Identikit of the chef
Name: Marco
Last name: Ambrosino
Place and date of birth: Procida (NA) June 13, 1984
Age: 33
Residence: Milano
Name of restaurant: 28 Posti
Restaurants before this one: Il Melograno (Ischia) Noma (Copenhagen) Buongusto (Milano)
Name of sous chef: Filippo Mariani
Kitchen brigade: Marco Ambrosino, Filippo Mariani, Franco Salvatore, Caterina Mocellin
Front of house: Giulia Caffiero (maitre); Riccardo Meconi (sommelier); Alice Masi
Last music album downloaded: “Better Days” Osvaldo Di Dio
Last book read: Raccontare il Mare by Bjorn Larsson
Favourite ingredient: tomato
Most hated ingredient: I don’t hate ingredients
Dish of a lifetime: “la chiajozza”
Most venerated maestro: Libera Iovine
Most respected same-age colleague: Oliver Piras
My idea of cucina in 10 words: Cucina is a discovery of new things, of forgotten things
Most loved restaurant abroad: La Huella in Maldonado (Uruguay)
The wine above all others: Trebbiano
If not a chef, I would have been: a journalist
Photo by courtesy of Marco Varoli
Recipes: La Chiajozza; Tagliolino, leek, candied lemon, powdered capers; Pork belly, cauliflower, mint, winegarum; Ricotta, pollen gelato, citrus fruit ash, mullet bottarga
La Chiajozza
Ingredients for 4 servings
8 mantis shrimp
80 g sea urchin pulp
200 g cappuccio cabbage
2 egg whites
maritime pine needles
grapeseed oil
squid ink
For the maritime pine oil: in a Bimby, process equal weights of maritime pine needles and grapeseed oil to blend.
For the sea urchin gelato: combine sea urchin pulp, salt, pepper, lemon juice. Place mixture in an ice cream maker.
For the ‘sand’: bake the shells of the mantis shrimp in an oven at 180°C. Beat two egg whites into peaks. Add a tablespoon of squid ink. Dry in a 60°C oven. In a processor, blend the meringues and the dried shrimp shells to obtain a thin sand.
Assemble the plate: season the shrimps with maritime pine oil. Add julienned cappuccio cabbage, dressed with apple vinegar and mint. Complete with a scoop of sea urchin gelato and the fake sand.
Tagliolini, leek heart, candied lemon peel, caper powder
Ingredients for 4 servings
300 g tagliolini
100 g salt-preserved capers
4 medium-sized leeks
2 lemons
extra-virgin olive oil
For the leeks: cook leeks whole on a charcoal grill until completely burned outside. While still warm, place into a hermetic container. When cooled, open and extract only the soft heart.
For the caper powder: rinse capers well, then place in oven at 60° C until completely dry.
For the candied lemon peel: blanch the lemons in water three times. Boil in equal parts of sugar and water until completely candied.
Boil the tagliolini in salted water. Stir quickly in a pan with the leek and extra-virgin olive oil. Complete the dish with a dusting of dehydrated capers and the zest of candied lemons.
Pork belly, cauliflower, mint, wine garum
Ingredients for 4 servings
1/2 kg pork belly
100 g cauliflower
100 g Marsala
100 g soy sauce
100 g extra-virgin olive oil
50 g salt-preserved anchovies
20 g water
20 g butter
4 juniper berries
2 grains long pepper
Juice of 1/2 lemon
2 celery stalks
2 carrots
1 onion
2 bay leaves
mint
For the meat: simmer the pork belly for an hour in salted water with the celery, carrots, onion and bay leaves.
For the cauliflower: cut into thin slices and place in a pan with water, butter, salt and lemon juice. Cook over high heat for 10 minutes. Puree in a blender until smooth.
For the wine garum: rinse and fillet the anchovies. With a handheld processor, puree with soy sauce, pepper and Marsala until smooth.
To finish: grill the boiled pork belly over charcoal, arrange on dish and season with wine garum. Cover the meat with julienned mint and complete with a tablespoon of cauliflower cream.
Ricotta, pollen gelato, citrus fruit ash, mullet bottarga
Ingredients for 4 servings
250 g milk
250 g fresh cream
200 g ricotta
100 g citrus zest
50 g sugar
20 g sugar
30 g mixed-flower pollen
mullet bottarga
For the gelato: make a base of fiordilatte gelato, add mixed-flower pollen and place mixture in an ice cream maker.
For the citrus ash: burn in a 220°C oven equal amounts of zest of lemon, orange, mandarin oranges and lime. Process in food processor to obtain a fine powder.
To finish: spread ricotta in a deep plate, dust with citrus ash, complete with a scoop of pollen gelato and a dusting of grated mullet bottarga.
28 posti – Milan – via Corsico, 1 - +39 028392377 - www.28posti.org/
