Tag: works

Food of the soul, between rice and works of art – Italian Cuisine

Bread or rice? What is the food that represents Nutrition par excellence? For Bottura it is bread, for Carlo Benvenuto, artist, it is rice. Here is the recipe he gave us

In the July issue we talked to Carlo Benvenuto of his Metaphysical Bread, the work he created in 2015 for the Ambrosian refectory. With that image, the artist wanted to express a very universal idea, for a work that was to adorn the wall of a refectory, with all the references – sacred and profane – that the operation contained.

During the processing of the July issue, just on the occasion of the story you find on p. 90, Massimo Bottura asked Benvenuto what was his recipe for "universal nourishment": We wanted to combine the image of his work of art with the recipe for his favorite bread. Welcome, though, he replied with a rice in Cagnone a little revisited. "Of course, I recognize that bread is a more shared symbol, but faced with such a question, I wanted to be faithful to my family history," explained the artist. "For us, bread has always been a service food, while rice is what most brings me back to the values of sharing and nourishment".

Here she is recipe he sent us, in which "the simplicity of English rice is made unique and special by butter which is flavored with sage for one part and the other is left raw as in the risotto creaming, complete the Parmesan and a base of roasted chicken which restores the richness and flavor in concentration, which in traditional risotto is given by the broth ".

Our advice? Prepare the roast chicken second, so you will have a whole menu, to be completed with a salad and a dessert (you can find it on our issue on newsstands). And you can prepare the bottom to flavor the rice.

Double butter rice from Lake Maggiore

Ingredients for 4 people

320 g of risotto rice
80 g of butter
6-8 sage leaves
abundant grated Parmesan
salt – bottom of the roast chicken

Method

Boil the rice in abundant salted water. In a saucepan, melt half the butter by browning the sage. Once browned, turn off the heat. Set aside a couple of ladles of rice cooking water, add some to the butter and mix. Reserve the sage leaves. When the rice is cooked but still very al dente, pour it into the saucepan, where there is the butter with the sage, under which you will have rekindled the fire. Stir and add the cooking water until cooking is complete. Turn off the heat and stir in the remaining cold butter and Parmesan.

For the chicken bottom

Take the pan where you prepared the roast chicken, deglaze it on the flame with a little boiling water, pour the sauce into a sauce boat filtering it with a chinoise or cone strainer.

To serve

Reheat the dishes (pass them under boiling water, then dry them). Place the rice on the plates and add the sage leaves. Sprinkle with the chicken sauce or serve the sauce separately.

Carlo Benvenuto on display at Mart

Anyone wishing to find out more about Carlo Benvenuto can do so by visiting the exhibition “Carlo Benvenuto. The original", Which inaugurated the reopening of the Mart after the lockdown. A restart that exposes around 60 works by the artist, created from the nineties to today, put in dialogue with three masterpieces by De Chirico, Morandi and Guttuso, from the Mart collections. In the exhibited works one finds the metaphysics of everyday life that also characterizes the metaphysical Bread of the Refectory Ambrosiano: in them, objects of everyday life are portrayed with great fidelity but, surprisingly, they are almost abstract, universal.

From June 26 to October 18 2020
info and presales: info@mart.trento.it, www.mart.trento.it

Fennel diet: how it works – Italian Cuisine

For a salvific help in view of the costume test, you can try this diet which involves a large consumption of the vegetable for lunch, dinner and snack

The term diet literally means lifestyle, especially in the food sector. The meaning we give today to this term, however, comes close to a series of recommendations aimed at weight loss. For an adequate and reliable diet one should rely on a dietician or nutritionist, eat healthy and exercise a lot: often, however, we hear about "diets of the moment", more or less questionable methods to lose extra pounds in a very short time in sight summer. Among these, of course, there is fennel diet, one of the most famous and historical lightning diets.

Why fennel?

The theory behind this diet claims that the fennel, which contains only 31 calories per 100 grams, is the perfect food for lose fluids in excess e deflate the belly, thanks to the high fiber content. This diet promises to lose approx two kilos in two weeks, those caused by water retention, that is, by water that the tissues are unable to dispose of due to a diet rich in sugar and salt and low in raw fruit and vegetables.
This food plan which is based on the predominant consumption of only one food, should only be followed for a couple of weeks at most to avoid food shortages.

How the fennel diet works

The fennel diet is based on a calorie restriction and on the abundant consumption of these vegetables. Light dishes are combined with this food, preferring the first at lunch with a small protein content e a second at dinner, but without carbohydrate sources, fruit excluded. Both meals must be accompanied by at least 150-200 grams of fennel and the snacks are obviously based on raw fennel or centrifuged and a low-fat yogurt. The only meal in which the detox vegetable is absent is breakfast, which, as in many diets, must be made with 200 milliliters of partially skimmed milk and 30 grams of cereals. To accompany the fennel diet and improve its effects, it is necessary to do a light daily physical activity and drink two liters of water per day. To speed up the drainage of liquids even more, it is often suggested to drink herbal teas and infusions based on, guess what, fennel.

