.. the new "localization".

As maybe you all know, yesterday night in London we had the pleasure to host the ceremony of the 50 best restaurant worldwide and there was lots of excitement around for this event.

Created by William Drew, editor of Restaurant Magazine and sponsored by S.Pellegrino, this award has been celebrated since 2002. Every year El Bulli, the famous Spanish restaurant of the chef Ferran Adrià, have been in the top 3 positions, but last night the event was made even more interesting by the absence of this restaurant, soon close to become a culinary foundation.

Of course there was not doubt about  the number one, the restaurant Noma in Copenhagen, with the chef Renè Redzepi  that became number one last year for the first time.  Other two Spanish restaurants have yesterday conquered the second and third position  leaving to Heston Blumenthal a low fifth place (he was third the past year). What about the fourth position then? Massimo Bottura won it! Probably the most famous chef in Italy for his studies about the tradition and the evolution of the food and with his amazing Osteria Francescana.

Then other 5 italian restaurants were elected between the fifty best and these are Combal.Zero in Rivoli (TO) with the chef Davide Scabin, Alajmo with Le Calandre di Rubano (PD), Carlo Cracco with the Restaurant Cracco in Milano that entered directly at the 33 position, Dal Pescatore, Canneto sull’Oglio (MN) manged by the Santini’s family and finally Il Canto in Siena with the chef Paolo Lopriore. Congratulation to all of them who make italian proud of their cuisine and gastronomic art.

But today my attention was particularly catch by the various interviews to Mr. Redzepi  and especially by an element that is coming up often lately, speaking about the best restaurants and chefs in the word and especially about him and his cuisine: “LOCALIZION”. Basically seem to be the trend of the moment!

Noma infact makes of the localization or localism his strong point: the chef uses with love and creativity the products of his land, but it's not the only one in the list. This is a tendency we saw in fact even here in London where lots of enterpreneurs are creating in the city (or just really near) their private production of the most peculiar things from quails to pigs, from wine to beer. I was just reading about this the past weekend . So maybe in the future we will get use to have just locally sourced food? That could be great...but what about the pasta? I think I will still take that from Gragnano.

In the meantime let's just start to plan our dinners out, following this long list and lets enjoy these great chefs.

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Ever been asked for recipes? Here you write, share and discover more.

It's true that everyone is full of cooking books, but it's also true that we keep on looking at recipes, advices and tips online. It's so much easier to go online and just drop a line the question or doubt you have or just the ingredients you want to use to see which recipe comes up.
 
Another tool just launched online will try to make all this even easier: Recipefy.  "This is an easy to use recipe manager to create and share your cookbook online. Organize recipes by tag, share it with your friends and bookmark your favorite one from people around the world."

It works like a socialnetwork, to keep in touch with the people you know better or that you think are good in cooking or just that you know have good recipe to share.But of course you can even find new people and good recipes.
 
 
You can simply enter with your facebook, twitter or log in account, and create your profile. Here you will write and keep all your recipes and find new ones from everywhere in the world and in any language.

I have already tried this tool and uploaded some recipes. The sistem is very easy and quick and it also allow you to post pictures step by step. So finally I quite like it and it is nice to go around, looking for other recipes and be able to see how they made it.
 
Are you going to join the site as well? will you start to share your recipe? Add me and let me know!

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From wine to design, from lifestyle to some “Squisito” food

 
This is the month with the most important expositions ever in Italy: wine, design and food!
From the 4th to the 11th in Verona there was the Vinitaly, the most famous exhibition about wine in Italy, that this year is arrived at its 45th edition.
 
Here is all about the presentations of new wine labels, meetings and appointments to promote Italian wines in the global market. Each year four thousand of exhibitors from around the world, come to present the top of their production.
Five days of great events including tastings of wines and spirits, wineries overviews of the various Italian regions and a full program of conferences, forums and seminars to shed light on prospects for the future.

