Recipes from great chefs. 4 dishes by Marco Ambrosino

“Cucina is a discovery of new things, of forgotten things”.

A view of Marco Ambrosino's cuisine through 4 of his tastiest recipes.

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 journalis

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/