In Sicilian dialect the word "ammuttunato" has different meanings. It is said that a person is mutilated to define a "closed-up" man of few words not open to conversation. In the kitchen, the term recurs in the recipe for milincianedda (aubergine) ammuttunata which, in this case, is richly stuffed and stuffed. In the case of tuna, it is used to define the operation that the housewives perform to flavor the meat to be cooked: the tuna is "mutted" with the thumb when the previously made cuts are pushed in, cloves of garlic, spices, herbs and in some cases flakes of cheese, obviously from Ragusa, according to the recipes and gastronomic traditions of the place.
On the menu of Tony Lo Coco, Michelin Star Chef since 2015, with the I Pupi restaurant in Bagheria in the province of Palermo, the tuna mutton is a presence of absolute rigor. Behind this dish there are not only the flavors, the nutritional properties of the fish, the nutraceutical benefits of its meat, the traditional island cuisine, there is the history of Sicily and above all the history of a millenary tradition which is the culture and identity of a people, a rite, that of the slaughters and tuna traps which borders on the sacred and religious but is also an allegory of man's struggle with nature which has macabre and vital aspects at the same time, but also spectacular, anthropologically speaking.
Safeguarding tradition and reviving it with a new and personal look
Lo Coco feels like the guardian and high priest of Sicilian cuisine. He didn't immediately get to the kitchen, he did something else in his youth, but passion has always inspired him, a passion so strong that as a self-taught man, without going through schools and hotel management institutes, it has led him to be one of the great signatures of the island's cuisine. Preserving tradition and bringing it to life through the recipes of Sicily is its mission, a human and professional challenge: to remain faithful to the territory with a new and personal guise with the aim of re-proposing a gastronomic cultural baggage giving it connotations of kindness, digestibility, palatability and ability to surprise through respect for raw materials, the seasonality of products, the contamination of the many sedimented souls of a cuisine that has absorbed, over time, the many historical dominations. However, all this always starting from the excited eyes of that child who many years ago watched his mother and grandmothers in the kitchen with excitement as they told him ancient stories.
The Michelin Guide says about him: Tony Lo Coco could be the name of a star from the world of entertainment, however, he, the chef-patron of the I Pupi restaurant, has the star sewn on his jacket! The service, in the small black and white room of modern and minimalist elegance, dominated by the large glossy wardrobe that serves as a pantry, is ensured by his wife Laura. As for the cuisine, leave it to Tony who – careful to select the local excellence and the best cheese makers, fishermen, farmers, as well as breeders in the area – will accompany you to taste the Trinacria in an imaginative and personalized way; the land and sea tasting itineraries are highly recommended, but also the mixed menu to taste a bit of everything!
A good example of this is the recipe for Tuna muttunato” proposed by Chef Lo Coco to the readers of Mondo Food for this week: he has made it noble with the use of ventresca and tuna carpaccio, placed at the base of the dish. To make everything captivating to the eye, to the taste and to the memory, the use of the tuna cooking sauce and the creams of Nubia peas and garlic respectively. A relatively 'young' dish in the kitchen of I Pupi, it managed in a couple of seasons to be among the most requested dishes on the proposed menu, to the point of becoming an icon of Tony Lo Coco's cuisine.
The recipe for Tuna muttunato – recipe for 4 people
400 g of tuna belly
8 pieces of Nubia garlic
16 mint leaves
Extra virgin olive oil to taste
Salt to taste
Take the tuna and portion it into 100 g, for each slice insert two pieces of garlic and four mint leaves, take the tuna and blanch it in a pan with a little extra virgin olive oil. Once the searing is complete on each side, let it rest.
For the sauce with extract
100 g of extract
1000 grams of water
Chili peppers to taste
Put the extract, water and tuna steaks in a saucepan and cook for about 2 hours on a low flame.
For the Nubia garlic sauce
In a saucepan, cook 10 cloves of garlic with 550 ml of cream, bring to the boil and then blend.
For the cream of peas
200 grams of peas
1 potato
30 g of spring onion
Salt to taste
Pepper as needed
Water to taste
1 white-fleshed potato
In a saucepan, sauté the oil and spring onion, then add the peas and cook them. In the meantime, blanch the potato and peel it off. In an immersion blender, put all the ingredients in a centrifuge until a smooth cream is obtained.
For naked peas
200 grams of peas
Vinegar to taste
Sugar to taste
Salt to taste
Pepper as needed
Take 200 g of peas, peel them and put them in a pan with sugar and vinegar for 3 minutes then put them to cool.
For the tuna carpaccio
Cut 4 slices of tuna with a thickness of 2 mm for a diameter of 12 mm
Introduction
Take the tuna carpaccio and spread it at the base of the plate, cover it with the tuna cooking sauce, then take the belly and place it on top of the sauce. Decorate with naked peas, cream of peas, cream of garlic and pea sprouts.
