Cafe Via Dante's Truffled Gnocchi Recipe

Italian cooking has for many apparent reasons always been very mainstream because of its simplicity, meaning that the ingredient are very common ones and known by most of us.

It has been argued and still is by many, that when traditionally prepared in a restaurant kitchen it can not reach the highest ranking of four stars. And then when it is made non-traditional it is by some not considered as Italian cooking. I would have to disagree!

Personally I would leave it up to the creator of the dish to choose what to introduce its creations. I believe that doing so, it will continue the story, that was begun by the actual “author” or “artist”, to the happy ending that we all are looking forward to, which is how we perceive the dish in the end.

That’s why it is so important to listen to the waitor/waitress that is introducing the dish, most of the time they are passing the message of what the Chef’s intentions are with its creation.

Now as we all know, not every book is for every one, nor every painting and that also goes for food.

There for I guess it all boils down to asking the right questions prior to ordering and to have staff that are not only there to make some extra pocket money, but are aware that when going out to dine, is not just to still ones hunger but more about a good and pleasant dining experience.

Since we here at Macchi Inc. put a lot of emphasis on the quality and authenticity of the products we supply, we realize that we are also obligated to do so since our clients put just as much weight in that.

We know how hard they all work to make sure that every plate that gets presented is at its best. Just like any other artists creation, it is made with emotions and precision and lets not forget that they are humans and not machines so when the final product is made it can differ from how it was made the time before, having that said, that doesn’t mean that it should not be criticized constructively, by all means, we all know that to reach perfection we only do so by always being kept on our toes.

The above mentioned thought does not entirely relate to todays dish it was more of a thought that I felt I would like to share with all of you =).

And now that i have, let me present todays dish, that was prepared by the kitchen staff at Cafe via Dante, located in the heart of little Italy.

GNOCCHI RIPENI CON SALSA TARTUFATA

Cafe Via Dante's Truffled Gnocchi Recipe

Ingredients:

• Stuffed gnocchi with porcini mushrooms
• Leeks
• French shallots
• Truffle paste,
• White wine
• Chicken stock
• Butter
• Parmesan
• and of course, the Truffle Oil

If you like gnocchi, you will love this, if you don’t like gnocchi you might reconsider after trying this and if you never had gnocchi I would definitely suggest that you have it this way for your first time.

Truffled Pizza! Sounds delicious doesn’t it, well it is absolutely marvelous.

Pizzeria Arlequino and Restaurant Bottega, both very dear clients of ours, generously shared pictures and recipe of the same creation but off course both with their own twist.

Pizzeria Arlequino Pizza

Ingredients:

• Mozzarella fior di latte
• Egg
• Truffle Carpaccio

BOTTEGA’S RECIPE:

Restaurant Bottega's Pizza

Ingredients:

• Mozarella fior di latte
• Parmigiano-Reggiano
• Egg
• Truffle Carpaccio
• Fresh basil.

Both recipes are amazing in different ways.

If you get the chance to try either one of them, let me know I would love to hear your thoughts.

Hope this week was a good one for all of you.

Hope you all had a great weekend, I had a really good but hectic one so please bear with me! Having managed to somehow delete today’s post we will have to start with what was initially supposed to be Thursdays post, today.

Let me introduce to all of you: BUFFALO MOZZARELLA! I have below two magical ways of serving the Buffalo Mozzarella, watch and indulge.

Buffalo Mozzarella Recipe by Chef Stefano Leone

WATER BUFFALO MOZZARELLA ENTRÉE

This will be the second time that Stefano Leone has generously donated a picture that I can share with you all here on my blog.
He is not only one of my favorite Chefs but also a dear friend of Paolo’s and mine, that I have not seen for 5 years, but thanks to Facebook I am still able to at least see how from “best” he still manages to continue getting better, go figure!

• Water buffalo mozzarella
• Cashew nuts
• Pesto
• Oven roasted tomato crostino

Thank You, Stefano!