Tomorrow instead will start the Salone del Mobile in Milan (50th edition), the biggest furniture Fair about design and not just italian but from all over the world. It's a week of madness in Italy with lots of parties all around the city in an amazing mood. Even the fashion designers and any kind of brand are creating something really specific for the event. Every bit of creativity is called to action.
 
Finally how could the food miss all this posivite spring vibe??? And Squisito! is in fact just behind the corner.This event is held in San Patrignano near Rimini, in a community who host young people with drugs problems and that provide them with the possibility to study for a carrier.

On the 29th of April great chefs, journalists and expert of the sector will meet there , to discuss the chain of food, seasonal produce and sustainable patterns of production and quality food. Above all, how young people can approach and professional training in one of the many jobs offered by the food and wine, as is the case for many of the 1,500 young guys in San Patrignano.

Squisito! is a large container where to find workshops dedicated to the great artisans of taste and buy the best tasting products of our country. Pastificio dei Campi is there every year, with its products, its story and passion for the traditional way to produce pasta.

Why not a quick spring holiday in Italy to enjoy part of the party?

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And don't get confused by the name!

Do you know "SPUNTINO" is an italian word for "quick bite"? So when first I heard this name I was thinking in a new italian snack-restaurant, something quick, easy, traditional and nice.
 

I have to say this is exactly the right description for this place, but instead to have an italian menu, they serve easy but gourmet american dishes: from mini and delicious beef hamburgers to eggs and soldiers, from truffle eggs on toast to house pickles etc.
 

All little portions, also in the main course version, but quite cheap and interesting if you are someone curious and ready to try lots of different dishes and combinations of ingredients.  
I was really curious to see this place, with an absolutely mysterious website and even difficult to find considering it’s in the middle of the Soho mess and with a really little sign: like a place just for few elected people. The atmosphere inside is great, the place is little, has few bar sits, and the light is cosy and relaxing. The owner, Russell Norman, as you probably know already, is the same who developed another “quick bite” restaurant Polpetto, but with an italian menu and if great italian wine are also in Spuntino, what I love the most was the amazing beer served there in little and cute cups/glasses with some chili popcorn. 

Everything is nice not pretentious but great and special. What I liked the most? Maybe their Mac&Cheese. Yes I need to admit it... I almost never tried that before (like lots of italians ,by the way)but what I like wasn't the dish in itself, that for me is just baked pasta with cheese, but precisely the cheese they used: eating them I tried again a taste I forgot long time ago... The Fontina taste, a very simple cheese, earthy and mushroomy, quite common in Italy like it could be the Ceddar here, but perfect to use in the oven or in fondue and difficult to find around! I loved it!

Since that day I can't stop to think in this dish so I finally decided my next challenge: a Pastificio dei Campi Mac&Cheese with other italian cheeses and all the good taste of our pasta!
 
What do you think? Are you curious? See you soon for the recipe and the pictures!

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All the true on the pasta tree in Gragnano

 
I decided to give you this news because after all these months I can't keep the secret anymore! I know I will be fired after this revelation, but I think you need to know.
 
The pasta trees are a reality and Pastificio dei Campi in Gragnano is the first place in the world for concentration of these trees. If I say so, you can be sure about it: we have the biggest number of plants for squared meter and we can now count more than 2000 trees.

So what was previously said by the BBC in the 1957 was right. Do you remember the story of the Spaghetti tree? If not, here is the video.

Nowadays in Gragnano, Pastificio dei Campi has cultivations of pasta trees of any kind, from Penne to Paccheri, form Linguine to Orecchiette.  After the scoop in 1957, the news was carefully covered to restrain some other country from cultivating these trees. This is the reason why at the moment Italy is the first producer and exporter of pasta.
 
These are the revealing pictures that will finish my career! You need to know! Spread the news, before they will delete it from the blog.

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Pasta with asparagus, pancetta and pecorino cheese.

