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.