Caprese di Buffala Recipe by Restaurant Lucca's Team

CAPRESE DI BUFALA

The most traditional way of having Buffalo Mozzarella is a Caprese di Bufala.
I have it over and over again and I can never stop enjoying having it that way!
But I must say that even though it seems so simple to make, this “simple” dish can taste very differently depending on where and how you have it.
Personally I prefer when the tomatoes are sweet but yet slightly tart and just the “right” amount of balsamic vinegar.

That is exactly how they serve this “plate” at Restaurant Lucca in “Little Italy”, so I asked Paolo if he could do me the huge favor and go over there to get me a picture of that plate so that I could share it with all of you.

• Buffalo Mozzarella
• Vigne ripened Tomatoes
• Fresh basil
• Reduced balsamic vinegar
• Evoo ( extra virgin olive oil )

A warm thank you to the kitchen staff at Restaurant Lucca!

Restaurant Bice's Chef John Zoumis Truffled Dwarf Peaches Recipe

CARPACCIO MANZO
Thank you Bice Restaurant and Chef John Zoumis for this beautiful light meal: the Carpaccio Manzo garnished with Truffled Dwarf Peaches.

Ingredients:

• Pepper crusted tenderloin
• Truffled lemon emulsion
• Baby arugula
• Shaved radishes
• Shaved truffled peaches
• Parmesan shavings
• French shallot rings

What could be better than a fresh carpaccio for this hot season, I might go try it there this week!

Even though Restaurant Brontë now is closed, I would still like to re-post this beautiful and most probably very tasty truffle creation.

When summer truffles meet Brontë, here is the baby ( by Hakim Rahal, Chef de Cuisine ):

• Seared kurobuta guanciale ( berkshire pork jowls )
• Quail eggs
• Yukon gold potatoes
• Toasted ricotte bread
• Quebec blueberry compote
• Shaved summer truffles

An adventurous combination of flavors that I definitely would like to try.

Derek Dammann from Restaurant DNA created this mouth watering plate with Bottarga. I can just imagine the different flavors mixing altogether in my mouth.

The delicate presentation, makes it look like a painting. A very summery dish, to try at DNA, or at home!

Here are the ingredients:

• Scallops Crudo (raw)
• Micro basil
• Chili
• Lemon juice
• Bottarga

When I mentionned we were covering Prosciutto di Parma this week, Stefano Leone so kindly sent me these pictures of one of his culinary creations with Prosciutto di Parma:

Ossobuco, sweetbread terrine wrapped in Prosciutto di Parma with orange sauce verrina, mostarda.

Stefano loves pairing this dish with a Gabriel Meffre, Cotes du Rhône AOC – Expression Pierres Brisées, 2006 France which is a blend of Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre and Cinsault, a crimson robe with purple nuances, an enticing nose of fresh fruits and spices notes. Savory and elegant, finishing by a charming spicy sensation.

Comfort food – Soul satisfying
Cooking and music are alike, in that a finished dish and a performance depend on an element of improvisation which is never part of the recipe or score. When this goes right, the results are magical.

It is the magic that matter!

This is for you!”

Stefano Leone

Here is an expample of how Chef Roberto Stabile will present a plate with parmigiano reggiano:

Prosciutto Appetizer w. figs and Parmigiano reggiano

• Prosciutto friulano riserva
• fresh figs
• arugula salad
• Parmigiano reggiano shavings

Trust me, it tastes just as good as it looks!

Off course the plates change depending on the season and what fruits and vegetables are available on the market. Since the Jean Talon market is practically in the ‘backyard’ of the restaurant, it makes it extremely easy for him to ‘work-as-he-goes’ during the summer season.

As usual, I would be extremely appreciative to hear your thoughts on this and if you get a chance to go and have this there let me know what you think.

Until tomorrow, have a good  one!

