The Welcome Wagon - Chef Giuseppe Molaro, Contaminazioni Restaurant, Somma Vesuviana (Na)

 

Last week I wrote about my fantastic first at Contaminazioni Restaurant.  Today I’d like to rewind to the beginning of my meal.  I’d like to step back to those first few bites served to me by Chef Giuseppe Molaro.  The first few bites of the Nami tasting menu which boasts 11 dishes. A menu which was served almost immediately after I was led to the table by Yuky Mitsiushi Molaro, the chef's wife and the perfect hostess.

Here’s how Molaro rolled out the welcome wagon….

Hibuscus cocktail -which is a cocktail made with a hibiscus flower vinegar that the chef makes made with alcohol, h2o, hibiscus flowers and brown sugar.  He told me that he lets it oxygenate with the aquarium oxygenator for 1 week then lets it rest for 1 month. 

To vinegar he adds  chilli oil, green tea  kombucha and bitters.

 

This welcome caught my eye – not only for its look and flavor, but also for the story behind it as well. I asked Molaro about it and here is what he shared:

The memory of my arrival in Tokyo, my first evening I got lost and entered a restaurant with the menu only in Japanese and by chance I chose 3 dishes among 1 of these there was this grilled eggplant with a light dashi and very simple but spectacular katsuobushi.

We prepared this eggplant cooked first under vacuum, then grilled, over an eggplant cream, some katsuobushi, fried eggplant skin, dashi and yukari (yukari and the schiso leaf that is used during the fermentation of plums (umeboshi) which  is dried and reduced to powder. 

I was then told to drink the flavorful clear broth underneath.  Indescribable.

The following welcomes on the wagon came in bite sized versions.

Scales and sesame

Puffed fish scales accompanied by sesame sauce (made with soy sauce, toasted white sesame, sesame pesto, mirin and honey)

Caramelized red onion sandwich and pork neck marinated in tare sauce

This perfect panino is a tribute to Molaro’s father who is a known and respected for his sandwiches. Pork neck is cooked at a low temperature then marinated in soy sauce. sake, mirin, katsuobushi, kombu.

 Pasta filo, chicken and bbq sauce

Pasta filo is a very thin layered Greek puff pastry.  Molaro stuffed it with chicken leg meat, then fried it and served it with a homemade bbq sauce.

The chef shared the following:  Our bbq sauce is made with ketchup, tomato, brown sugar, honey, raspberry vinegar, mustard, Worcestershire sauce and curry.

In the chicken filling there are chicken legs which have been cooked at low temperature with oil, thyme, rosemary, bay leaf, cream and carrots.

No welcome wagon would be complete without a bread basket. One that included a warm loaf of sourdough bread made with type 1 flour, flax and poppy seeds.

Side note...I noticed that alongside the extra virgin olive oil, there was a section for sea salt.  I asked why, and apparently it is a custom in the area.  For a mid morning snack, bread was served with a drizzle of oil and salt.  Fantasticaaa

                             

Breadsticks and crispy carta di musica aka Sardinian flat bread was presented in this nifty tower designed by the chef which closely resembles the building that the restaurant makes its home.

With a welcome like this, well…I can't wait to share what he had next in store for me.