28-08-2017
Caterina Ceraudo at Identità Milano 2017 (photo by Brambilla-Serrani)
Our dinner at Dattilo. Pictures by Tanio Liotta. Meanwhile, the remarkable toasted bread (made with Senatore Cappelli flour) served with oil butter produced by Ceraudo
Initial meatballs, with ricotta, potatoes and prosciutto...
Fried filo pastry sfogliatella filled with sardella, caciocavallo podolico, thyme, Pachino cherry tomatoes and pistachios from Bronte. Delicious, like the meatballs
Sandwich with maison sesame, podolica burger, salad, ketchup and mayonnaise
A great, balanced and elegant dish, right away: Snapper, bergamot, silt and pink pepper, that is to say a snapper ceviche, citrus fruits, wild mustard flowers, honey, onion extract
Tomato, apple and lemon
Mullet, bread and orange, an always explosive classic
Potato, pepper and basil: she cooks the potato in ashes, then glaze it with a reduced juice of roasted peppers, then adds basil juice
Lukewarm seafood and covatelli soup
Spaghettoni, courgette flowers, Parmigiano: the pasta is made with bronze moulds, the courgette flowers are in the shape of a cream. The Parmigiano is matured 36 months. Strong acidity, an unexpected first course
Seabass, seabass emulsion and candied lemon: lovely
Fennel and lemon: like in the old days, a sorbet between fish and meat. It’s pleasurable: the fennel is marinated in water and sugar, then there’s wild fennel and muscovado sugar
Pork, marinated figs and mint: she uses pork jowl, plus a little balsamic vinegar. A perfect, delicious dish
Ivoire white chocolate 35%, licorice, red fruits and raspeberry vinegar: a great finale recalling a classic by Romito (vinegar, licorice, white chocolate), but she reinvents it thanks to the fresh red fruit granita
«Three years ago – I had just started my chef career here at Dattilo - two foreign couples arrived one night, sent by Romito. I just finished his school and Niko was doing some promotion... They ate, they were very satisfied. Thank you and good bye. Sometime later I recognise one of them, sitting by himself. I look at what he’s ordered and compare it with what he ordered the first time - I keep all the orders! – and notice it’s just the same. Same dishes, same order. I find it curious, so I go to his table, greet him and ask him about this strange choice. He says: “Thank you for letting me experience once again a magnificent night I spent with three people I loved and now unfortunately are no longer here”. It made me shiver».
What better award than this, wonders Caterina Ceraudo, despite the fact she has received quite a few recently? And what better proof of the evocative power of her cooking? With the suspicion this is in fact strengthened further by a place like Dattilo in Strongoli: a sort of enchanted microcosm in Calabria, in the province of Crotone, secluded but close to the heart, to which her dad Roberto added dreams and beautiful visions (mostly accomplished) over the decades, and which Caterina now, together with her siblings Giuseppe and Susy further develops with courage.
Caterina with her father Roberto Ceraudo
Guess who’s coming to dinner: Caterina Ceraudo with three illustrious guests, Luca Abbruzzino, his sous Matteo Morello and Antonio Abbruzzino
All the staff at Dattilo (almost). Left to right Luigi Guzzo, Domenico Morabito, Irene Pugnali, Charline Chan, Christian Vuono, Angelica Salerni, Antonietta Toscano, the excellent maître Antonio Masino, Caterina Ceraudo, Andreina Renzi, Sara Villirillo, pastry chef Beniamino Galentino and Susy Ceraudo, a great wine woman (photo by Tanio Liotta)
An outdoor trip or a journey to the other side of the planet? One thing is for sure: the destination is delicious, by Carlo Passera
by
journalist born in 1974, for many years he has covered politics, mostly, and food in his free time. Today he does exactly the opposite and this makes him very happy. As soon as he can, he dives into travels and good food. Identità Golose's editor in chief