I would have to say that today’s Guest Chef Antonella Ricci was the most fun and probably, in my humble opinion the most interesting. We have talked a lot about using simple ingredients to make simple food that is simply amazing and today’s Chef did just that. And of course bringing her mother who works in the kitchen with her and makes the fresh pasta, without even the use of eggs was a big plus. Both Chef Antonella and her mother Chef Dora have travel to the USA to speak about Apulian cuisine. Chef Antonella to New York and Boston where she presented on Apulian Cuisine and Chef Dora to Los Angeles where her topic was Artichokes and other Apulian vegetables and herbs.
Puglia.
Puglia is the heel of boot of Italy.
Historically Puglia, a rugged mountainous region, was not a monetarily rich area but people worked hard so food needed to be inexpensive but nutritious. And while Puglia has great deal of coast line fish did not play a part in the culinary treats we sampled. Neither did ingredients like foie gras, lobster or other shellfish.
Rather the menu focused on Fave secche, aka broad beans, Grano Arso, aka burst wheat, sweet peppers, potatoes used in the making of fava bean puree and fresh pasta made without eggs. Local extra virgin olive oil, a local fresh cheese known as Burrata, and cured meat products made in house from local pigs.
And my favorite was a foccichia made with ample amounts of a fine Apulian extra virgin olive oil, cherry tomatoes and black olives, all seasonally available and brought to Colorno from Puglia by the Chef as the ingredients are not available out side of Puglia, not even in other parts of Italy.
How it started.
How it ended.
And yes it was as good as it looks so I made it my header for this blog.
Chef Antonella and her husband have followed in her parents footsteps and continued the family restaurant which has been in business for 38 years in Ceglie Messapica, Puglia Italy.
The name of their restaurant which features Apulian cuisine, using only local and seasonally available products is “Al fornello da Ricci” which was featured in an article on Puglia in Travel and Leisure Magazine.
A few of the dishes we watched be prepared and then sampled.
Semifreddo alle Nocciole di Salerno Caramellate.
Hand made Orecchiette with Zucchine, Carciofi, Asparagi, etc.
Fried peppers.
Grano arso in a simple tomato sauce.
Chef Dora told us a story about her first meeting, many years ago, with her soon to be husbands mother. She said that the first question she was asked by her mother-in-law was if she could make the Apulian staple food the Orecchiette pasta. The ability to make Orecchiette was, in those days, a required skill for any young woman hoping to marry. It is not as easy as the video makes it look. I know because I tried to make it.
This was a very good day for us Italian Chef’s in training.
Chefs, Baltimore
Everything looks delicious, I would like to try the foccichia with a good cup of coffee
[...] I am friends on Facebook with Antonella Ricci a chef and restaurant owner from Pulia who I wrote about in a prior post some months ago. http://italiancookingschool.wordpress.com/2010/06/15/from-puglia-guest-chef-ricci/ [...]