Fiumicino, add a seat at the table because Elisa Isoardi is arriving. In the guerrilla battle between the chefs of the municipality of Fiumicino to win the official dish of the Municipal Administration, at a certain point the expert arrives: as and better than at the Prova del Cuoco, Isoardi insinuates herself and makes room for herself in the jury.
And he eats delicacies, sips wine moderately and takes his hand off his cell phone and social media just to hold the fork and appreciate, evaluate and savor the eleven courses competing for the Municipality’s official dish trophy.
Tortelli all’arzilla wins
The winners will be fascinating “tortelli all’arzilla, marinara with cockles and almond sauce”, a brilliant gastronomic idea, because better than the other dishes it brings together the values of the Fiumicino coast. Fresh and perfectly cooked pasta with cockles that grow between Fiumicino and Passoscuro and a sauce of almonds grown in the shade of Maccarese. The chef’s name is a top secret, one can only say that he is one of the “magicians” gathered in the “Iodata Periphery” association – even the name is not accidental – who accepted the challenge of the mayor Mario Baccini to create an evocative dish of the territory , from today elected as the “official dish”.
With the collaboration of Arsial, Fregene was chosen to host the unusual gastronomic guerrilla which began at 6pm (because the chefs flew away to their respective restaurants at the end) and which ended with the announcement of the winner.
Here are the delicacies in the competition
If you’re ready to lick your chops, here’s what the super brigade from Fiumicino served: Supplì chicken and peppers with almond and carrot breading; Shrimp spicy sauce of carrots, pine nuts and plum umeboshi, tuna tartare, almonds and pine nuts, in Mediterranean conditella; Octopus, carrot and almond salad, Amberjack, almond milk, aromatic herbs; Local squid stuffed with wild chicory, pine nuts and carrot cream; Mullet, rosemary, oregano, pine nuts and almonds, lively tortello, cockle marinara and almond sauce; Mullet pesto and carrots, Armonie pinolate; DeCO pine nut ice cream from Fregene; Caprese with Maccarese almonds.
Isoardi unleashed and entertained: she tastes everything and gives her votes
And Isoardi: mindful of her 4 years of experience in conducting the Test del cuoco, she tasted the delicacies one by one and, as a strict juror, wrote down the emotions on the official jury sheet.
Mario Baccini: “Our local excellences at the table”
“This initiative – explained the mayor Mario Baccini – was created to promote the typical features of the territory and enhance typical food and drinks by combining innovation, food and wine research, local excellence and professionalism. Thanks to these valuable initiatives, Fiumicino is positioned on the national scene at the levels it deserves. Fiumicino is not a city but it is an idea, an idea that we are increasingly strengthening, I agree with chef Pascucci, who came to greet us this evening, that our city does not belong to a majority nor minority in a cultural continuity we want to recognize the important values of our community, of our products from pine nuts to almonds to fish which are enhanced by all the dishes of the great chefs who work, live and grew up in Fiumicino. I thank those who hosted us, Periphery Iodata and above all Arsial and the Lazio Region who contributed to the realization of this event. Finally, I thank the press that follows these initiatives and that contributes to the promotion of our city to develop all those ideas that allow it the positioning that it deserves and deserves not only in the food and wine panorama but in the national one”.
The chefs in affectionate competition
The chefs competing: Luca Pezzetta, Fabio Di Vilio, Alessandro Capponi, Andrea Salce, Alessandro Pietrini, Alessandro Turtulici, Marco Fiorucci, Benny Gili, Marco Claroni, Luca Seccatore, Marco Fedeli, Vincenzo Lenci and Arcangelo Patrizi.
Squid with chicory reserves the 2024 podium
Of note is the “amberjack with almond milk and aromatic herbs” and the “local squid stuffed with wild chicory, pine nuts and carrot cream” is a real revelation. If he doesn’t win this year, he reserves the podium for 2024.
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