Tag: Marco

Marco Sacco, how to become a two Michelin star again (thanks to the lockdown) – Italian Cuisine

A bistro where weddings were held, a boat for picnics, a different menu for gourmet. The Piccolo Lago in Mergozzo is a good example of how good chefs and patrons are reacting to post-Covid-19 problems

The Little Lake of Mergozzo (VB) is not the only (bi) starred restaurant that presented itself at the reopening in a different guise. From the Alps to Sicily, it is a flourishing of temporary for the summer or of places where the people have moved city cooks. However, the transformation of Marco Sacco's restaurant impressed us particularly, starting from the history of the chef-patron, who grew up between the family restaurant and the important experiences in France. Great traveler (and excellent windsurfer in his youth), but fiercely attached to his territory, and perhaps for this reason underestimated by critics. The paradox wants that the moment Sacco started to go out home – with the management of Floor 35 in the Intesa Sanpaolo skyscraper in Turin and the opening of Castellana Restaurant in Hong Kong – the hit of Covid-19 has arrived. That applies to all his colleagues, but in a culinary frontier post such as Mergozzo (closer to Switzerland than to Milan or Turin) the recovery is more difficult. It takes passion, courage and the desire to reinvent yourself. Going back to the ancient, to see the future.

A small beach on the lake

«Without rhetoric, rest led me to think that this splendid work must always be done and in any case knowing how to have fun, through a tranquility in taking on the commitments and efforts of daily work, says Sacco. And here is the transformation of the garden below the suspended structure of the steak: practically a small beach, open from 10 in the morning where you can relax in the garden, have lunch in the middle of nature, sunbathe, enjoy a gourmet snack and a very fresh ice cream or choose the moment of the aperitif or an after-dinner, since – except on Sundays – it is also open a lounge bar from 19.30 to 22.00. All in front of the waters of the cleanest pre-Alpine lake in Europe, where you can sail only by sailing, paddling or using an electric propulsion hull. Speaking of the lake, an original boat picnic was also created, which allows you to explore Marco Sacco's water and kitchen in three hours. Because together with a box with everything you need for lunch or dinner (including water and wine), there is a map of the lake with the itinerary to follow and what to eat, step by step. More distancing than that!

Five boxes in the bistro

And then there is the kitchen. Il Piccolo Lago gourmet is alive (and fight with us), but only for dinner, from Wednesday to Sunday: two tasting, innovative and historic, at 150 euro plus a 70 euro pairing. A security between present and past, where technology is at the service of the raw material that is often sought directly by the chef. The bistro has fun. "We in the kitchen first: the boys realized it when I forbade the vacuum and the surrounding area for the menu," says the chef. "I focused on Italian spirit and simplicity, thinking about the environment and what customers can look for in such a space, especially at the weekend." Attention to the concept of simplicity: it is apparent precisely because the but no it is of an expert cook, steak, open-minded. This is how dishes like the Caprese, lo Spaghettone with tomato, Vitello tonnato, the Mixed fried lake, the Grissinopoli (a cutlet breaded in breadsticks) are enjoyed. You can choose from five boxes where the individual courses cost 6, 10, 14, 22 and 26 euros. «The watchword is not to upset, deny, rethink your own idea of cooking and your own style, but to open up to new customers or offer other faithful ones other moments to sit at the table: this is the time to do it, with passion and seriousness says Sacco.

Marco Martini's “pizza and mortazza” tortelli – Italian Cuisine

The #ricettadellochef that put MasterChef's competitors to the test: the Tortelli with mortadella, white pizza and pistachios by the Roman star chef, to try these days that #iorestoacasa

The writer can testify that it is a real delight. But it was a cross for some of the competitors of the last edition of MasterChef. The tortello with mortadella, white pizza and pistachios by Marco Martini is the dish of remembrance 2.0, it is the "pizza and mortazza" of mid-morning snack of Roman schoolchildren, who wore the good dress, until it became an elegant dish. And starry.

IS one of Marco Martini's cult dishes, who became a chef after a past as a rugby player, who nevertheless re-emerges in his "locker room" attitude, which makes him consider his collaborators above all a team. Its dishes are apparently simple, they fish from the Roman tradition, ennobling it. The same tortelli, tasted several times, have grown with him, perhaps reaching perfection in recent times: the tortello is crunchy at the right point, the scent of the Roman white pizza invades the broth, the mortadella explodes in the mouth when the pasta bites. Completeness in one bite.

Difficult, for those who have never eaten it, to understand the simple complexity of this dish and faithfully reproduce the result in the dark, without a recipe. This was the thankless task of MasterChef's competitors. But, admits Marco Martini, it was even more ungrateful to taste some versions that were not very successful in front of the camera.

The recipe for Tortelli with mortadella, white pizza and pistachios

Ingredients for 4 people

For pasta
500 g of 00 flour
390 g egg yolk
a pinch of salt
300 g Mortadella di Prato Igp

Put the flour in a planetary mixer (with hook), add a pinch of salt and eggs a little at a time to create a homogeneous dough. Cover with plastic wrap and let stand 10 minutes before spreading.

Meanwhile, prepare the filling, cutting the mortadella into slices that are not too thick. Remove the mortadella from the black pepper berries and excess fat and cut it finely with a knife to create a homogeneous and not coarse filling (you can also use a meat grinder). Put everything in a disposable pastry bag and form the ravioli, after rolling out the thin dough and using round pastry rings.

