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New Year's Eve in Sicily: the chef's lunch, recipe included – Italian Cuisine

From the sauce of the false lean to the pasta 'ncasciata up to the buccellato, the lunch of the New Year of chef Procopio – recipe of the Aci trunzu cabbage as a gift

“The lunch of New Year's it has the scent of false lean sauce but also of cinnamon, toasted almonds and figs ". They are childhood memories that are perpetuated and relive in the memory but also in the dishes, those of Gaetano Procopio, executive chef of the Relais San Giuliano in Viagrande, at the foot of Etna.

The First of the Year it preserves the sacredness of the ritual of the holidays but also the adrenaline and the effervescence of a new year that is about to arrive. The sumptuous Sicilian tables overflowing with food narrate the gastro-Sicilian epic of millenary traditions. A texture made of contaminations, culinary stratifications bequeathed by the successive dominations on the island. Each dish is linked to a memory, an episode, a historical-legendary narrative.

Even the lunch of Sicilian New Year it does not escape anthropological storytelling and is intertwined with popular history. In the dialogue with the chef Procopio, who shared his with the readers of La Cucina Italiana New Year's lunch and its recipe, we enter the Sicilian kitchens, in constant ferment during the holiday period, in view of the big bouffe of the first of the year.

"It starts with the appetizer – the chef tells us – where they can't be missing anchovy or ricotta crispelle, sweet and sour pumpkin, fried cod, stockfish salad, Sicilian caponata. The evergreens of Sicilian tables such as cured meats, cheeses and scacciate are inevitable ".

G.them appetizers, combined with Sicilian bubbles, they represent a warm up worthy of the best island tradition. The first courses are an unreserved homage to the most authentic expression of the island. Procopio has no doubts: “New Year's lunch pasta is a choice including lasagna, baked anelletti, n’casciata pasta. Personally, I will prepare lasagna, a classic that must not be missing to start the new year ".

A culinary marathon in slow motion, the table at the beginning of the year is an omen of health and joy, which in Sicily becomes even more high-sounding and abundant. We arrive at the latter with the joy and enthusiasm of waiting, well rewarded and satisfied. “The symbol of the New Year's Eve lunch is for me all in false lean, wrapped in pork rind and put in the sauce”- comments the chef Procopio. "In Sicily we call it"burnt"And it is the dish that takes me back to my childhood, when my grandmother started cooking the false lean on the evening of the 31st, only to wake up at dawn and flood the kitchen with the scent of sauce".

THE Side Dishes are strictly made from seasonal and local vegetables, preferably wild such as broccoli, mustard, caliceddi, trunzu cabbage of Aci, the latter, a kohlrabi grown in the gardens of Aci, today a Slow Food presidium.

Like any self-respecting Sicilian chef, Procopio also makes the culinary memory a vivid present, signing a pact to give back to every Sicilian dish the gift of eternity.

"Almonds, chocolate, dried figs, pistachios, Sicilian mandarins, they guide us and prepare us towards the dessert of the beginning of the year. We are close to the grand finale, which for Procopio has a unique name and flavor: that of Sicilian Buccellato, “the true Sicilian dessert symbol of the holidays”, he adds. A donut-shaped cake, prepared with a semi-shortcrust pastry, stuffed with dried figs, almonds, dark chocolate, cinnamon, candied orange and citron peel, pistachios, walnuts, bitter cocoa powder. The work is completed with a garnish of candied cherries and chopped pistachios.

A pairing with a Sicilian sweet wine is a must: the Malvasia delle Lipari or the Passito di Pantelleria.

Memory takes yet another journey before final toast: the one that brings chef Procopio back to the decoration of the New Year's table. "All around is an explosion of perfumes: Sicilian mandarins, almonds, nougats, pistachios, a Christmas star as a centerpiece reminds us of the holiday".

Chef Procopio and the Aci trunzu cabbage

Chef Procopio's debut was in full adolescence, at the age of sixteen. It was then that he began his journey in Catania and its province, first in a pizzeria and later in the kitchens of restaurants and hotels in Taormina. After a preliminary apprenticeship on the island, chef Procopio arrives at The Pergola from Heinz Beck, where he spends five highly formative years. “Chef Heinz Beck taught me respect for raw materials and a great technique in working with ingredients”. The return to Sicily is in the kitchens of House Snout of Taormina and then in those of the exclusive Hotel Villa Sant’Andrea of the Belmond group.

There are still two years as a resident chef in one of the most charming places in Sicily, Monks of the Black Lands, before arriving in 2021, al Relais San Giuliano, a boutique hotel de charme in Viagrande, not far from the Etna volcano. In this historic residence, one of the most beautiful in Sicily, Procopio directs the brigade of the I Palici Restaurant, recently awarded two forks by the Gambero Rosso.

