Mamma’s the word for Italy’s top chefs in Bahrain

Ritz-Carlton Bahrain Hotel & Spa
MAKING fresh pasta at home may seem a bit daunting task and while it’s time-consuming it is not difficult and you will be handsomely rewarded for the extra work involved, says Italian visiting chef Domenico Melandri.

Mr Melandri, the Executive Sous Chef of Sironi Elio at Bulgari Hotel and Resorts, Milano, Italy, was at the Ritz-Carlton Bahrain Hotel and Spa for three days only and kindly agreed to share his culinary expertise with GulfWeekly in the hotel’s Italian restaurant Primavera.
He said fresh pasta is always best and makes the dish taste far better than the ready dry pasta available from the stores.
“Fresh pasta is not a replacement for the dried factory-produced pasta you find on the supermarket shelves, as each have a different texture and consistency and work well with a particular sauce,” he explained.
Mr Melandri, 45, who was inspired by his mother’s cooking, is from Faenza, near Bolognia, and said his first important position was in Genovese in Milan, where he contributed to the success of its first coveted Michelin star in 1991.
He then worked in Alma and Nadia in Milan as Executive Chef for 10 years, helping the restaurant to win its second Michelin star in 1991.
He revealed: “I learned the art of cooking from my mum Angela who always used fresh pasta, never the pre-packed ones. She liked making her own. I always watched her cook, everything she made was so delicious but the best dish I enjoyed was Tortellini – I simply got hooked and that is what inspired me to join a ‘chef school’ – “Scula Alberghiera” and learn to cook professionally and become a chef.”
Mr Melandri is a friend of the hotel’s resident chef Giampaolo Maffini and was invited to Bahrain as a result of the contact. “Of course, the Ritz in Bahrain and Bulgari hotel in Milano also has good relations.”
Mr Giampaolo said that it was “an honour” that chef Melandri had accepted the invitation and while he is here he will help create a fusion menu which will include a mixture of dishes from the Lombardia region in Italy and a few specialties from Milano.
“Lombardia is not surrounded by sea, but Bahrain is, there are no lobsters in Lombardia, so the visiting chef plans to include lobster in his menu to harmonise and create Bahraini-Italian dishes,” he said.
Mr Melandri confessed that although he enjoyed cooking for others when at home he quite enjoyed eating raw fish and meat. “When I am at home, I don’t turn the fire on. All I do is marinate the fish or meat in tomatoes and salt, maybe a bit of lemon juice. The salt cooks the meat and fish.
“For example, Carpaccio is a raw meat dish consisting of thinly sliced beef, marinated with salt, lemon juice, truffle oil, pepper and parmesan cheese and it’s delicious,”  he said.

Chef  Melandri’s recipe

Gratinated Lasagna with Duck liver
Ingredients: 
Pasta dough sheet 1 por
Duck liver 50gm
Bolognaise sauce 3 tb
White sauce 3 tb 
Parmesan cheese 15gm
Borlotti cooked 25gm
Carrot 5gm 
Celery 5gm 
Onion 5gm 
Leeks deep-fry 1gm 
Mozzarella santa lucia diced 15gm
Vanilla oil (vanilla pod cut into half and slowly warm up with extra virgin olive oil)
Deep-fry sage 
  
Method:
Boil Pasta sheet (number 2) and cool down in ice water.
Mix Bolognaise sauce and white sauce and mix together.
Cut some of the pasta dough into 3 rings. Place film  on a cutter and put inside a pasta sheet, add sauce, parmesan cheese and mozzarella, add a  ring of pasta and  repeat this operation three times.
Close the lasagna and tide up the plastic film.
Bake lasagna in a tray with butter and parmesan cheese.
Borlotti sauce: boil the borlotti with carrot, onion, celery,  cook until vegetables are soft, blend.
Place in a plate as a picure and garnish with sage, leeks, pan-fried duck liver and vanilla oil.

Chef Maffini’s recipe

Pan-fried Scallops and Prawns with Mediterranean Salsa
Ingredients:
Scallops 4 pieces  
Prawns U15 12 pieces
Yellow bellpepper 100gm 
Red bellpepper 100gm 
Rocket salad leaves 1bunch 
Black olives sliced 12 pieces 
Green olives 12 pieces
Capers 10 pieces 
Basil leaves 5gm 
Tomato diced 1 piece 
Extra virgin olive oil 2 tbs 
Brandy splah 
Balsamic vinegar 20ml 

Method:
Reduce some balsamic vinegar until it reaches a syrup consistency.
Warm up a pan with olive oil, add garlic, basil and bell peppers. Cook until softened. Add to the peppers the olives, capers and diced tomato.
Sauté Prawns and Scallops in a non stick pan with Olive oil, splash with some Brandy and keep in a warm place. Place rocket salad in a plate, set the bell peppers salsa in the middle with the scallops and the prawns. Drizzle with the balsamic reduction.

By Sahar Mulla
sahar.mulla@gulfweekly.com