Buono Come il Pane, Quattro Passi, Nerano (Na)

Buono come il pane...As good as  bread.  An Italian proverb that describes someone who has a good heart and an excellent character. The longer that I am in Southern Italy (25 years last June), the more I can appreciate a good piece of pane.  Long gone are the days of Wonder Bread and Homepride Butter Top Wheat Bread.  The more that I go out, the more that I appreciate the love that goes into this simple staple.   This bread basket that accompanies me at the table.  

Like these specialties that I had a chance to try last month at Quattro Passi, the 2 starred Michelin Restaurant in Nerano. Home to Chef Antonio Mellino and his son Fabrizio.  In fact, it was the 26 year young Fabrizio who described the restaurant's baked goods to me with a spark in his eye...pride in his heart.

Let's begin with the crackers...Buckwheat. Homemade. Try to eat just one.  Try...

Then...

Two loaves of bread,  Crispy crust, warm, full of flavor.  Let's begin from the bottom, shall we?  Bread (prefermented with type 1 stone ground flour and sourdough).   

Then, one of my favs, Mellino's wheat bread prepared with stone ground wheat and covered with grain.  

Poi a simple cube of pane cafone- bread baked in a wood fired oven.  It was hard not to be taken back in time as Mellino shared memories of dipping freshly baked bread in tomato sauce prepared by his grandmother. Memories that he decided to share with me and the rest of his guests who shared the dining room with me that Saturday afternoon. The bread arrived in a piccolo dipping bowl with tomato water and a sprig of fresh basil - straight from Quattro Passi's herb garden.

A stone (ground) throw away from the bread that I grew up with...

Buono questo pane!

Buono...

Like the character that patiently watched it leaven, baked it, and took those quattro passi, that little walk, and shared it with me....

Grazie...

Chef Fabrizio Mellino and I

Fantastic First, Quattro Passi, Nerano (Na)

Pasta is a girl's best friend.  Especially this girl. I've mentioned more than once about  my love for pasta lunga, Like this dish prepared for me by young Chef Fabrizio Mellino of Quattro Passi.  The restaurant is in Nerano, a small town that hugs the Sorrento Peninsula's coast line.  Mellino, howeer, decided to add flavours from his experiences in Japan to this dish.  

The past sauce is made from three types of miso from three different regions in Japan together with a shrimp and scampi bisque.  The homemade tagliolini egg pasta is cooked delicately then placed in the sauce and topped with borage flowers.

Fantastic.

Fantastic Firsts, Chef Antonio Mellino, Quattro Passi, Nerano (Na)

A spectacular Saturday Stellato on the Sorrent coast.  I chose the tasting menu for lunch that afternoon at Quattro Passi in Nerano (Na).  A tasting menu that included three first course dishes prepared by Chef Antonio Mellino which paired perfectly with a fresh spring breeze and a glass of Fiano di Avellino.

Here's a look!

First up, plin pasta filled with cacio e pepe - (pecorino cheese and pepper).  The chef served in a light clam broth with fennel.

Then - my first alla Nerano of the season.  

Pasta alla Nerano is a dish prepared with fried zucchini and Provolone del Monaco cheese.  No visit to the area is complete without it.  

The dish is usually prepared using spaghetti, but Mellino decided on linguine.

Next, an unexpected treat served on an enormous white serving platter. 

 A risotto, a lasagna, a risotto lasagna.  Chef Mellino took all the ingredients of a Neapolitan lasagna - meatballs, cheese, tomato sauce, hard boiled eggs, and ricotta cheese - and shrunk them down.  

Their miniature size  was packed with massive flavor.

Fantastic!

Amazing Appetizers, Chef Antonio Mellino, Quattro Passi, Nerano (Na)

A sip or two of a cool glass of water infused with fresh fruit, a glass of champagne, and a casual conversation with Chef Antonio Mellino on the terrace of his 2 Michelin Starred restaurant Quattro Passi was just what I needed to help me relax that Saturday afternoon.  It was a longer than usual drive to get to Nerano, located on the Sorrento Peninsula, being a holiday weekend, but that was soon forgotten as the first round of dishes arrived to my table, one after flavorful one.
Beginning with the benvenuto - welcome.

 Apple tagliatelle, asparagus, crunchy toasted bread, almonds, and pistacchio oil.

Then a series of spring 2017 appetizers beginning with...

Thinly sliced cuttlefish with baby fava beans, and chive blossoms.

Then...

Octopus, ginger gel,  soy foam and borage flowers.

And last, but certainly not least...

Crispy wafers filled with red mullet...

Chef Mellino served it with a creamy mandarin sauce just perfect for dipping!

Amazing!!