Chef - Michelin Star 2019/2020/2021/2022/2023 Zash - Country Boutique Hotel
"I love being with people and listening-everyone has something to transfer.I enjoy learning and engaging with cultures different from my own."
My earliest memory was when I was nine years old: at that time I repeated insistently to my mom that I would be a chef when I grew up. That's what I wanted and that's what I was going to do.
I started working in the kitchen when I was thirteen, doing it from morning to night in the summer months, and during the school year I would wait until the weekends to dive back into the kitchen. When I was sixteen, I left for Switzerland. I felt the need to train professionally, to experience and learn about the world, a world different from my own: people, places, tastes, landscapes.
I learned by moving from one canton to another; from thePalace Hotel in Gstaad to the Kulm Hotel in St. Moritz, from Villa Principe Leopoldo in Lugano to Le Chalet D'Adrien in Verbier. And then the wonderful experience with Maestro Ezio Santin at theAntica Osteria del Ponte.
The desire to return to Sicily, however, was always strong. The idea that I could bring back to my land all that I had "stolen" in my wanderings made me decide to return. And that is when the encounter with Zash takes place. A charming Country Boutique Hotel born from the renovation of an ancient palmento: thirteen hectares of citrus grove between Etna and the sea, 17 design rooms, a SPA and a restaurant that was waiting for... me.
My first experience as a proprietor. I can play with pans again, as I did as a child. Hearing their noise, the crackling of frying, the smells, the colors. Even those of my emotions.
In November 2019, my dream came true: the much-coveted Michelin star arrived.
Red shrimp crudo, tangerine and saffron marmalade, yogurt and caviar
20 Mazara del Vallo red shrimp EVO oil
Salt
Pepper
100 g whole yogurt
40 g caviar
40 g tangerine and saffron jam 3330
Season the previously cleaned shrimp with EVO oil, salt and pepper. Lay the shrimp on a plate, top the dish with yogurt, caviar, and a teaspoon of mandarin marmalade for each shrimp.
Egg pasta tortello with liquid caciocavallo cheese, extra cherry and star anise jam and truffle
250 g 00 flour
150 g semolina flour 5 egg yolks
500 g fresh cream
150 g semi-matured caciocavallo cheese
100 g parmesan cheese
100 g extra cherry and star anise jam 3330
250 g veal shredded bottom
truffle shavings
Combine the flours together with the egg yolks, mix well and if necessary add a little water. Bring the cream to a boil, whisk off the heat with the caciocavallo and parmesan cheese. Let cool and place inside a piping bag. Stretch the pastry, cup and put the creamy caciocavallo cheese and a teaspoon of extra cherry jam inside, brush the edges of the pie with water and close them. Cook for 3 minutes in plenty of salted water, drain and sauté with a knob of butter.
Place the tortelli at the base of the dish, top with the truffle and veal reduction sauce.
Lobster, curry, cashew nuts, sweet and sour peppers
4 lobsters
100 g roasted cashews Misticanza leaves
100 g sweet and sour peppers 3330
For curry sauce 1 spring onion
100 g green apple 100 g pineapple
70 g banana
10 g g ginger
20 g lemon grass
10 g green curry paste
20 g yellow curry paste
750 g coconut milk
10 g yellow curry powder
Brown the finely chopped spring onion, add all the fruit, lemon grass and toast. Continue by adding the yellow and green curry pastes, yellow curry powder and ginger. Add the coconut milk and cook for 40 minutes. Blend and strain. Adjust for salt and pepper.
Blanch the lobsters in a pan, cut them into rounds, and season with salt.
Place the curry sauce at the base of the plate, followed by the sliced lobster and cashews. On each lobster rondel lay a teaspoon of sweet and sour bell pepper sauce and garnish with the misticanza leaves.