We are definitely in April... ok, maybe outside there is still a bit of rain and wind, but of course we hope in sunny and hot days soon!
 
Have you already been to your local fruit and veg shop or to your market, if you are so lucky to have one near? I did and I couldn't wait to buy some asparagus. They weren't the best ones yet, but at least fresh and in season!
 
I wanted to cook a recipe I have done once using rice. This time instead I wanted to use pasta so I needed to make it just a bit different: asparagus, pancetta and instead of the goat cheese, perfect to make the rice creamy, I added some pecorino cheese, salty and with a strong taste perfect for the pancetta and the delicate asparagus.

Here is this easy recipe to enjoy these spring vegetables:  
Ingredients for 3-4 people:

- 350 g di fusillata casareccia or pennoni (like mine in the picture) Pastificio dei Campi.

- 250 g wild asparagus.

- 100 g pancetta

- 1 onion

- 50 g grated pecorino

- Extra-virgin olive oil

- Salt and pepper  
Wash and chop the asparagus into small pieces, leaving the tips a bit longer. Slice the pancetta into strips and lightly cook them in a pan with a bit of olive oil.

Remove the pancetta and in the same pan, lightly brown the chopped onion, then add the asparagus. Taste for salt and pepper, add a few spoonfuls of water, and let cook for about 10 minutes.

Cook the pasta until al dente, then mix them in the pan with the asparagus and pancetta. Complete the dish with a sprinkling of grated pecorino, black pepper and serve!

For any other spring inspiration check here.

I hope you will enjoy!

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Between jokes and laughs some really interesting information.

Last week I participated to an event organized by the Italian Chamber of Commerce here in London. The main guest was Antonio Carluccio, so I couldn’t miss the appointment: I was really curious to meet him and listen to his contribution to the event.

Of course everyone has seen him in TV lots of times and has read interviews or his book of recipes, and I can tell you that also in a little event like this one, Antonio Carluccio had exactly the same joyful mood as usual: jokes, funny stories from his personal life and his past, but also lots of interesting news for me.

He opened the event of course speaking about the italian cuisine, that made him famous here in London and of course he couldn’t avoid to speak about pasta, the main ingredient in our cuisine: more than 600 shapes of pasta in Italy, each one for a specific sauce and taste. It's here that he quoted the Pasta from Gragnano, special for the grain, the good water of the region and the ancient and traditional way to be made, a mix of things that give to the pasta is peculiar taste and consistency.

Then he spoke about the beauty and peculiarity of each Italian region, still so strong for example in the local gastronomy, even after 150 year of Unity: the first one to speak about regional cuisine was Pellegrino Artusi, and his name is still very important for this in the gastronomic world.

So despite some little separatist spirits, we are all famous abroad for using our local resources plus some creativity and imagination…also and especially with food. And Carluccio liked the idea to spread all this outside the italian borders. Recently he just finishes to recorder a new TV programme about italian recipes but categorized in four or five main themes… soon it will be released and we will know more.

Speaking instead about the development of the food in UK in the latest years he remember how a much the atmosphere was sad, as for the italian cuisine Like for the English one. But while in Italy, for our working situation and traditions, we always had the possibility to pass our knowledge to the next generation, here the industrial revolution and explosion of work, wasn’t helping out the passing and developing of the culinary tradition in the years. Everyone was just eating sandwiches. That’s something that finally explains lots of things.

Here lots of chef don’t even know the real taste of things and put ingredients together because they looks and seems nice, but in the italian cuisine there is no mess and it’s all just about flavour and semplicity: what can be better and easier than some finely chopped leeks and fennel in a pan with some olive oil and prawns to make some pasta or risotto?

The evolution of the italian and regional way to cook is finally coming here too now (polpo and polpetto can be an example?), the future is specialization even in England and we will see lots of this in the future years. Will be Carluccio even a prophet or no specialization will really take place? We will all be here to see.

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