Chef Procopio collects the Aci trunzu cabbage

"I define myself as a contemporary chef – comments the chef – because my cuisine does not distort the ingredient but respects it in its essence while declining it in different expressions". Vegetables from the garden, meat, fish but above all a great technique and discipline that allow Procopio to work the raw materials with great skill without taking them to extremes and taking them away from their matrix.

Like when he conceived and created a vegetarian menu entirely dedicated to trunzu cabbage from Aci, a vegetable particularly loved by the chef because it is versatile, with extraordinary properties and above all a local resource. "Trunzu Cabbage Water Lily”Is the dish that best represents me, comments Procopio, who shared the recipe with the readers. It is carpaccio of trunzo cabbage marinated in vinegar with Sichuan pepper, cabbage powder and trunzo cabbage leaf sauce.

"Today being contemporary means reinterpreting the past but without distorting it, adding the contemporaneity of the technique together with the total respect for the raw material".

Recipe: Aci trunzu cabbage water lily

Ingrediants:
Trunzu cabbage from Aci
White balsamic vinegar 40gr
Carricante white wine 20gr
Salt 2gr
Black pepper 1gr
Extra virgin olive oil 130 gr
Sesame oil 20 gr
Black sesame 1gr

Method:
Remove the leaves, and pass them to an extractor. Peel the stems and cut them into a diamond shape and the central part in a slicer, marinate them in white wine, white balsamic vinegar and vinegar. With the peels of the central part dried at 60 degrees overnight, obtain a purplish powder. Prepare a dressing with 25 g of marinade, sesame oil, extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper.

Text collected by Liliana Rosano

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Gnocchi alla Sorrentina: the chef's recipe – Italian Cuisine

We celebrate the first edition of SorrentoGnocchiDay, scheduled from 7 to 10 October, with the recipe of chef Barrale, really impressive!

There are Days dedicated to all types of food, from pasta to pizza to tiramisu, and why not for the Gnocchi alla Sorrentina? One of the most famous and richest recipes of Campania gastronomy is the protagonist of the first edition of SorrentoGnocchiDay, scheduled from 7 to 10 October. For the occasion, Paolo Barrale, chef of Aria Restaurant of Naples, presents “Torna a Surriento…”, his “concrete and irreverent” version of the historic dish.

The historical recipe seems to date back to the 16th century, that is to say, to the arrival of the main ingredient, the potato, from the Americas, together with tomato, another fundamental raw material of the Gnocchi alla Sorrentina. Until 10 October, Gnocchi alla Sorrentina can be tasted in over sixty restaurants, trattorias and bistros, from Sorrento to the rest of Italy and the world.

To this iconic dish, Paolo Barrale he dedicated his "Come back to Sorrento…" which he presented on Thursday 7 October, on the opening day of SorrentoGnocchiDay,together with 10 other chefs from Campania who proposed their idea of Gnocchi alla Sorrentina. Chef Barrale of Aria Restaurant in Naples starts with classic ingredients, such as tomato, basil and fiordilatte, to arrive at a contemporary version of Gnocchi, in which the softness of ricotta and gnocchi which are made of tomato play, and the calibrated acidity, given by Sorrento lemons candied and with tomato water, for a technical dish, fun and soft as a foam, but no less greedy than the original. Below you will find his recipe to try your hand like a real chef!

Together with Paolo Barrale, Mario Affinita, of Don Geppi of Sant'Agnello, Giuseppe Aversa, of Il Buco di Sorrento, Pasquale De Simone of 'O Break of the Renaissance Naples Hotel lit the stoves on the Belvedere Terrace of the Circolo dei Forestieri in Sorrento. Mediterraneo of Naples, Domenico Iavarone of the Josè Restaurant of the Villa Guerra Estate in Torre del Greco, Andrea Napolitano of the NDRE 'Restaurant in Sorrento, Marco Parlato, of the Terrazza delle Sirene in Sorrento, Lino Scarallo of Palazzo Petrucci in Naples and Giuseppe Stanzione of the restaurant il Wisteria of the Hotel Santa Caterina in Amalfi, all coordinated by Vincenzo Guarino.

All that remains is to say … enjoy your meal!

Gnocchi alla Sorrentina by chef Barrale

for the gnocchi:
1000 gr of San Marzano peeled tomatoes
180 gr potato flakes
1 egg
300 gr flour 00
30 gr extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves of garlic
10 basil leaves
Salt to taste.

for the dressing:
1 kg of Piccadilly tomatoes

for the foam:
1 kg of fiordilatte
250 gr cow's milk ricotta
250 gr egg white
Salt to taste.
5g lemon juice

for the parmesan crumble:
100 gr grated parmesan
100 gr butter
130 gr flour 00
salt 2 gr

for the candied lemon:
5 large lemons from Sorrento
100 gr sugar.

other ingredients:
basil
tomato powder
grated Parmesan cheese
extra virgin olive oil
butter

To make the tomato gnocchi:
prepare an espresso tomato sauce with the ingredients, pass through a tomato press and add the potato flakes, the egg and season with salt, finally the flour.
Make the dumplings and blanch quickly.

