Newspapers, radio, TV for some time now have been launching alarming news on the difficulties that Italians (not only us, but also abroad) will have to face in order to make ends meet in the year ahead. The previous monetary storm, the crisis in the cost of raw materials, which increased after the invasion of Ukraine, the drought that hit our countryside last summer, considerably affecting the crops, they will pour heavily into the average household's shopping cart. It is no longer time for easy consumption and food waste. World Food Organizations have estimated that in carefree times of plenty, one-third of all food produced for human consumption was wasted. A phenomenon that especially concerns rich countries where a large part of still good food is wasted directly by consumers. And another huge part of the food was wasted throughout the food production process from agricultural production to processing, sale and preservation of food.
The hard times we are living in and above all the dark clouds that are looming on the horizon have now revived an old popular saying of peasant wisdom: "You don't throw anything away in the kitchen". Many chefs have begun to sniff out the changing times and have adapted their gastronomic philosophy by dedicating themselves to a culture of safeguarding and exalting food resources, and to a culture of waste in the name of sustainability. The innovative use of the less noble parts of the ingredients from potato peelings to carrot peelings, from the leaves and the toughest bracts of the artichoke to the skin of the fish, from the re-use of Parmesan peels, stale bread or meat to not throwing away the stalks of vegetables from meat seems to have become a must of "haute cuisine" which bears the signature of great chefs such as Bottura, Corelli, Perdomo.
Simone Maddaleni chef of the Madeleine restaurant, an elegant French bistro inspired by "fin de siècle" Paris but with an all-Italian heart, in via Montesanto 64, in the Prati district, adopts this ethic dedicated to "zero waste" in its cooking philosophy. Saving starts with spending: the first precaution is to take great care in choosing raw materials and prefer small shops and local suppliers. Knowing and respecting the seasonality of products is not only a benefit for health, but a great help in terms of saving in the kitchen, ensuring greater convenience in the purchase phase. This is how fruit, vegetables, local fish are selected (especially blue fish, such as anchovies, mackerel and hake, which have a low cost, especially if purchased in markets and fishmongers, rather than in large-scale distribution) and meat that are always traceable. Then there are a series of tricks that can help give new life to products that would otherwise end up in the trash. «Let's think, for example, of bread» the chef explains to us «one of the foods that we naturally tend to waste and which has undergone the greatest increases». Stale bread actually allows us to create many delicious dishes, from panzanella – such as the classic one with tomato, basil and onion, which can also be enjoyed as an accompaniment to fish, or a more creative version to be used, for example, as a filling for a tasty home-made tortello – with pappa al pomodoro. «For me it is unacceptable to throw away old bread, because it is a symbol of work and effort; it is no coincidence that it is said to "earn a loaf of bread", so rather than throwing it away, I prefer to give it new life», concludes Simone. And here is his saving anti-crisis recipe
Chef Roberto Maddaleni's Stuffed Tortello Recipe
Ingredients for people 4
For the egg pasta
300g flour
3 eggs
Salt to taste
Oil 1 tsp
For the stuffing
150g old bread
200g mixed ripe tomatoes
4 g salt
5 g basil
2 grinds of pepper
1 red onion
15g white vinegar
30g extra virgin olive oil
For the sauce
100g celery leaves and stalks
100g carrots with peel
100g onion with peel
600g mixed tomatoes
Evo oil to taste
Method
For the egg pasta:
Mix the ingredients by hand or with a mixer and let the mixture rest for at least 40 minutes before using it.
Roll it out to 2mm with a rolling pin or to number 3 if you have a sheeter machine. So choose the tortelli mold (square, round, etc.) and give them the shape you prefer
For the stuffing:
Proceed to prepare the filling by blending all the ingredients with an immersion blender or a food processor, until you obtain a nice compact but not too smooth filling.
For the sauce:
Put all the ingredients in a saucepan and brown, leave to simmer over low heat for 1 hour
Blend and filter so as to obtain an orange-coloured tomato sauce which will be very tasty thanks to the herbs used and without having thrown away the peel and leaves
Stir in and season the tortelli with the sauce obtained, finally adding some grated lemon and plenty of basil
