“Still in Italy, but a very short distance from the border and with an amazing terrace overlooking the French coast, the view extends from the picturesque historic center of Menton to Cap Martin (in high season we recommend booking one of these coveted tables in advance, 'alternative is still an elegant internal room). So if everything seems to turn towards the Côte d'Azur, it is instead the cuisine of the talented Enrico Marmo that takes us back to Liguria. The young chef often focuses on regional excellence, from Pigna beans to Sanremo prawns to name just two, skilfully retraces Ligurian recipes, however then giving ample space to his creativity and sometimes declining the dishes in two or more proposals around the same theme. In short, between view and cuisine, it will not be difficult to make the stop unforgettable!”. What we have reported is not the memory of a passionate traveler but a prestigious judgment issued by the correspondents of the authoritative Michelin Guide who have elevated Enrico Marmo to the level of the greatest Italian chefs, gratifying him with a star.
A deserved success and tenaciously pursued by the young chef who originally from Canelli in the province of Asti he built his career with painstaking meticulousness until he landed in one of the restaurants with a great history on the Riviera di Ponente: the Balzi Rossi, which in the past was decorated with two Michelin stars and which has now returned with him to the starry world of the Red Guide. His path starts from the hotel management school of Agliano and immediately consolidates at the authoritative ALMA of Colorno (PR). Here stands out for one internship at the 1 Michelin Star restaurant Gellius Oderzo, with Alessandro Breda, followed by 12 months under the orders of Matteo Baronetto in the Cracco restaurant 2 Michelin stars, a new one experience with Davide Palluda at the Enoteca di Canale, 1 Michelin Star in the Cuneo area. Palluda appreciates its qualities so much that in 2011 when the Balzi Rossi restaurant calls him for a suggestion from a young executive chef, able to take charge of the restaurant kitchen, he proposes his sous chef without hesitation. Henry Thus Marmo finds himself, at the age of just 27, in the kitchen of a restaurant that has made the history of western Liguria. But Marmo warns that he still needs new experiences. And here he is executive chef in the gastronomic restaurant of the 5-star resort Castel Monastero in Castelnuovo Berardenga in the province of Siena, for a year, e then at the Osteria Arborina, after the departure of Andrea Ribaldone, as executive chef of the 1 Michelin Star gastronomic restaurant and of the Bistrot. But then one day a call comes from the Balzi Rossi. On the phone, the voice is that of the daughter of the cook who opened the place in 1982, Giuseppina Beglia, historical memory and custodian of the place. The restaurant is preparing to celebrate its 40th birthday, with a reopening that comes after a two-year hiatus and the goals are ambitious. Marmo accepts the challenge and sets to work. The results are immediate: in October 2022, in the Gambero Rosso 2023 Restaurant Guide, the chef receives the Tradizione Futura award for the ability to best interpret and reinvent the dishes and ingredients of the territory and more generally of the great classic national cuisine, thus contributing to rewriting the future recipe book. In the following month, the most awaited call arrives. It is that of Michelin guide, which reassigns the star to the restaurant again. Her cuisine with clear and decisive flavors, is based on the use of a few selected ingredients and minimal work on the raw material. In his dishes they assume a protagonist role wild herbs, such as salicornia, sea fennel, sorrel, borage, dandelion, chicory, which are harvested directly from the kitchen, thanks to the chef's studies in Botanical Agronomy. Homemade preparations: anything you can create from scratch in your own kitchen will go this route. And everything that cannot be produced is bought nearby. The oil is made from Taggiasca olives from the historic Sant'Agata oil mill in Oneglia in the Imperia area, which has over 190 years of history, the fish comes from local fishermen who know precisely the great secrets of the sea of Ventimiglia and Bordighera, the vegetables and some of the herbs used in the dishes come from a vegetable garden owned by Balzi Rossi located on the border with France, within a farm that works with the ancient and characteristic terrace system. The fruits of the earth? Provençal peas, broad beans, spiny artichokes, chicory, chard and cabbage, but also some varieties of local cultivars such as trombette courgettes, rediscovered thanks to third-generation seeds which are now being replanted. In short, everything enhances the colours, the scents and the most intimate substance of this fascinating portion of the Italian territory.
The recipe for Tortelli with butter & anchovy, wild mixed salads and bergamot fully demonstrates the chef's attention to creating a cuisine centered on local raw materials, in which he pays great attention to the vegetable theme.
The dish features a classic format of fresh pasta, which is made for the occasion with chicory and wild garlic and stuffed with cream of fresh anchovies put in salt in the restaurant's kitchens and emulsified butter. The pasta format is garnished with a selection of wild mixed salads (dandelion, watercress and chicory), marinated anchovies and bergamot zest. “In this dish” says Enrico Marmo “there is an encounter between the flavors of the land where I was born, Piedmont with butter and anchovies, and those I love to use in my dishes: those of citrus fruits and wild herbs, which I learned to distinguish thanks to a course of study in Botanical Agronomy".
The recipe for Tortelli with butter & anchovy, wild mixed greens and bergamot
Ingredients for people 4
Pasta
• 200 g of 00 flour
• 50g eggs
• 70 g egg yolk
Mix the ingredients for 3/4 minutes. Put under vacuum. Leave to rest for 2 hours.
Filling
• 100 g boiled potatoes
• 100 g quality butter
• 100 g salted anchovies
Blend the potatoes and salted anchovies with a food processor until smooth. Incorporate the creamed butter. Put in a sac à poche. Leave to rest in the fridge for about an hour. Roll out the dough to a thickness of 1 mm. Cup some circles with the 5 mm disc and form tortelli.
Mixed salad
• 20 g chicory
• 20 g dandelion
• 5 g dandelion flowers
• 5 g borage flowers
• 10 g wild rocket
• 5 g wild rocket flowers
Wash the leaves and trim them if necessary. Dry them well. Cut them into very thin julienne strips. Add the flowers and keep.
Finishing
• 1 bergamot
• Taggiasco extra virgin olive oil to taste
Cook the tortelli in plenty of salted water for 2 minutes. Drain them and dress them with Taggiasco extra virgin olive oil. Arrange the tortelli at the base of the plate. Add a few drops of bergamot juice, season the salad with very little oil and finish with grated bergamot zest.
