andiamotrips - campania, italy with karen phillips

I have many   memories of a cooking class I attended a couple of weeks ago with Michelin star Chef Roy Caceres .  One tasty one includes this amazing appetizer with simple but flavorful ingredients, detailed step by step instructions, and time.  It's called Foglia di "Grano"  ( leaf of wheat) with red tuna and herbs. Here's the recipe: Ingredients for 5 people :  10 leaves of chard (previously blanched in boiling water), 400 grams of Mediterranean red tuna, 5 grams of coriander, 1 spring onion, 10 grams of lemon peel which have been marinated fin  its juice for at least 1 month (peel the lemon peel without the white portion of the  peel and cut into strips,   vacuum  seal with filtered lemon juice and sugar  -50% of the  weight of the juice), salt, soy sauce, 1 lime For the herb mixture:  Make a salad with herbs and aromatic seasonal salads varying the flavor and mixing them according to their intensity For the Foglia...

 I was an hour ish late for Michelin star Chef Roy Caceres 's (Rome's Metamorfosi Ristorante ) two day cooking class at Dolce e Salato Scuola di Cucina e Pasticceria in Caserta. I tried to enter without being noticed, but as I opened the door the room was silent, except for the whirr of the mixer that the chef was using to mix  pasta dough. Buongiorno...scusa Chef ...was all I could whisper as I headed to the back of the class.  Caceres nodded, watched me sit down and then picked up with his lesson. I sat down in the back, but it wasn't long as I made my way to the front row so as not to miss a beat of the chef's lesson.  I was assai curious as to what made this Colombian born chef tick. The  small recipe book in front of was like a scorecard.  Caceres skipped from one page to the next and then back again, checking off  recipe items as he went along. The chef was preparing six dishes at once. Many required a Thermomix, like hi...

One of the first dishes that I ever had at Ristorante L'Accanto was a mean risotto with baby eggplant, a mozzarella di bufala mousse, and red shrimp.  That was over a year ago, but I still remember the presentation, the flavors, and the rice - cooked to a perfect al dente by Chef Vincenzo Guarino . Chef Vincenzo Guarino That's probably why there was a silent excitement when this particular dish was placed down in front of me.  Another risotto creation by the Michelin star chef.  One that I was sure would not disappoint.  Risotto with quail. Simple colors...the white of the rice.  Creamy white with a tint of brown.  Brown from a beef reduction drizzled carefully around the plate.  In the middle, quail topped with grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese which let out an incredible aroma.  An aroma that blended with with the grated apples that not only decorated the dish, but served to give, what I believe a tarty flavor to the dish....

It's this time of year that one is ready for the fall season.  But sometimes in Campania, the thermometer does not jive with the calendar.  Here we are experiencing an Indian summer which has extended the tourist season in many beach towns .  Especially last weekend in Seiano di Vico Equense (Na), a small town on the doorstep of the Sorrento Peninsula.   There, at L'Accanto Ristorante located in the spectacular albergo G rand Hotel Angiolieri, I sat down at a small table on the terrace overlooking the sea and almost forgot that it was October...at least for a few hours. One of the first dishes I was served by Michelin Chef Vincenzo Guarino was a super size seafood appetizer.   No one leaves my restaurant hungry , Guarino told me later. So what was on this dish that was not only a joy to look at, fun to photograph, but packed with flavor? Bite sized pieces of slightly sauteed red mullet, fresh fennel, shrimp, mandarin oranges... Beet wa...

Our conversation began in the  Beluga Sky Bar and Restaurant  located on the 9th floor of  Hotel Romeo .   A chat over a caffe' in which I learned quite a bit about  Chef Salvatore Bianco 's culinary background, his love of  Campania, and his respect for quality products and attention to detail.  The conversation moved from Beluga to the kitchen  and then the dining room of  Il Comandante , the hotel's gourmet restaurant where Bianco prepared four dishes  for me that would appear on the Michelin star restaurant's menu very  very  soon.  ( I wrote about his pasta with beans and mussels  here ) So as the sun was setting, I ignored the spectacular view outside the window and concentrated on the plate in front of me.  A  primo piatto  - a first course pasta dish. Cannellone , I was told.  Moving in closer I noticed that there was a lot going on in this plate,  and I had the chef b...

The seasonal shift from summer to autumn  is always an interesting period - at least for me.  The temperature drops a few degrees Celsius, harvest season begins, and chefs add new items to their menus. A couple of days ago I stopped by to visit Michelin star Chef Salvatore Bianco at I l Comandante Ristorante located in 5 star luxury  Romeo Hotel for a chat and to see what his plans were for the fall. Chef Bianco gave me a sneak preview of four dishes that ready to hit the dining room. Here's one.  A classic Neapolitan dish with a twist.  Pasta e fagioli con le cozze .  Pasta with beans and mussels.  At first glance, I couldn't help but be taken in by the colors displayed in the ceramic dish placed down in front of me- white, purple, orange, green.  An extremely stark contrast to the sleek black interior design of the hotel's restaurant.  Bianco described his dish.   Fresh mussels which rested in a delicate Cont...