Left: Derek Dammann, Top right: Paolo Macchi and Nathalie Rivard: Bottom right: Kim Vallee and Hivron “MrsMacchi” Turanli

On the launch of my Blog, the first product that I introduced was our key product: The Citterio Prosciutto. Kim Vallee sent me a message on twitter and let me know that she had by then only had one kind, of the five kinds of prosciutto that we are supplying and I quickly responded to her and offered her to have a Prosciutto tasting with us over a lunch at restaurant DNA in Montreal. With me I brought my husband and the President of our company Macchi Inc. Paolo Macchi and Kim were accompanied with the all so pleasant foodie friend of hers, Nathalie Rivard. As we all installed our selves at the table, there were 4 cameras and one video camera, one computer and 3 iphones covering our table and I was just thinking; “will there be any room for the plates?”

- Of course, there was !!!

We started our lunch with introducing ourselves, since this was the first time I’ve met with Kim Vallee and her being a veteran in the blogging world and me being a new beginner, there was a lot of excitement on my part. But to think that there would be any kind of silence or awkward moments at the table since this was our first time meeting, is terribly wrong. The conversation was flowing between the four of us and everything was so interesting, from Kim continuously coming up with new ideas of potential new projects and Nathalie’s endless  travelling experience, to Paolo’s  knowledge and family secrets and tips on our products, this would have been for anyone, ease dropping  a “wikipedia heaven”.

Then the first plate arrives and there is an immediate silence!

Executive Chef and part owner Chef Derek Dammann presenting us with Prosciutto (local), Prosciutto San Daniele 18 month and Culatello

Paolo starts explaining about the prosciutto and Nathalie quickly picks up the video camera and starts filming, this is how it went on for  five courses introducing our five kinds of prosciutto “crudo” (raw). This lunch went on for aprox. 4 hours and let me tell you that if we all didn’t have other things to go to after it could have easily gone on for another two hours!

On the picture above we have:

1. Prosciutto, local - Quebec charentes melon, lemon juice, baby basil

2. Prosciutto San Daniele, 18 month – Grilled Ontario peaches, Mint, horseradish

3. Culatello – Fingerling potatoes, mustard vinaigrette, mustard seed, mustard oil, DNA pickles, micro herbs

Throughout the tasting we were enlightened with the presence of Derek Dammann coming to our table explaining the dishes that he had made. The manager and part owner Alex Cruz made sure that his very pleasant and professional serving staff catered to all of our needs and that the water and wine glasses were never left empty at the table. Finished plates were quickly removed and bread basket always filled.

Prosciutto di Parma 24 month, Prosciutto di Parma 14 month and Pork blood and chocolate panna cotta with strawberries

The next two plates that were brought out;

4- Prosciutto di Parma, 24 month – Mostarda di castagne, Mustard greens

5- Prosciutto di Parma, 14 month – Bliss maple vinegar, Parmigiano reggiano shavings

We were now all in a place of complete satisfaction and mutually agreed that the ‘Mostarda di Castagne’ (candied chestnuts flavored with mustard and vanilla), another one of our products, was a perfect way to finish our last plate of prosciutto with.

Thinking that we were now done since we were all very satisfied and not to mention stuffed, Derek comes out asking us if there is any room for desert?

Now to say there was room for more,  wouldn’t be entirely true, but we were a female dominating table and just as they say that you reach a mans heart through his stomach, I think I could comfortably make the statement that you reach a woman’s heart with a good desert, you will at least keep her satisfied!

And he did!

6. Pork blood and chocolate panna cotta with strawberries

In one sentence; Man ( pork blood)  meets woman ( chocolate )!

Tasted like something i’ve never tasted before, and I would recommend everyone to give it a taste on your next visit at DNA Restaurant.

I would like to end this by thanking Kim Vallee, Nathalie Rivard and Paolo Macchi for a really enjoyable lunch and to give Derek Dammann and Alex Cruz a standing ovation, not only for this specific day but for always making us and whom ever we are accompanied with, leave their restaurant extremely happy and content.

Thank You!

-MrsMacchi-