Virgin Moscow Mule, Super Summer Pre- Desserts, Divina Ischia, Sant Angelo, Ischia (Na)

The summer season, in my opinion, is an exciting one for pre-desserts.  Like this one I tried at Divina Ischia in Sant' Angelo, Ischia.  It's called the Virgin Moscow Mule.
Ingredients?

Ginger, brown sugar, lime juice, ginger ale, and frozen summer fruit.

Super!

Na Tazzulella 'e Café, Romeo Hotel (Na), Snapshot of the Day

In Naples, that coffee moment is a must.  Add an amazing view like this one from the 10th floor terrace of the Romeo Hotel in Naples, Italy featuring Mount Vesuvius in the background... well, 'nuff said!.  This tazzulella, cup of coffee concluded my spectacular breakfast one sunny Sunday morning. Details soon.

In the meantime - enjoy a coffe break.

Stepping Out of the Kitchen – Pastificio Gentile, Gragnano (Na)

Only a few weeks have passed since my visit to Pastificio Gentile’s newly renovated location along Windmill Valley in Gragnano.  I wrote about it here.  It was during that visit that I made plans to come back during the day, maybe with a notebook to take a few notes, and maybe with a few friends to share the experience. 

That’s what happened last Saturday.  I returned with a few friends…chefs from restaurants that I’ve visited in the past.  I invited them to step out of the kitchen so to speak, so that they can look at here their products come from/ho they are made.

What do chefs notice when they enter a pasta factory?  The aromas, the heat/calore… They touch, taste, and ask questions, share experiences, ideas.

 In the company of five chefs and a 7 year old opened up my mind (and taste buds:-D). A full on five senses experience!

A Taste of Happiness - Franco Pepe, Pepe in Grani, Caiazzo (Ce)

I decided to get away for the weekend, so I packed an overnight bag and headed to Caiazo (Ce).  An overnight trip to Pepe in Grani to be exact, to enjoy 18 hours in one the top pizzerias in the world.  (Yes, 18 hours - I reserved one of three rooms that the pizzeria has on the top floor).  That 18 hours started with a pizza tasting that included two lightly fried pizzas -
Sensazioni di Costiera : Sensations from the coast featuring a beefy slice of tomato,a salty anchovy and lemon peel shavings.
The Viandante: Mortadella, buffalo ricotta mousse, and pistachio. 
A Taste of Happiness...

Fantastic Firsts, Acquerello Rice, Chef Michele Deleo, Rossellinis Ristorante, Ravello (Sa)

I must admit that when this dish arrived at my table I couldn't help but smile as well as appreciate Chef Michele Deleo's  love and respect for the flavors and products of the Amalfi Coast. The chef's Il Riso Acquerello/Acquerello Rice. The first thing I noticed was the bright yellow color.  That color thanks to the sunny sweet yellow cherry tomatoes from the nearby town of Corbara which the chef used to not only cook the rice in,  but also prepared a soft bed of tomato gelatin for the fresh seafood he delicately placed on top.  Other local specialties include flavorful fior di latte from Agerola and a compote of Amalfi lemons.
A sprinkling of liquirizia di mare on top...
Fantastic.

Snapshot of the Day, Catch of the Day, Osteria 1861, Santa Maria Di Castellabate, (Sa)

My early memories of tuna include that famous chicken of the sea theme song.  Maybe that's why I enjoy  hanging out in the kitchen  when the catch of the day arrives and the chef gets to work.  Like on this particular day at Osteria 1861 located on the waterfront in Santa Maria Di Castellabate.  On that particular day, Chef Antonio Tafuro began to clean and fillet an incredible yellow fin tuna.  The chef brainstormed aloud about what dishes he may prepare.  So what did he decide?  I'm curious as well!.

Snapshot of the Day, Spaghetti al Pomodoro, Chef Vincenzo Guarino, Il Pievano Ristorante, Gaiole in Chianti, (Si)

There are few dishes that represent summer for me.  One of that has hung out  in my top ten over the past years has to be spaghetti al pomodoro. Spaghetti with tomato sauce. Here's a version prepared for me by Campania Chef Vincenzo Guarino of Il Pievano Ristorante.

The ingredients are simple but must be top quality.

• pasta
• tomatoes
• fresh basil
• passione
• amore

Simple
like summer...

Snapshot of the Day, The Oyster Bar is Open, Chef Marianna Vitale, SUD Ristorante, Quarto (Na)

This snapshot belongs to Marianna Vitale.  Michelin starred Chef Marianna Vitale of SUD Ristorante. And during an event last evening in Naples, (more soon) I had the opportunity to try one of her amazing aperitifs.  Oysters in a half shell with an emulsion of friarielli greens...
A grande combination that tastes as good as it looks...
So what are you waiting for?
The oyster bar is open!

More Vitale, more SUD here.

