Fourth generation of a family of cooks, born and raised in the Ca' Bianca, historic place in the old Milan of Bank of Porta Ticinese, a place with a discreet and “friendly” charm, a large open-air living room where the different souls of the city converge, as defined by the Times, Paola Chiolini took her first steps in the kitchen between the stoves of family restaurant, where he loved to play at imitating the Chef. In that environment of intellectuals, young university students, bohemians, at the same time as the pleasures of cooking, he also developed a love for art.
After having opened a first restaurant with her husband in the heart of the Navigli, Il Ricciolo d'Oro, the possibility of cultivating her two passions was envisaged when she became chef of the “Romeo Gigli Cafe”, an elegant and minimalist space, in which he managed to develop “un common thread linking food and art, creativity and study, novelty and tradition, in the name of good taste and refinement”, a period in which three-dimensional shapes combined with Italian recipes gave life to innovative dishes and in which he carried forward studies on the dynamism of the plate, moving from a static representation to a dynamic one, thanks to food and al involvement of diners.
A desire to combine art and cuisine that has never failed even when he decided to leave his native Milan for move to Vallecrosia, near Imperia in the Riviera dei Fiori where opened the restaurant “La Balena bianca”, and where he brought his passion, bringing together food and art in creations to be tasted. There floral richness of the western coast was immediately perceived as a sensory enrichment of dishes. "Drawing on Ligurian recipes and raw materials - he says - I discovered new agri-food products such as edible flowers and the Ligurian Egyptian onion with which I created many recipes".
It was consequent to participate in important events on the subject, such as “Monet's Superb Bridge translated into Sapori” at the Doria castle in Dolceacqua, the “Rossinian Buffet” on the occasion of the III Week of Italian Cuisine in the World in Monaco and dinners with "the format Eating flowers" a tour of Italian cities in which research and gastronomic thought are reconciled. In these years the collaboration with Ornella Piluso was also born for "Art to eat eat Art" cultural association that was born in Milan in 1996 at the Humanitarian Society where the Artists investigate the themes of the Environment and Food.
The Egyptian onion it is the star of a dish that reveals all the chef's style: Sanremo prawn cruditè with yolk-crusted egg stuffed with avocado and Egyptian onion and its bulbs caramelized with Rossese di Dolceacqua.
In this dish – Paola Ciolini explains – I wanted to play with multi-sensoriality, creating a recipe full of contrasts, and not only in terms of flavour, but involving as many aspects as possible, such as textures and colours. Combining the delicacy of the Egyptian onion with the acidity of the lemon, the sweetness of the caramelized bulbs with the acidity of the wine, all accompanied by the delicacy of the Sanremo shrimp and the local extra virgin olive oil. For me, creating a dish means finding harmony, a union between colours, tastes and aromas and the intertwining of tradition and modernity, between sensations and flavours. My idea is to transform the raw material into a gastronomic experience”.
The recipe: Sanremo prawn cruditè with egg yolk crust stuffed with avocado and Egyptian onion and its bulbs caramelized with Rossese di Dolceacqua
Ingredients
Local Sanremo shrimp
Hard-boiled eggs
Ligurian evo oil
Rossese di Dolceacqua reduction
Rossese caramelized Egyptian onion bulbs
For the cream and egg filling:
Avocado
Lemon and lime
Egyptian onion
Method
Cut a hard-boiled egg, gently remove the yolk and crumble it to decorate and make the egg crust.
Take the pulp of a soft avocado and put it in the mortar, add the lemon and lime and start pounding it until you get a cream, then add the finely chopped Egyptian onion.
Insert this cream inside the hard-boiled egg and use it as a decoration on the dish.
To create the Egyptian onion bulbs with Rossese di Dolceacqua wine, take the wine of the same name and thicken it with the sugar and the bulbs until the color resembles that of caramel, at which point you must then take the bulbs out and let them dry separately.
For the Rossese sauce, just thicken the wine with the sugar and don't let it caramelize.
Clean the Sanremo shrimp and dress it with extra virgin olive oil and a few drops of lemon and finally serve.
The White Whale
Via G. Marconi, 47, 18019 Vallecrosia IM
Reservations: thefork.it