Warnings on the fennel diet

The fennel is a vegetable that has excellent nutritional properties and is actually a valuable help to purify and deflate the body. The fennel diet, however, is rather monotonous and boredom is certainly not an ally in the goal of losing weight and in general all diets of this type should not be followed for a long time: the variety of foods is always the best ally of the our health!
It is also good, before starting a diet, to consult a specialist doctor also because in particular the fennel diet is not suitable for those sensitive to umbrellas, a genus which also includes parsley, celery and carrot. In some cases it could trigger real allergic reactions.

The first starred restaurant in Milan reopens (and works) – Italian Cuisine

Alchemy is a neighborhood restaurant and does everything as before, or almost. No change of course, cuisine or prices – but for other places it won't be that easy, and that's why

Thursday 21 May, 4.00 pm a post on social networks announces the reopening of L’Alchimia, the first starred restaurant in Milan to raise the cler after two months of stop. Without warning, the calls and the first 10 reservations arrive, 16 for Friday, 20 for Saturday. They are already full booking given the new regulations that require a distance between the tables and between diners of at least one meter. If there had been Berlusconi he would have said «Are we in crisis? Restaurants are full!. But this is not 2011 and this is not a restaurant like any other.

Alchemy: few changes, little nightlife

The atmosphere is that of the first day of school, of an inauguration, there is joy and a little nervousness. But they have studied the specifications, made the simulations, put on the masks and are ready for this "new normality" in terms of hygiene and sanitation in which some gestures and some cleaning products need to be changed; but that in the end scares much less than the grave silence that reigns along the road. Semi-city center, affluent residential area, between Piazza Tricolore and Piazza Cinque Giornate; a 10 minute walk from the Duomo, after 20 a fly does not fly so much that there seems to be a curfew or, to put it differently, still the lockdown. People are still afraid, they have become used to being at home, you don't know: but nothing but nightlife.
Apart from the disinfectant at the entrance and the staff in masks, a careful eye is needed to find the differences with the usual room. The restaurant is elegant, but not in plaster and therefore they just removed a table and made the round ones for 4 only for two people. Half of the place settings are canceled "But I start to worry when I have a queue outside," explains Alberto Tasinato, patron and young master with an enviable curriculum behind him made of awards and experiences in 5-star hotels and 2-star restaurants. Tasinato is a star of the room, a service maniac and an incurable optimist. This is his first solo experience as an entrepreneur and, together with his team of loyalists, he has obviously thought of everything. As he had done before, two years ago to build the venue: two hours later, the queue is already written on the book of reservations and they are already planning to do the double shift on the first Saturday of opening. But Berlusconi wouldn't be right anyway and that's why.

Delivery on foot: a neighborhood place

No secret, Alchimia will also be a starred restaurant (just earned in 2019), but it is a neighborhood restaurant. He took the place of the Gaboardi Pogliani grocery store and reinterpreted its spirit: excellent food and excellent wine not only for special occasions, but to be able to experience the place, which offers bars and restaurants together, in everyday life. “The clientele – says Tasinato – we built it the old way. Wandering around the neighborhood and leaving a welcome babà with a note to the residents. The babà was good, they arrived. " Of course guerrilla marketing, thanked them concierges. "We started with the home delivery, Casalchimia, and we found ourselves making deliveries on foot."
The kitchen is signed by chef Giuseppe Postorino and has a clear mission: to be good, understandable, affordable for all palates. Looking at the menu, you are not embarrassed not to know what to choose, because nothing convinces or is unfamiliar, no oddities made just to amaze, circus presentations, invaluable flavors, but cutlet, an excellent braised veal cheek with mashed ratte potatoes, a wonderful Risotto Milano-Langhe (yellow, whipped to perfection, with tartare and hazelnuts), served in combination with a saffron and hazelnut vermouth. It is eaten à la carte and with € 50, there is a new one menu +39 designed for the restart at 39 € consisting of 4 courses. You can spend € 25 for a bottle of wine, or hundreds, depending on your tastes and possibilities.

New horizons, narrow

Alchemy had no ambition to become a 3 Michelin star destination restaurant, of those who "are worth the trip" and who become destinations of food and wine tourism. It does not live on tourists, it does not live on whipped gourmets who eat raw pigeon with bitter sauces or molecular scallops sponges. It was a restaurant that looked to Milan, to Italy, which was making a name for itself thanks to the star, but above all to be a "good restaurant where you feel good", in short: it is the creative experiment of a chef; it is no coincidence that the patron is someone who has started out as a waiter and is always in contact with people.

For the big restaurants of the global fine dining scene, the market was instead a tiny niche of fans around the world, who are now unable to travel. The horizons of a globalization of customers, rather than the kitchen, have now narrowed to those of fifty years ago, and at least for months they will remain these. Those who for years had only looked elsewhere, far away, and ignored the poor and uninspiring neighbors, today find themselves having to regain them. And even the few people covered by social distancing will be more than available. The Noma in Copenhagen, a symbol of this type of venue, understood it and reopened making hamburgers for this reason: to survive it can no longer be an “experience” for the few, but must return to do catering for the many of the surroundings , at least for now. There is a queue. It is not the end of fine dining, it is not a change of identity, but mere tactics. And to win the war (or the crisis), they need that.

Browse the gallery