An Italian Philosophy

I have realised of late how much my recent approach has been influenced by Italian aesthetics. When short of time for haute cuisine prep, and yet aiming for multi-course menus, and having access to some high quality ingredients, it just makes sense to adopt an Italian-orientated philosophy. That means minimal intervention with the ingredients, and simpler presentations that show the diner those ingredients in a relatively unmanipulated form.

Lobster, herb butter sauce


Butter sauce with chives, fennel, parsley and a little lemon juice.

Modified Saltimbocca: veal, leeks, prosciutto, potato


The potatoes are par-boiled then shallow fried. Sage is essential in the butter-oil sauce, of course.

Carpaccio of fruit


In accordance with the philosophy, best not to obscure great fruit when you have it.
However, combining the “Italian philosophy” with an haute cuisine philosophy begs the question: can this high quality fruit be enhanced? The answer for fruit is to:
(i) boost the acidity (IMO, a fruit-based acidity is best, whether that be wine or citrus juice),
(ii) boost the sweetness (but not too much – it has to be balanced), and
(iii) cool the fruit.
This enhances the flavour.

Here, it’s peach, plum and tangelo “dressed” with lime juice and vanilla sugar (which, of course, dissolves; especially when ground down). In retrospect, sticking solely to stone fruits would have been better (the tangelo lost it’s grapefruit lift and became a dull citrus with this preparation).

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