nominees always for Noma in Denmark, El celler and Mugaritz in Spain, lots happened in the rest of the classification.

The best restaurant in UK is now the new entry Dinner by Heaston Blumenthal, while his previous restaurant, The Fat Duck , high in the list last year, is this time at the 13th position, with The Ledbury at the 14th, up of 20 positions.

Unfortunatelly even Massimo Bottura lost a position being this year at the 5th place with his Osteria Francescana, while the other two italians, Le calandre and Il canto are at the 32nd and 46th position.

At this point waiting for the chance to book a table in one of these great restaurants, I will share with you my last experience to one good italian restaurant in London: Alloro.

I really enjoyed a lot the dinner there with my other two italian friend @federilli and @gi_nav. Respect to previous dinners in other italian restaurants, we spent slightly more but every dish was superb and really tasty.

Here some pictures from Alloro, where you can find our Pastificio dei Campi pasta too.

Agnolotti del plin al sugo d’arrosto

Traditional pasta parcel filled with roast pork & veal

Linguine di Gragnano agli scampi

Pastificio dei Campi linguine with fresh scampi

Tartar di salmone con insalata di panzanella

Salmon tartar with “panzanella” salad

Zuppa di pesce con pane bruschettato

Traditional fish soup with toasted bread

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Ready for the show and the winners of 2012?

Do you think Noma will still remain at the first place in the World's 50 Best Restaurants or a new restaurant will be selected as the best worldwide? In few hours we will know it... and this year will be possible to follow the event directly from the first row, thanks to the facebook technology.

Click here and reserve your place to don't miss anything from this great show and to be the first one to know who will be the winner this year.

But do you know why these nominees are so famous and recognized all over? Because this is one of the few awards where there isn’t a list of names to select from and any restaurant in the word is eligible.

“There are no criteria that a restaurant has to meet. They certainly do not have to sell a certain product. They do not need to have been open a certain number of years and they do not need to have won any other culinary accolades.”

It’s The World’s 50 Best Restaurants Academy, an influential group of over 800 international leaders in the restaurant industry, to choose the best. The Academy comprises 27 separate regions around the world. Each region has its own panel of 31 members, food critics, chefs, restaurateurs and highly regarded ‘gastronomes’ each of whom has seven votes. Of the seven votes, at least three must be used for restaurants outside of their region.

These criteria are designed to allow them to vote far and wide. They could vote for a small, unknown restaurant in a secluded region, or select the best-known restaurants in the world.

At this point let's the countdown start! 

I hope you will enjoy the event and I wish good luck to all the participants while I will keep my fingers crossed for our best Italian one, Massimo Bottura and his “ Osteria Francescana”.

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Massimo’s is one year old: come to enjoy a special dinner

On the 27^th of April a new pasta tasting event will be held at Massimo’s Restaurant and Oyster bar in the Corinthia Hotel.

Have you ever been here before? Are you also a big pasta lover?Then you don’t have excuses: Pastificio dei Campi pasta will be served all the night with lots of recipes to taste from the classic Italian traditions. Massimo’s won’t be there but all his amazing chefs, ingredients and truly Italian recipes will be waiting for you with a glass of prosecco too, all for 25£.

You can read here and here about the previous successful pasta events, but if you have never eaten at this restaurant before, have a look at the amazing dishes you can find on their menu’.

Here is my little way to celebrate the first anniversary of Massimo's...

To start: Crab and ricotta ravioli with arancini or  Seafood salad

Pan fried Prawns with asparagus and bergamot sauce 

For Main: Linguine Pastificio dei Campi with squid and truffle or Amatriciana

To finish: Chocolate pudding with vanilla icecream or Pannacotta with poached rhubarb

Mouthwatering? I’ll see you next Friday at this event. Please leave a comment if you want to participate and i will add you in the list.

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Learning some english recipes and enjoying food... as usual

Last week a friend of mine invite me to a professional cooking class... I couldn’t believe it! I love to learn from professionals and more in England where they cook different things from the ones I used to see cooked in my italian family.
The plan was to prepare a 3 course meal in less than 1 hour almost and ... To eat it all together! Just great!

