Platters of passion
Guy playing the sanxian (三弦) and singing a traditional...
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Guy playing the sanxian (三弦) and singing a traditional poem Jake:
I was walking through the hutongs around Qianmen and this guy invited me in to his home to play some traditional Chinese instruments for me
An evening with Michelin-starred chef Igor Macchia.
AS cocktail hour descended upon Mandarin Oriental Kuala Lumpur's MO Bar, a loud greeting of "Buona sera!" rang out from one corner of the room. All heads could not help but turn to the source of this exclamation, a petite dynamo of a woman named Erika Ribaldi, area manager — Asia Pacific for Marchesi de' Frescobaldi, safely the oldest winemaker in the world.
Ribaldi was in town from her base in Bangkok to help Mandarin Grill host an amazing wine dinner featuring the culinary talents of one-Michelin-Star chef Igor Macchia and the exquisite wines of Marchesi de' Frescobaldi. As usual, such an event drew many lovers of epicurean delights; the crowd that evening comprised mainly those already fans of the Frescobaldi house and merely curious of Macchia's much-talked-about skills.
Marchesi de' Frescobaldi has been making wine since 1308, with a history of trading wines to Michelangelo in exchange for paintings and supplying bottles to England's Henry VIII. Obvious then that its wines need no more promotion, just a fun occasion to drink and celebrate. So it was only fair that although this showcase featured a shared marquee for Marchesi de' Frescobaldi wines, Macchia's cuisine and Mandarin Grill's impeccable service, the evening would be centred on Macchia and his repertoire.
Macchia runs the highly acclaimed Ristorante La Credenza, which he co-owns, just outside of Turin in northern Italy. The 34-year-old has spent many years experimenting and creating his style of cuisine as a chef and as a pastry chef, vindicated by the one Michelin star awarded to La Credenza in 2006. A regular globetrotter, Macchia is inspired by the richness and vastness of flavours across different cultures and the subtle Eastern influences his essentially Italian cuisine is noted for.
Ribaldi says she has worked often with Macchia on most Frescobaldi-related events. While at first it was for his talent, her preference to invite him over and over again is mainly because of his heart.
"When we did one event in Thailand, I invited him to join me on one of my causes — I volunteer some of my time to children growing up in slums. He rolled up his sleeves and joined me unhesitatingly, and I knew then that he cooked the same way," Ribaldi says.
And that evening, passion was served over a six-course dinner. It was a most harmonious gastronomic symphony, the prelude being the Calamari all griglia, gamberi fritti, salsa di patate allo zenzero (simply, grilled squid and fried prawns with ginger and potato sauce) served with Danzante Prosecco NV.
As Macchia told us before dinner, "I don't like my dishes to be too fancy. I believe that you would want to taste what you ordered. You order squid, you get squid."
And squid we received, juicy and tender, with a little smoky flavour. Beside it, a juicy prawn, battered and fried. Bringing the two together was the ginger and potato sauce, a simple sauce that excited the palate. The sauce was light yet creamy, where the ginger was obvious yet not aggressive. We enjoyed it with the crunch of the prawn and the delicate chewiness of the squid.
The Danzante Prosecco NV washed it down very well. Intensely fruity, this extra dry spumante was crisp and finished smoothly, prepping the palate for the next spoonful. The first dish and the prosecco proved to be a nice opening to the meal, awakening the appetite.
One of my favourites was the next dish, lobster cappuccino with salted croissants. This is apparently one of Macchia's signatures. There was such rich lobster flavour in the soup, and instead of the usual heavy cream, the consistency was much like frothed milk. It left one wishing for more than the coffee cup serving we were presented with.
(Clockwise from top): Braised Wagyu beef cheek, Tonka
beans flavoured with green apple and vegetables
paired with Frescobaldi Castelgiocondo DOCG Brunello
Di Montalcini 2003; Grilled squid, fried prawns with
ginger and potato sauce paired with Attems Pinot
Grigio IGT Friuli 2010; Lobster Cappuccino, which
comes with a salted croissant with Marchesi de'
Frescobaldi Pomino Bianco Doc Pomino 2009.
Needless to say, it went very well with the Marchesi de' Frescobaldi Pomino Bianco DOC Pomino 2010, a blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Bianco. The prominent sea and lobster aroma of the soup went really well with the clean-edged aromas of the Pomino Bianco. The savoury fruit and vibrant acidity offered a nice balance to the richness of the lobster.
The dish that followed — the Piedmont cheese risotto, coffee powder and black truffle — was a trying one. It was easy to enjoy at first, a nice medley of nutty, woody and smoky flavours. The blend offered a vibrant and jolting tasting experience, but as coffee has a way of engaging and subsequently taking over the palate, this dish was a little hard to enjoy towards the end for a non-coffee drinker such as I. Truthfully, even the Marchesi de' Frescobaldi Tenuta di Castiglioni IGT Toscana 2008 could not remedy the situation. On its own though, the wine was delightful. I chose to focus my energy on this instead. Berry delicious, this wine had an amazing complexity with dense but supple tannins. On the nose, you got nice smoky tobacco leaf, sweet vanilla and spicy cinnamon — no doubt a great pairing with the aromas of the risotto — while on the palate, there was a warm, velvet smoothness.