For the tomato water (condiment):
Switch the tomatoes to the cutter, put on the heat in the pot and bring to a boil.
Filter and obtain a clean and transparent broth with the residues dried on baking paper at 50 ° C and pass to the cutter when dry and make powder.

For the foam:
Cut the mozzarella, put it in a container suitable for the microwave and let it go for 5/6 minutes at medium intensity.
Squeeze the mozzarella well, take 250 g of the juice obtained and add the dry ricotta. season with salt and if you need a little lemon juice and then pour the egg white as well.
Mix and siphon about 20 minutes at 65 ° C.

For the crumble:
Mix everything and chill, cut into small cubes and bake at 170 ° C until completely cooked.

For the candied fruit:
Peel the lemons, cut the zest into small cubes and blanch several times in water, finally syrup with the juice, half the sugar and add water until completely syruped.

Sauté the gnocchi with the tomato broth, add extra virgin olive oil, butter, julienne basil and candied lemon, a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese and serve in a bowl, topped with the mozzarella foam, crumble, tomato powder.

5 simple secrets for making a chef's broth – Italian Cuisine

Five tricks, from the parmesan crust to the temperature of the water, to change your broth forever (even the Christmas one). From beginner to pro level, you need it too

There is always a reason, sometimes more than one, why some of the recipes are better than others. But "no chef secrets", the reasons are very often written in science books. Or now in the new Why don't spaghetti Bolognese exist?A volume (Ippocampo edizioni) that answers hundreds of questions about the kitchen and its tools very frankly, to become aware and improve without having to study as for a doctorate. Of the many why the author Arthur La Caisne he answers there is a section dedicated to broth that is perfect for this period. A broth can really make a difference during Christmas lunch, in fact, but also in everyday life, from the classic risotto to the mistreated soups. So here are five tricks to go from a sad bland broth to a super broth.

Beginner level: umami

The easiest way to improve a broth that doesn't taste much is to add a parmesan crust or a drizzle of soy sauce to the pot. Both will give your broth the famous umami flavor, the savory, which will "push" the flavor without overpowering the others. The result of a single gesture will be more pleasant and tasty.

Amateur level: do not salt

There is a limit to the amount of flavors that can dissolve in water. When the water is saturated it will no longer be able to absorb other flavors. Salting the water at the beginning will prevent the ingredients you put in your broth from releasing all their flavors, leading to a bland and forgettable result. So don't salt the broth and it will be even tastier.

Advanced level: use rich cuts of meat

Collagen po they fero or po they feather. If it is not cooked enough or at too high a temperature it becomes a shoe sole, instead if you are careful, it melts into a tasty, lean cream, which helps to capture other flavors. Do not use fine cuts, you will only waste money and the broth will be much less tasty than the cheap one. The neck, the head, the royal and the white stalk are therefore welcome. Cut them into small pieces to reduce cooking time and favor the infusion of flavors into the water.

Professional level: do not boil the water

As many know, starting with cold water allows you to better extract the flavors from the meat. However, few know that a good broth must cook while remaining between 80 ° and 85 ° degrees. This allows for a better quality of the infusion, because the collagen remains dissolved, the flavors remain sharp and clean, no bitter foams are created that force us to foam it continuously. So, to have a better control of the temperature, better do a lot of it, on the fire to the minimum, with a cast iron or terracotta pot that distribute the heat evenly. Then check it: better to have a real professional thermometer, but failing that, just observe that it makes a maximum of one or two bubbles every now and then. This is the main tip for transforming your broth from a simple accompaniment to an irresistible golden infusion.

Chef level: design the broth according to the dish

Not all broths are the same. Try different combinations and taste them to become real experts. Do you want a persistent broth? Do not degrease it and do not clarify it. Do you want clearer tastes and a cleaner mouth? Microfilter it, let it cool in the fridge and remove the superficial fat with a spoon. Do you want a roasted flavor? Put the bones in the oven at 180 degrees until they brown and then dip them in cold water. Do you want to have a French touch? Also roast vegetables and meat in the oven. Which broth is best, you will decide on the basis of the balance of the final dish. Try it, indulge yourself and your diners will compete for the last spoonful.

Bonus level: Don't waste the broth

The broth does not keep for long. It can be frozen, but there are better options to take full advantage of it. In the Christmas lunch, for example, you can use it with cappelletti or tortellini, then you can use it in cooking the roast and finally reduce it to make it a sauce or sauce. Broth is a very versatile base that can transform even a simple soup into a dish to remember.

Text by Jacopo Giavara, Margo Schachter