So I went to Atelier Des Chef, an amazing place near Oxford Circus, very little from outside, but very well organized internally: there are 2 big kitchens, one on the street level and another downstairs and lots of cooking tools available to use in the class but especially to buy. A very cosy place with nice and welcoming people!
So we started our class around 11,30 with a Prosecco glass, gently offered, and the 3 course meal was composed by the following recipes:

Pea soup with crisp pancetta and garlic croutons
Crisp fillet of sea bass with braised fennel and brown shrimp vélouté
Chocolate and praline cream with espresso coffee emulsion and hazelnut financiers

We started with the preparation of the basic ingredients: cutting finely the onion, garlic, mint & chives, peeling the bread, and putting the potatoes to roast in the oven. And all these easy tasks were all quite difficult to do if you wanted to follow the chef's lesson: first thing He showed us how to properly cut the ingredients and it's so much more difficult of what I could have never thought!

Then we mixed some of the ingredients to prepare a very rich sauce for the veloute’ while some other were starting to deal with the mousse and financiers biscuits. This mousse made with the praline cream and the hazelnut dough for the biscuits were just great!

Finally, the financiers in the oven and the cream in the fridge, we places the fish to cook in the pan with just a little bit of oil, the fennel to boil and we concentrate on the soup, cooking the peas and frying the bread.

It was a really funny day and of course I don’t tell you how much good the food was! I loved my peas soup and the veloute’ was great, But for me the real revelation were the financiers biscuit, very similar to the "Magdalene", that I use to eat when I was little and that I loved sooo much! Now I even cooked them by my self!!! Great place and great experience!

And you? Have you ever been to some professional cookery class?

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More than 7 different  pasta dishes

Yes, this is the number of recipes he cooked for us all in one night! An explosion of taste, , traditions and high quality ingredients all mixed to create the perfect pasta night.
Between recipes, jokes, some learning from his experience and the italian tradition, Massimo Riccioli cooked some of the most famous Italian pasta dishes with Pastificio dei Campi and his personal touch!
Here a little recap of the night just to let you imagine the amazing time we had.
We started with some surprising pasta chips, fried Spaghetti served as a crunchy snack.

Then he opened the night with Vermicelli alla Sorrentina, with tomato, mozzarella and basil... This was just a little entry to tease the guests. “The red calls the black… like Pastificio dei Campi boxes, so here for you black squid ink pasta” This was one of the best dishes of the night Vermicelli with black squid ink and some grated salty ricotta! Everyone was amazed! 

To come back to the base of our cuisine, Massimo prepared a great Carbonara with Calle Pastificio dei Campi. Look at the pictures and tell me if it’s not tempting!

“ Now some inter regional Orecchiette with onion, like in Genova, broccoli and sardines from Sicily, the pasta from Gragnano and the original inspiration from Puglia.”

My favourite? Linguine with scallops, basil and a fantastic smoked ricotta cheese! Just a feast of taste.

When we were all thinking that the night was ending and with it the pasta dishes… Massimo started to cook again, and this time was… amatriciana of course, another pillar of the roman tradition! He chose Eliche Pastificio dei Campi for this dish and he didn’t put any oil or salt. All is left to the ingredients!

And to close the night, like in the most funny and long parties at home in Italy... Spaghetti aglio, olio e pepperoncino (oil garlic and chili). The  classic dish everyone cook in the long summer night, when all the friends are together in some house and the morning is approaching! Irresistible!

Do you want to come along next time to try Pastificio dei Campi as cooked by Massimo Riccioli? You are guaranteed to have a good time! Keep an eye on this space or write me in the comments space!

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Pasta Tasting Dinner at Massimo's Restaurant 

Just few days after the last Pastificio dei Campi event at "Taste" in Florence, next week we will have a new pasta event, but here in London.

On the 20th of March a new Pasta Tasting Night as been organized in Massimo's Restaurant and Oyster bar in the beautiful Corinthia Hotel. Here you will have the chance to eat 6 signature dishes created in front of your eyes by Massimo Riccioli in person with our pasta Pastificio dei Campi.

Are you interested in knowing which shape of pasta to combine with certain ingredients or sauces? Are you curious to discover all the secrets about pasta directly from an italian chef and while is cooking it? Intrigued by the chef's passion for fish, seafood and high quality ingredients? Please come and have a seat with us in the private room of the restaurant.

The dinner will cost 35£ (wine and service not included) and please write me on twitter if you are interested in taking part. We will be delighted to have you there.

Waiting for the 20th in the meantime have fun with these pictures from the Taste event in Florence. You will find all the others here.

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