A dish of pan-seared red snapper came next, dressed in a green pea sauce and garnished with grilled endive. I knew very well that Macchia would have wanted me to really taste the fish, but it could have used a little more seasoning. However, the plating was gorgeous, with the white of the snapper, the brown of the grilled vegetable laid artistically over the blanket of green. And the wine — the Marchesi de' Frescobaldi Nipozzano Riserva Chianti Rufina Riserva DOCG 2007 — was fish friendly. For me, the wine's spiciness helped in part to jazz up the unspectacular flavours of the fish.
The next course was the highlight of my evening. It was two of my favourites — beef cheek and Marchesi de' Frescobaldi Castelgiocondo DOCG Brunello di Montalcino. The beef cheek was braised and served with Tonka bean-flavoured green apple sauce and vegetables. The doneness on the cheek was beautiful, melting like butter in the mouth. This tender texture was apparently the result of a slow braise of over 24 hours. The Tonka beans helped to enhance the freshness of the green apple, which made a nice acidic companion to the rich beef flavour.
The Brunello eased the dish along, keeping up with the heaviness of the beef cheek with a lively and generous nose of dried plum, plum jam and blackcurrent and a smooth, long finish.
The dessert provided an elegant finish to our six courses. It was a rather clever creation of an orange crème brulée encased in chocolate mousse and garnished with a strand of fried spaghetti.
This made the list of my top three favourites from Macchia. I loved his clever expression of textures and flavours. There may have been little on the plate but once in the mouth, the complexity of the dish was a little more obvious.
Macchia is no show-off. He lets his food speak for itself; even his plates are a practice in elegant simplicity. True, not all his dishes were an instant hit, but his passion and respect for the ingredients were evident with each mouthful.
Ma Po Tofu (stir-fried tofu in hot sauce) is the most well-known dish among the spicy and hot dishes of Sichuan Cuisine. It looks a dish mixed with yellowish-white tofu and reddish brown chili sauce. Ma Po Tofu is made of soft tofu, ground pork, chopped chili, prickly ash powder and broad bean paste. It is rich in protein, calcium, iron, vitamins and carbohydrates, featuring an outstanding effect in strengthening the middle burner and replenishingqi (essential energy), removing the poisonous quality of any substance, nourishing the marrow as well as replenishing the essence. People often use seven words to describe this dish which are numbing, spicy, hot, fresh, tender, delicious and crispy.
Ingredients
• 4 ounces ground pork
• 1 (14 ounce) package soft tofu (bean curd cake) , drained and cut into cubes
• 1 tablespoon chopped green onion
• 2 tablespoons dry sherry
• 1/2 tablespoon fermented black beans, rinsed and mashed
• 1/2 tablespoon chili paste
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon white sugar
• 1 tablespoon cooking wine
• 1 tablespoon starch(corn or potato starch), mixed with equal parts water
Directions
1. Heat a large skillet over high heat until hot. Add some cooking oil, swirling to coat sides. Add in the chopped ginger to be stir-fried by high heat for about 10 seconds, add in the broad bean paste and stir-fry them together until smelling fragrant, about 20 seconds.
2. Pour in the ground pork and stir-fried it for about 1 minute on high heat, add in the cooing wine and the soy sauce and stir-fry them together for a furthur 1 minute until the ground beef is 90% percent cooked.
3. Pour in the tofu cubes, add in the salt and white sugar and stir-fried them for about 2 minutes on high heat until all of the tofu cubes are covered with the seasoning sauce.
4. Add in the previously prepared wet starch flour and stir well for 20 seconds until you feel it is a little bit sticky. This process is mainly to thicken the flavored sauce to stay with the bean curd and the pork.
5. turn off the heat, add in the chopped green onion and the prickly ash powder. Stir them with cooking ladle until they are mixed with the other ingredients in the wok. Then ladle the delicious Ma Po Tofu out of the wok and put it into a fine porcelain plate.
Cooking Tips
You can control the spice by varying the cayenne. This dish is best served with steamed white rice.
Chinese name: 麻婆豆腐 (má pó dòu fu)
AS cocktail hour descended upon Mandarin Oriental Kuala Lumpur's MO Bar, a loud greeting of "Buona sera!" rang out from one corner of the room. All heads could not help but turn to the source of this exclamation, a petite dynamo of a woman named Erika Ribaldi, area manager — Asia Pacific for Marchesi de' Frescobaldi, safely the oldest winemaker in the world.
