I was risen surrounded by natural foods
and instinctive cookers. My belief is that food is the beginning of any culture
on earth, as it is the starter and the reason why each civilization developed
in a certain way. I am a cook, before being a “chef”: someone who likes to
elaborate the food in order to feed the body and the soul. Using organic,
local, seasonal ingredients was the main
reason why my restaurant Le Tamerici in Isola del Giglio obtained mentions on
all the restaurant guides in Italy. After being a cook, I am also a chef, in the sense that I am able
to plan, organize, be on time.
Finally I am a teacher, being this the
profession I have been doing the last fourteen years: students say I am good to transmit both the passion and
techniques I have gathered by experience and studies.
A “food career” pursued step by step,
first watching the women of the family, running the restaurant and studying at
the Istituto Alberghiero, then teaching and writing recipes, never stopping,
but searching every day new discoveries and culinary adventures.
My philosophy of cooking is: we cook
something to eat it. It seems obvious,
instead it seems that nowadays we have lost this primary vision of the
cuisine.
It is true
that we first eat with the eyes, but I believe that too much garnish and
overlapping of decoration and carved food has not so much to do with the
primary purpose of nourishment and conviviality. This does not mean that the
dish is not presented in a nice way.
A dish must be
simple, not easy. When I say that I mean: a few ingredients of high quality.
Not easy: a cook must be able to choose both the variety and the quality.
Making a
bruschetta could be more difficult than an hollandaise sauce or “molecular
caviar”: the right bread : no salted, baked in a wooden fed oven, made with
organic ender wheat flour, better if milled with a stone wheel….., slightly
grilled – not baked!!!! - , no burnt, crispy outside, soft inside, ready to
welcome the most suitable olive oil, which cannot be to light in colour and
taste, not to spicy… just right. And the tomatoes: San Marzano or cherry
tomatoes ripen on the plant, sweet and juicy. The final touch of salt and
pepper, both freshly ground.
The place
where you cook is airy, clean, spaced, illuminated, with the right utensils and
tools. A table placed just near the kitchen to enjoy the food as soon as they
are cooked.
Knowledge of
ingredients – seasonality, varieties, quality -
and technique, but mostly a great passion for the true food is my
philosophy.
WHY IS GIGLIOCOOKING DIFFERENT FROM THE OTHER SCHOOLS
GiglioCooking is open for everybody who
loves food and cuisine.
The participants will not follow
exclusively demonstrations, but they all will be involved hands on in the
preparation of the food. The food must
be felt, heard, smelled, tasted: the food will talk to you. GiglioCooking will take you through an unique
culinary experience.
All together we will study tradition and
we will open our imagination to create new recipes, always in the respect of
Nature and Health. GiglioCooking is
ready to start a new culinary adventure and the participants will be the
protagonists.
As you enter the school you will be
embraced by a warm atmosphere of welcoming and you will feel immediately
comfortable.
The essential furniture, the lights, the
spaces, the colours will predict the expectation of exchange, communication,
learning while teaching and beginning of lasting relationship of friend-ness
with both participants and chef.
WHAT STUDENTS TAKE AWAY FROM THE
EXPERIENCE
The experience itself. A different and
more aware approach with food. Since then on, staying in a kitchen will be a
Cooking Feast.
GiglioCooking releases
a Certification of Attendance.
They will go back home with the package
of the recipes* done at school and the apron.
*) For some courses the Package of
recipes is a real book, printed exclusively for GiglioCooking
"A dish must be simple, not easy."
ReplyDeleteGiusto cara Marcella! Perché la "semplicità" è una cosa ben diversa dalla"facilità" e questo in senso lato nella vita. Essere semplici significa rimanere il più possibile vicino alla naturalità, allontanarsi dagli schemi imposti, seguire liberamente quello che la nostra anima ci suggerisce, senza aver paura di contrastare le "regole" imposte da altri. E questo presuppone una grande libertà interiore, e per avere questo significa avere profondità nel sentire le cose che ci circondano e che sono dentro di noi, con emozione e cuore.