For the white pizza broth
1 l water
250 g of Roman white pizza
5 g salt
roasting twine
cotton cloth with dense texture 40 × 40 cm

Heat the pizza in the oven for 10 minutes at 180 °, after cutting it into 5 × 5 cm squares, to make it crispy. Then wrap the pizza in a tightly knitted tea towel, tying everything with twine to dip it in the pot with salted water. Cook 25 minutes on medium heat to extract all the flavor from the pizza. Drain everything and filter to obtain the pizza broth, which should be served at the table separately in a jug.

Cook the tortelli in salted boiling water, drain them al dente and sauté them in a hot pan with a drizzle of oil, so as to form the golden crust. Place the ravioli on the bottom of the plate, add the whole salted pistachios (5 per portion) and serve with the separate bricco broth, to be poured directly on the table.

The sandwiches by Marco Pedron, pastry chef of Cracco – Italian Cuisine

The story is a recipe for a sandwich by the pastry chef of the year, which offers its delights at the bistro Cracco in Galleria, in Milan!

Cracco's pizza has been talked about so much, perhaps too much. Less, however, than his sandwiches and the author of all his pastries that you find at Cracco in Galleria: he is Marco Pedron, pastry chef of the year.

Who is Marco Pedron

Marco Pedron is a Milanese doc, born in Milan to two parents who still love each other like the first day, Bonnie and Clyde call them him. Marco's world was first of all music: metal, punk, rock; only later did he realize that it was the pastry shop, when he began to no longer bear the smell of the boiled restaurant in the Less restaurant where he worked. So he decided that on the hands he would no longer want the taste of meat, broths and boiled meats, but the scent of chocolate, vanilla, sour cherry. And Marco is one who has always taken what he wanted from life. From this moment on, in fact, he felt that he could no longer do anything else and began his career as a pastry chef for life, first at the Principe di Savoia with Paola Budel and then with various experiences around. But if today Marco is what we know and has arrived where it has arrived, it is thanks to the years spent by Biasetto in Padua. Well yes, just that Luigi Biasetto who is unquestionably among the best pastry chefs in the world. He will be the one to teach him the importance of rigor and technique. And it will do so starting from the sandwiches, which will become for Marco a great, important and unforgettable life lesson.

More than 300 sandwiches in an hour

When Marco arrived from Luigi Biasetto he was convinced he had the world in his hand. He had a whole universe of certainties that soon would have crumbled for a new Marco, the one we know today. And this hard period of effort, growth, education and learning starts with the sandwiches. Marco, in fact, spends his first year at Biasetto preparing sandwiches of all kinds: "I don't know how many sandwiches I made, I even managed to make more than 300 in an hour, so today I'm a monster to make them". Only in this way, through practice and repetition, Marco has learned the technique, so much technique, what is fundamental then for any recipe. After more than a year he switched to the mignon and then became the assistant of Biasetto, his right hand man first in Padua and then in Brussels. But at the time he did not know that shortly thereafter he would have met Carlo Cracco around by chance, who would have proposed to collaborate together, first on other Expo projects and then on the opening of the Cracco in Galleria bistro, where today he is responsible for the whole pastry shop. In this regard, Marco warns us not to confuse it with gastronomy, since pastry, whether sweet or savory, is always more retail, it is more chemical than cooking. In fact, his sandwiches are of a sartorial perfection, like the last one he designed, perfect for this period: the Plaid sandwich with zola cream, Jerusalem artichoke, Cynar jelly, smoked cooked ham, almonds, mayonnaise and mustard. A tip: for other variations of sandwiches always with such strong tastes, Marco recommends a whole wheat bread, even better if with malted flour and seeds.

Plaid Sandwich Recipe for 5 people

Tramezzino Plaid was born one day in November. One of those days when Marco was, just for a change, at work, but he was thinking about how much he would have gladly been at home, with his Silvia and his little Achilles. Better still if all three together, under a plaid.

For the zola cream
170 g zola
150 g philadelphia
salt to taste
pepper to taste
to taste nutmeg

In a bowl combine zola and philadelphia and mix with a marisa. Be careful not to create a homogeneous cream, but to keep the zola pieces in philadelphia. Add salt, pepper and nutmeg.

For the Cynar jelly
120 g chinar jelly
5 g sugar
2 g agar agar

Bring the Cynar to the boil. Remove from the heat and add the sugar previously mixed with the agar agar. Bring to a boil again. Then spread on a plate and cool.

For the sautéed Jerusalem artichoke
300 g Jerusalem artichokes
1 vanilla bean
1 tonka bean
to taste hazelnut
butter to taste
qb Maldon salt

Cut the blanched topinambur and stir-fry with butter, hazelnut, vanilla bean and tonka bean. Continue to cook until it becomes crunchy. Remove from heat, cool and season with Maldon salt in abundance.

Final composition
Toast three slices of whole wheat bread with malted flour and seeds on the grill. Allow to cool. Then place a layer of zola cream, the Cynar gelatine pieces and the sautéed Jerusalem artichoke. Close with a slice of bread. Continue with a thin layer of mustard first and then mayonnaise, place two slices of ham, toasted almonds and two more slices of ham. Finish with a slice of bread sprinkled with a last light layer of mayonnaise to ensure that the ham remains firmly in place. Block the edges, cut and serve.