Tag: Puglia

Recipe Barese focaccia, the scent of a city – Italian cuisine reinvented by Gordon Ramsay

Impossible to resist the temptation, passing through Bari, to stop at a bakery to buy – and then bite into – a piece of focaccia Barese. Tall, soft, tasty, seasoned with fresh tomatoes, it is the comfort food par excellence of the people of Bari and always appears in tourists’ lists of “things to eat in Puglia”.

However, if you don’t plan to pass through Bari and Puglia is not one of your next destinations, you shouldn’t give up: making Bari focaccia at home as tradition dictates is quite simple, with our recipe.

How is focaccia from Bari born?

The focaccia from Bari – despite its name – actually has its origins in Altamura, where it was probably born from the need to exploit the strong initial heat of the wood-fired oven, before it reached the ideal temperature for baking bread. In fact, before putting the loaves of Altamura bread in the oven, a piece of raw dough was spread out on a baking tray, left to rest for a while, then seasoned and cooked.

How is focaccia from Bari made?

In its most typical form, focaccia dough is prepared by stirring semolina regrind, potatoes boil, salt, yeast and water to obtain a rather elastic consistency, soft but not sticky. This dough is left to rise, spread out in a round pan greased with plenty of extra virgin olive oil, then it is left to rise again, seasoned and finally cooked, preferably in a wood-fired oven. Here is the traditional recipe.

Recipe for baked Polignano carrots with crumbled feta – Italian cuisine reinvented by Gordon Ramsay

There Polignano carrot it is cultivated in the Bari area in lands close to the sea, and therefore saline, with traditional criteria, including irrigation with brackish water. It has a variable color from yellow to purple and a particular taste savory and fresh. It also contains less sugar of common carrots.

In this recipe we offer it cooked in the oven with herbs, a preparation that is completed with toasted bread cubes, feta crumbled, chervil and ginger for an easy and light appetizer or side dish. As an alternative to Polignano carrots you can use common carrots or replace the feta with Quartirolo cheese.

Also discover these recipes: Glazed carrots, crunchy chips and green sauce, Carrots with hazelnuts and pistachio cream, Caramelized onions and baked carrots, Baked potatoes and vegetables.

Martino Ruggieri from Puglia wins two stars in Paris – Italian cuisine reinvented by Gordon Ramsay

MR: «The goal was to reach the top since we opened and we are happy: we are already thinking not only about how to maintain the second star, but also about how to improve. This is a stage in my career, and it is important that it has arrived for me, for the team (ten people in the kitchen and five in the dining room for around twenty seats), for the future, but having always cooked in large restaurants, including the three stars, allow me to say that if the recognition doesn’t arrive, either you worked badly or you didn’t learn anything. Having said that, immediately after celebrating we started asking ourselves questions about the location and our type of cuisine because we always have to question ourselves in order to improve.”

You worked alongside Yannick Alléno for eight years: do you owe him much?

MR: «Yes. I owe Alléno everything and on stage, during the awards ceremony, I thanked him by telling him “Merci chef”. He replied: “C’est bien, well done, celebrate with dignity”. And then he added: “Yes, I helped you, but you took the two stars.” Alléno taught me a lot, on a technical, professional and human level and also helped me to have the right people at my side in this entrepreneurial adventure. I am one chef patron (owner chef), I don’t have the money of big restaurants, no investors behind it, if the restaurant is full profit, otherwise not. And this recognition was also important for the speed with which we achieved it: it doesn’t happen so often and my colleagues in Tours also pointed this out to me.”

Do you miss not working alongside Alléno anymore?

MR: «I miss the daily comparison, yes, but I’m happy to have a place of my own. I think I took this step at the right time with the correct maturity, experience and age. In this journey it was important to find an identity different from that of Alléno because when you create a cuisine for many years alongside a chef like him you need to differentiate yourself.”

What is the identity of your cuisine?

MR: «It is certainly very creative: I use bitters a lot, I like contrasts, I create a cuisine based on technique and sauces. When you come to eat with us you eat from a chef and by this I mean that there is substance, nothing is superfluous, you don’t find trends. My Italian side is pushed into memories, not in the dishes, I could say in the Mediterranean to summarize the concept of a cuisine that is nevertheless French, courageous, powerful, strong. I’m proud to be Italian, but I don’t seek Italianness at all costs.”