CHEF FOR A DAY: FRESH PASTA WITH CHEF GIANLUCA

To start the day in the best way, enjoythe extraordinary buffetbreakfast in the our courtyard caressed

 

THE ART OF CREATING.

In Sicily, handcraft is a serious matter:  has always been important the role of handmade work …; objects created from nothing, with hard commitment and tenacity; the constancy employed by those who love to give light to things without using machinery.

It is curious to observe how older people continue to pursue ancient traditions, continue to create art to remember that it is not lost.

But there are also those who, in spite of their young age, in spite of the fact that these arts belong to previous generations, grasp their beauty, their importance. From hand-woven baskets, with patience, to worked stones, objects that thanks to their quality last over the years and over time without losing value, without finding ruin. However, there is a long process, even behind something that actually needs to lose its shape just in order for its beauty to be appreciated.

In the kitchen, the expert hands of those who love and have a passion for that beautiful art, are everything. This is exactly how fresh pasta was born: from the love of those who want to carry on this ancient tradition, even if it is meant to be eaten, and even if it is easier and quicker simply to buy it in a supermarket in a packet. Observing who gives life to Sicilian busiate, following their grandmothers’ recipes, is a moment of pure magic, and learning how to do it is, if possible, even more so. Interweave your fingers with the dough, turn it around the buso, give the perfect shape only by following your own precision and instinct. Stuff the inside of the ravioli with fresh cheeses, put the water in the pot and slowly drop your creation.

Buying pasta in bags is certainly easier, faster, but surely less poetic, satisfying, and so on…That which conceals commitment, passion, tradition and history, such as these ancient arts, deserves to be continued, not to fall into oblivion. So that no one is deprived of access to authentic beauty, neither tomorrow nor ever.

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Chef Gianluca Interrante is undoubtedly the best person to teach the art of kneading Sicilian wheat flour by hand to produce perfect fresh pasta shapes, and to pass on the secrets of traditional pasta sauces made from local produce.

Indeed, Sicily has been considered “the granary of the Mediterranean” for two millennia, fought over by world forces for its main wealth: wheat. Myths tell that pasta was created in China but the reality is that the first pasta factory in the world was in Sicily and was born in 1154 as told by the geographer of the court of King Roger II, Muhammad Al-Idrisi who describes in his writings the abundance of pasta factories that exported this versatile and fundamental ingredient all over the Mediterranean.

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Thanks to the chef, guests have the opportunity to discover the method that follows the realization as well as the historical details of this millenary tradition. The experience includes the dough by hand and with wooden tools, as the Sicilian grandmothers have handed down, the creation of the precious Sicilian busiate, rolled with the fingers around the ‘buso’, and the process of filling ravioli with ricotta of Sicilian sheep.

 

 

 

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Among condiments that include Prawns and pistachios, ricotta and anchovies, the simple tomato sauce: the true tradition of the land of the Sun, Sicily. To conclude the curious experience, guests can obviously taste the creations accompanied by local wine!

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