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Chef Marco Talamini's recipe: Cod in three consistencies, or rather the exaltation of nuances

The starred chef Marco Talamini plays his cuisine in the refined restaurant of La Torre di Spilimbergo which creates awe for his story on the simplicity of the relationship between the exaltation of the naturalness of the ingredient and the harmonious relationship with the combinations

Chef Marco Talamini's recipe: Cod in three consistencies, or rather the exaltation of nuances

Getting there is real magic: the village of the Spilimbergo castle built in the 1532th century, today appears as a ring around the large central courtyard where one is fascinated by the "painted palace", which takes its name from the elegant frescoes in the XV by the painter from San Vito Andrea Bellunello. Here everything drips with history: from the hospitality offered in 1556 to the emperor Charles V then in 1574 to Bona Sforza, queen of Poland, and again in XNUMX to Henry III of France to the tumultuous events linked to the Spengenberg family of German origin, who arrived in Friuli around the XNUMXth century which gave its name to the locality, soon becoming very rich and powerful. But this castle was also the cause of wars, armed clashes, the victim of fires and devastation causing considerable damage.

However, its charm remains intact when you arrive in the large courtyard of the Castle and you have the illusion of entering another dimension, of going back in time to the glories and evils of its history. And you enter the La Torre di Spilimbergo restaurant almost with awe, which opened its doors way back in 1983 on the ground floor of the beautiful painted Palazzo. Today, in a romantic atmosphere where modern cuisine blends into a location of great historical impact, it is the reign of 62-year-old Marco Talamini from Ampezzo who after numerous experiences in high-ranking restaurants in Italy (Marchesi, Sadler, Peck) and at abroad at the age of 27 he opened his first restaurant, Bacco Tabacco, in Treviso on which he landed a Michelin star. Company repeated later with his new restaurant in Vigodarzere PD which duly earned the red star.

Member and regional delegate for the Veneto region of the prestigious Jeunes Restaurateurs d'Europe association, called to join Eurotoques since 1996, the association that brings together the best chefs in the European community, professor of Italian and local cuisine at the IAL in Aviano, Marco Talamini and owner of haute cuisine courses abroad, Marco Talamini, as sometimes happens, came to the kitchen almost by chance.

“When back in 1974, my mother pushed me to go to hotel management school – he recalls today – I wasn't very convinced that this would be my future, but then when I entered the trade, I realized the infinite possibilities I could have by learning as much as possible on this wonderful world, after having traveled for about ten years in hotels and restaurants in Italy and France, I opened my first restaurant in Asolo in the province of Treviso, and after a year, partly out of curiosity and partly ' to understand if I was on the right path, I went on an internship for a month in Milan with Gualtiero Marchesi and there I understood that cooking can become an art form, and really give emotions to those who use it".

If the locality intimidates, on the other hand, the cuisine of La Torre di Spilinbergo stands out for its simple immediacy, and for its ability to know how to enhance the raw material treated with great care in respect of its flavors and the values ​​of its territoriality.

”I like – explains the chef – playing with combinations, meat and fish enriched with vegetable nuances, vegetables are present in almost all my dishes, either in the form of a sauce or as a contrasting combination of the main raw material, I always try and however the harmony of flavors and colors, trying to respect the characteristics of the product I work as much as possible, and giving importance to even the smallest or poorest ingredient. Quality in this type of cuisine - he adds - is fundamental, today it is not so difficult to have quality ingredients available, and this is why I do the shopping myself, and when I can't I rely on suppliers that I know personally and trust, this type of research allows me not to necessarily have to transform the ingredients too much foods and to be able to present them in their recognizability, in fact in my dishes there are very rarely foams, spumettes and techniques that tend to deconstruct and then recompose. naturalness is expressed in my dishes, but above all one must be able to recognize what one is eating.

The philosophy that underlies Talamini's gastronomic idea is to focus on cooking each ingredient, to make it work at its best, and then work on the combinations and nuances to find the gustatory balance in the dish.

“All this – concludes the chef – I call my philosophy of TRE…. protagonist ingredient with two reinforcing elements, three consistencies, three colors or shades ….”.

And this relationship between the ingredient, in this case the cod that spans centuries of Friulian history, and the odd numbers of gustatory nuances, is fully applied in the refined dish proposed this week by Chef Marco Talamini to the readers of Mondo Food

Creamed cod recipe with three textures of pumpkin

ingredients for 5 people

350 grams creamed cod

500 grams of pumpkins

two grams of pumpkin seed oil

500 mg of apple cider vinegar

Method

Peel and cut the long part of the pumpkin (long Neapolitan) with a mandolin into slices 4 cm wide by 15 cm long and 2 mm thick. cut the squash scraps into cubes reduce the apple cider vinegar to syrup.

Arrange the pumpkin slices on a lightly greased plate with extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Also brush the surface with oil and then add salt. Cut the remaining 10 slices of pumpkin in half, obtaining two rectangles of 5 cm by XNUMX cm, further cut into julienne strips.

Bake the pumpkin slices in a mixed oven at 200° for about two minutes. Fry the lightly floured pumpkin julienne in oil at 140° until crisp. Cook the squash scraps with stock and blend to a creamy consistency

Finishing

Prepare creamed cod medallions (you can use pre-cooked cod fillet if you wish, steam for 5 minutes) wrapped in cooked pumpkin slices and warm them in the steam oven for one minute. Heat the pumpkin cream

Welcome

arrange on a plate under a spoonful of pumpkin cream, place a cod medallion on top of it garnish with the fried pumpkin and a few drops of pumpkin seed oil mixed with the apple cider vinegar syrup and a few pumpkin seeds

La Torre restaurant in Spilimbergo Castle

Piazza Castello 8 – 33097 Spilimbergo (Pn)

Tel 042 750555

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