His cuisine is the result of a combination of passions: for his land, Sicily, with its large, extraordinary load of gastronomic traditions resulting from the sedimented alternations of cultures and civilizations, to the point that it can be defined as a sort of food archeology; for sea and land products, which have fascinated him since he was young, of which he is a meticulous connoisseur knowing how to decline their history, social and cultural value, morphological and organoleptic aspects and to bring out their full substance; for the scents of aromatic herbs that he personally goes to look for in the woods and fields because they are the hallmark of his culinary Sicilian style; but above all for a philosophy of well-being that manages to combine intense flavours, originating in tradition, with the wholesomeness of its preparations.
An alchemy of passions, flavors and knowledge that was formed in great schools from meetings with masters such as Gualtiero Marchesi, Sergio Mei, Giorgio Nardelli and Gianfranco Vissani with whom he shared an experienceenza as executive chef for 8 years, consolidated by important experiences in Turkey, Germany, France, Tunisia and Russia to study and compare cooking methods, treatment of raw materials, combinations. And there was no shortage of affirmations: Maurizio Urso, Chef of I Carusi boutique bio relais in Noto (SR), Vice-President of Euro-Toques, is now president of the Italcuochi National Academy "Sicilia", with Team Italia he won the Cremilin Cup and won the World Team Cooking Title, gold at the Italian Internationals, gold at the Italian Finger Food Championships, 1st place in Isola della Scala with the victory of the Chicco d'Oro - Chef of risotto 2021.
Even before the outbreak of the pandemic wave which forced great starred chefs from all over the world to review their gastronomic standards, paying great attention to the wholesomeness of the food, the lightness of the preparations, the effects of food balance on the body – all the three-starred Niko Romito who said: "the perspective from which I observe our profession today is increasingly linked to the idea that the correlation between food and health cannot be ignored, it must be pursued in the kitchen, told and explained to the generations of cooks of the future” – Maurizio Urso had implemented this choice of field since 1993 by deepening his knowledge in an important Italian center of Macrobiotic Cuisine, until obtaining in 2018 a certificate in the Course in Culinary Medicine scientific applications on the basis of the Mediterranean diet at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Environment and the Department of Biometric and Biotechnological Sciences of the University of Catania. These specific skills had allowed him to collaborate with the ARTOI Foundation for Integrated Oncological Therapy Research for a series of healthy menus where aromatic herbs, citrus fruits, red fruits, the catch of the day, the olive oil, garlic, onion, shallots. All without ever renouncing the genuineness of a flavor that brings back history, antiquity and forgotten traditions in a modern key, using only local products from personally selected suppliers who have been verified in their adherence to the principles of environmental protection and respect for the territory.
“Mine – he says – is the continuous search for raw materials that are primarily excellent for health, and immediately afterwards for the eyes and the palate, not forgetting history, tradition and territory. My being a farmer and fisherman emerges in my dishes.
Speaking of the recipe proposed to the readers of Mondo Food, the Scooby-doo of anchovies on Centogiorni pea foam, inspired, for the weaving of the anchovies, by the ultra-coloured bracelets that exploded in the 50s, my memories go to my family and my maternal grandfather who was a fisherman, in childhood when his grandfather passed by the house and left the freshest fish caught or unsold, then immediately my mother boned them and cooked them in various ways. Of course, fish was never lacking in the house as well as vegetables from the garden lovingly cared for by my father, everything grew in a handkerchief of land, tomatoes, peas, broad beans, broccoletti up to chickpeas …… what memories!!! From these memories today my dishes are born, obviously with different techniques than in my childhood, but respecting traditions, history, always trying to bring excellence to the table to then delight the palates of my guests. In this case the peas with their herbaceous scent and their sweetness marry the other ingredients. Then aroma, perfume and taste are strengthened thanks to the emulsion with extra virgin olive oil, let's say it is a tribute to spring, or rather to the sea and the spring countryside. And above all always with an eye to a healthy cuisine for our body that knows how to enhance the genuineness of the territory
Alice's Scooby doo recipe stuffed with Beccafico on Centogiorni Pea Mousse, Orange powder and candied orange
ingredients for 4 pax
16 anchovies
4 gluten free bread pods
4 candied orange zests
5 g orange powder
For the beccafico filling
4 fillets of salted anchovies
120 g of gluten-free breadcrumbs
40 g of grated cheese
20 g pine nuts
20 g raisins
1 orange juice and grated zest
1 lemon grated zest
40 g of chopped parsley
2 minced garlic flakes
40 g of chopped onion
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt and Pepper To Taste
For the pea mousse
50 g of pea puree 100 days
50 g of milk cream
30 g of egg whites
Method
Clean the anchovies well, bone them without separating the two fillets, place them on a sheet of transparent film making a square and overlapping the tails.
For the stuffing, brown the onion in plenty of extra virgin olive oil together with the garlic, remove from the heat, add the carefully desalted anchovies and flake them with a spoon, then add the pine nuts, raisins (previously soaked), breadcrumbs, parsley, the cheese, the citrus zests, the juice, salt and pepper to taste and mix with a spoon, obtaining a homogeneous mixture, obtain 4 spheres and place them on the anchovies that you have prepared on the film previously, then take the 4 sides of the film towards the center and roll up obtaining a sphere and then the "scooby doo". Bake in the oven at 160/170C° for about 8 minutes
For the mousse:
Put all the ingredients in a bowl, season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring constantly with a whisk in a bain-marie, as soon as it thickens, the mousse is ready.
Dish plates
Place the mousse on a deep plate, place the Alice scooby doo, the bread wafer, the candied orange zest on top and finish with orange powder and a drizzle of EVO oil
I Carusi Bio Relais Restaurant
Contrada Piana bucachemi sn, 96017 Noto SR
Phone: 347 512 8021