Snapshot of the Day - Napule e'... mille culure, Dani' Maison, Ischia (Na)

I finally got my chance.  My chance to try, no - wait, experience a dessert by Pasticcere Antonino Maresca voted dessert of the year back in 2013.
No, wait, more than a dessert.  A mini journey - an emotional journey which was only available for diners at Il Mosaico, and now exclusively for guests at Chef Nino Di Costanzo's  Dani' Maison.

The dessert is called Napule e'...Naples is.  A dessert named after Neapolitan singer Pino Daniele's classic hit from his 1977 album Terra Mia.

It was brought to my  table beginning with a tablecloth made up with postcards and newspaper clippings. Then piece by piece the  mille culure, thousand colors of Naples were placed down one by one with a brief explaination and a smile.

• Maradona- Napoli’s soccer hero’s t-shirt: a sfogliatella with buffalo ricotta cream.
• Toto: a famous Neapolitan actor from the 50s and 60s featured here with his classic hat is a chocolate covered babà, black cherries and Bavarian vanilla.
• The blood of San Gennaro – Napoli’s patron saint, whose blood becomes liquid twice a year represented by wild strawberries, lime and Peruvian false pepper.
• Neapolitan coffee, of course.  Here it is a crème brûlée with caramelized Sambuca.  On the side?  A Euro coin (chocolate ganache filling) representing a caffe’ sospeso that is a Neapolitan tradition to leave money at the bar, not as a tip, but to pay for a future customer who cannot afford a cup for himself.
• Spaghetti with tomato sauce (lemon cream, raspberry water and crispy coconut)
• A garbage bag –an edible sack made with squid ink gelatin, stuffed with struffoli.
• Last but not least – an iPod complete with ear pods so that before, during, and after this delicious experience, I could listen to Pino Daniele sing while watching an emotional video full of …full of Napule e'.

Full of mille culure...

more here ...from my Facebook© page.

Fantastic Firsts, Linguine and Scampi, Chef Domenico Iavarone, Maxi Ristorante, Vico Equense, (Na)

Pasta is a girl's best friend - and here is another bright and shining example of why.
Michelin starred Chef Domenico Iavarone of Maxi Ristorante in Vico Equense (Na) served this dish to me recently.

Linguine and scampi...but that's not all.
Escarole presented as a cool zuppa. Cool to create an amazing contrast in color as well as temperature.
Flavorful fried capers.
Black olives.
Add a summer breeze and a perfect sunset...

Fantastic.

An Octopus Goes to Sea, Chef Alfonso Caputo, Taverna Del Capitano, Marina Del Cantone (Na)

I arrived a little early for lunch, like I usually do, to try to get a sneak peek at what Chef Alfonso Caputo might send my way.  But Caputo, Taverna del Capitano, is always full of surprises.  Like this dish - An Octopus Goes to Sea.
A boiled octopus gingerly wrapped in the chef's own homemade dried pasta, then tenderly fried.
A zuppa starring a blend of squid ink and octopus juices given off during the cooking process.
And...
And if you look closely enough, I'm sure you can see tiny tiny pieces of octopus splashing around in the sea.
No?
Look closer...
Or better yet, pay the chef a visit.

Snapshot of the Day, In the Kitchen, Maxi Ristorante, Vico Equense (Na)

Sous Chef Gioacchino Attianese and Chef Domenico Iavarone

It was the end of a long day for the kitchen staff of  Michelin star Maxi Ristorante led by Chef Domenico Iavarone.  It  was a little after midnight, the last guest had been served their coffee and dessert- but the night wasn't over in the kitchen.  Sous chef Gioacchino Attianese pulled out a folder and began the end of service briefing with the chef.  Subjects such as shopping for the upcoming week, the next day's breakfast, an upcoming wedding reception.  Business as usual for the brigade in the 5 star Capo La Gala Hotel.  
Quiet but crucial moments that you don't see on tv.

Snapshot of the Day, Pasta 1-2-3, Chef Domenico Stile, Enoteca La Torre, Rome (Rm)

Give a young chef from Gragnano a half kilo of pasta and three ingredients then stand back and watch him go at it.  Chef Domenico Stile of Enoteca La Torre presented this eyepopping plate at Cooking For Art - Chef Emergente last evening.  The rules were simple...but challenging.  Create a pasta dish using only three ingredients.  The chef chose rigatoni and paired it with parsley, salt cod, and black garlic...

One of the reasons the chef was recognized as giving value to agricultural products.

Congratulations, Chef Stile!

Snapshot of the Day, Chef Nino Di Costanzo, Dani' Maison, Ischia (Na)

It was just what I needed.    After a series of long, and at times, stressful days as a teacher as the school year draws to an end, I needed that visit to the island of Ischia.  I paid a visit to the isola verde  to have lunch at Chef Nino Di Costanzo's brand new restaurant, Dani' Maison.  
And it was there that Di Costanzo, one of the hardest working chefs I know, taught me how to do one very important thing...

