With Marco Ambrosino the panettone becomes a spice, crosses the Mediterranean and marries the mission of zero waste
Of Raffadali we had already spoken to you about the pistachio. But we had not yet told you that, still in this small town among the Sicans, three brothers produce panettone of various flavors, including one obviously also with pistachio. When it came to wanting to enhance one's product, which we could dare to define as “Mediterranean panettone”, they could not turn to better chefs than Bianca Celano is Marco Ambrosino. The two have created various dishes that are anything but simple, bringing together the Di Stefano panettone with the sea of their origins. All in a no waste perspective, zero waste, because even the panettone doesn't throw anything away. Not even the year before.
Mediterranean panettone
While remaining strongly linked to his hometown, it has long been the case that panettone is no longer just a Milanese issue. For years, in fact, great panettone also arrive from the south; just think of the Lucanian of Vincenzo Tiri or ad Alessandro Slama of Ischia. This time, however, we are in that marvelous area that is the Sicani Mountains, the most intimate and pure essence of Sicily, a precious and still little known oenogastronomic field. Here, in 1986, the brothers Vincenzo, Settimio and Benvenuto, together with their father Paolo, gave life to this small family-run pastry shop, where everything is artisanal: from the processing with local raw materials to some limited edition plates and tin packages, by the Sicilian artist Domenico Pellegrino. The result is a panettone that knows of Sicily both inside and out. Accomplice, also the Mediterranean climate, which makes the area particularly suitable for the cultivation of plants such as citrus fruits, apricot, pear and pistachio, which we find then in the various flavors of panettone, as in that one carob, orange and chocolate or in the line fruit in purity. And if we talk about the Mediterranean, we can only call into question Marco Ambrosino, who created ad hoc dishes to make a panettone meet his sea. And with its fermented (as you may already know, few have its expertise in the matter).
Panettone as a spice
Only with Marco Ambrosino the panettone could become an ash to be used as a spice in combination with mullet and fermented barley. To create this dish it triggered a forced oxidation that blackened the panettone without burning it, maintaining the necessary humidity. The process was anything but rapid: it took a good 21 hours, the same as (minimal) for a similar dish being processed, where stale bread will replace panettone. In this way, Marco Ambrosino, who with both leftovers from the panettone and bread, recovers a gap by pulling out at the same time the soul and the deeper flavor, in dishes that are always complex, studied, sought after more than ever. In this new creation there will still be white fish, which will change depending on the season, starting with the mullet between December and January, an extremely poor marine family, which for this reason is very close to his heart. With Bianca Celano, on the other hand, the leftovers from the Christmas cake first became a crunchy of olives with anchovies, tomato jam and oil ice cream, for a true hymn to the flavors of the Mediterranean; and then a powder to the anchovies to sprinkle in a first with liquid broth buttons, squills and fennel. In short, all dishes where the panettone has really met the sea.
Last year's panettone
In this dessert Marco Ambrosino has really passed, managing to recreate a sort of "spirit of the past Christmas". In fact, it seems to be inside the story of Dickens, to retrace all the births experienced through the flavors of the panettone eaten. The purpose was just this: to age the panettone through various processes such as oxidation, mold maturation and, of course, fermentation. Also in this case, a recipe that is far from simple. The secret? In addition to the respect of time, we must consider the panettone as a single body and not as the set of ten or more ingredients. But for those who know his restaurant, 28 Posti, he knows that it is the same procedure as a dessert on his menu, Bread and Cereals. So, we just have to wish you to spend a Christmas as no waste as possible and to remind you of that too of the panettone nothing is thrown away: could serve you for next year.
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