Relax.
Grazie, chef. In bocca al lupo!

Snapshot of the Day - Festa a Vico 2016 - Il Gioco delle Mani Amiche

Festa a Vico 2016, 29-  31 May 2016.  It was a wild ride jammed into three days and nights of star studded events packed full of chefs from all over Italy and the world who made this little corner of Campania - Vico Equense - their home.
The scope of the festa is to raise money for the following associations:
 -          Associazione Sostenitori Ospedale Santobono Onlus ( Santobono Children's hospital)

-          ALTS Associazione per la lotta ai tumori del seno  ( Association for the fight against breast tumors)

-          Onlus Noi con Voi per le MICI Fight against MCI)

-          LILT lega italiana lotta contro i tumori  - sez. Pascale di Napoli ( Italian league for the fight against tumors)

Maybe that's why, after all the dishes tasted/snapshots taken, I decided to begin my series on this event with the following photograph.

One which includes the mani amiche/helping hands of several chefs right before night three began.
A snapshot, which for me shows the spirit behind the festa.

Snapshot ot the Day - Chef Roberto Allocca's Laticauda Lamb, Relais Blu, Massa Lubrense (Na)

A must on any eno-gastronomic tour of the Sorrento Peninsula is a visit to Relais Blu located in Massa Lubrense to try the dynamic dishes prepared by Michelin star chef Roberto Allocca.  I did just that earlier this week in a day that I affectionately nicknamed blu Tuesday, due to the amazing blu/blue panorama from the restaurant's terrace of the sea and the Island of Capri.  With all that blu around, one may expect a menu rich with seafood specialties.  It is.  But Chef Allocca has also included several meat items to satisfy  those who prefer to prefer a little turf instead of surf.  Allocca, originally from Irpinia where lamb is key presented his version of a luscious Laticauda lamb dish.  He included a rib whose meat practically fell off the bone, lamb sausage,  and pancetta.  All draped in a ricotta cheese and hazelnut sauce.  On the side, escarole stuffed with roasted pear.

What a marevlous main course!

Snapshot of the Day - Un Bicchiere di Baccala' - Chef Michele Grande, Roof and Sky (Na)

It's been my experience that when Chef Michele Grande sets a small glass down in front of me, it is definitely a piccolo package filled with powerful flavors.  It was that way last September with his Vodka and Mussel shot and it was definitely that way last Saturday afternoon at Roof and Sky.  This time the featured fish was baccala', codfish.  Grande marinated his and added onions, red chili peppers, and puple basil.  Paired with a cool breeze and a spectacular view of Lake Miseno.
Summer is off to a great start!

Snapshot of the Day -Lemonpersempre Lemon Tart, Antica Osteria Nonna Rosa, Vico Equense (Na)

It was time for dessert, and I wanted to skip it.  I had had a full lunch prepared by Chef Peppe Guida of Antica Osteria Nonna Rosa and I really didn't think I could squeeze another bite in.
But Guida would not let me miss out on what would become one of the most delicious lemonpersempre desserts that I've ever tasted.  This small lemon tart made with fresh lemons from Vico Equense wrapped in a crisp crunchy crust.  The addition of small sprigs of lemon thyme placed carefully one by one turned this tart into a fresh lemon garden.
And to think that I wanted to skip dessert.

Snapshot of the Day- Il Mio Aglio, Olio, e Peperoncino, Chef Francesco Russo, Il Golfo Ristorante, (Sa)

There are some pasta dishes that are simply classics. One is spaghetti aglio, olio e peponcino, spaghetti with garlic extra virgin olive oil, and red chili pepper.  There are some twists on this plate of spaghetti madness and I recently had the chance to try Chef Francesco Russo's version .  Russo, executive chef of Il Golfo Restaurant located in  Hotel Raito, a 5 star luxury hotel located at the doorstep of the Amalfi Coast.  This dish  has been a staple on his menu for a few seasons. Pretty obvious as to why.  Russo, a chef who embraces the products of the territory,  decided to add a star to this dish. And that star is an anchovy- in two versions- the precious anchovy fish sauce and fresh anchovies as well.  A light sprinkling of taralli crumbs complete the dish.
His Aglio, Olio, e Peperoncino.
Spaghetti madness.

Chef Russo's recipe for this dish and others can be found here on his blog,.

Snapshot of the Day - Spring Part 2

This tribute to spring deserves a look from all angles.  Chef Nino Di Costanzo (2 Michelin Stars) prepared this appetizer last Monday at a fund raising event at Pepe in Grani in Caiazzo (Ce). A plateful of ambiance, of atmosphere, of character.  From a distance, bold simple colors.  Up close, delicate but at the same time it was all about flavor.
Red shrimp
Ricotta with lemon
Spring peas/sprouts
Bread with squid ink

Spring