Ribaldi was in town from her base in Bangkok to help Mandarin Grill host an amazing wine dinner featuring the culinary talents of one-Michelin-Star chef Igor Macchia and the exquisite wines of Marchesi de' Frescobaldi. As usual, such an event drew many lovers of epicurean delights; the crowd that evening comprised mainly those already fans of the Frescobaldi house and merely curious of Macchia's much-talked-about skills.
Marchesi de' Frescobaldi has been making wine since 1308, with a history of trading wines to Michelangelo in exchange for paintings and supplying bottles to England's Henry VIII. Obvious then that its wines need no more promotion, just a fun occasion to drink and celebrate. So it was only fair that although this showcase featured a shared marquee for Marchesi de' Frescobaldi wines, Macchia's cuisine and Mandarin Grill's impeccable service, the evening would be centred on Macchia and his repertoire.
Macchia runs the highly acclaimed Ristorante La Credenza, which he co-owns, just outside of Turin in northern Italy. The 34-year-old has spent many years experimenting and creating his style of cuisine as a chef and as a pastry chef, vindicated by the one Michelin star awarded to La Credenza in 2006. A regular globetrotter, Macchia is inspired by the richness and vastness of flavours across different cultures and the subtle Eastern influences his essentially Italian cuisine is noted for.
Ribaldi says she has worked often with Macchia on most Frescobaldi-related events. While at first it was for his talent, her preference to invite him over and over again is mainly because of his heart.
"When we did one event in Thailand, I invited him to join me on one of my causes — I volunteer some of my time to children growing up in slums. He rolled up his sleeves and joined me unhesitatingly, and I knew then that he cooked the same way," Ribaldi says.
And that evening, passion was served over a six-course dinner. It was a most harmonious gastronomic symphony, the prelude being the Calamari all griglia, gamberi fritti, salsa di patate allo zenzero (simply, grilled squid and fried prawns with ginger and potato sauce) served with Danzante Prosecco NV.
As Macchia told us before dinner, "I don't like my dishes to be too fancy. I believe that you would want to taste what you ordered. You order squid, you get squid."
And squid we received, juicy and tender, with a little smoky flavour. Beside it, a juicy prawn, battered and fried. Bringing the two together was the ginger and potato sauce, a simple sauce that excited the palate. The sauce was light yet creamy, where the ginger was obvious yet not aggressive. We enjoyed it with the crunch of the prawn and the delicate chewiness of the squid.
The Danzante Prosecco NV washed it down very well. Intensely fruity, this extra dry spumante was crisp and finished smoothly, prepping the palate for the next spoonful. The first dish and the prosecco proved to be a nice opening to the meal, awakening the appetite.
One of my favourites was the next dish, lobster cappuccino with salted croissants. This is apparently one of Macchia's signatures. There was such rich lobster flavour in the soup, and instead of the usual heavy cream, the consistency was much like frothed milk. It left one wishing for more than the coffee cup serving we were presented with.
(Clockwise from top): Braised Wagyu beef cheek, Tonka
beans flavoured with green apple and vegetables
paired with Frescobaldi Castelgiocondo DOCG Brunello
Di Montalcini 2003; Grilled squid, fried prawns with
ginger and potato sauce paired with Attems Pinot
Grigio IGT Friuli 2010; Lobster Cappuccino, which
comes with a salted croissant with Marchesi de'
Frescobaldi Pomino Bianco Doc Pomino 2009.
Needless to say, it went very well with the Marchesi de' Frescobaldi Pomino Bianco DOC Pomino 2010, a blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Bianco. The prominent sea and lobster aroma of the soup went really well with the clean-edged aromas of the Pomino Bianco. The savoury fruit and vibrant acidity offered a nice balance to the richness of the lobster.
The dish that followed — the Piedmont cheese risotto, coffee powder and black truffle — was a trying one. It was easy to enjoy at first, a nice medley of nutty, woody and smoky flavours. The blend offered a vibrant and jolting tasting experience, but as coffee has a way of engaging and subsequently taking over the palate, this dish was a little hard to enjoy towards the end for a non-coffee drinker such as I. Truthfully, even the Marchesi de' Frescobaldi Tenuta di Castiglioni IGT Toscana 2008 could not remedy the situation. On its own though, the wine was delightful. I chose to focus my energy on this instead. Berry delicious, this wine had an amazing complexity with dense but supple tannins. On the nose, you got nice smoky tobacco leaf, sweet vanilla and spicy cinnamon — no doubt a great pairing with the aromas of the risotto — while on the palate, there was a warm, velvet smoothness.
A dish of pan-seared red snapper came next, dressed in a green pea sauce and garnished with grilled endive. I knew very well that Macchia would have wanted me to really taste the fish, but it could have used a little more seasoning. However, the plating was gorgeous, with the white of the snapper, the brown of the grilled vegetable laid artistically over the blanket of green. And the wine — the Marchesi de' Frescobaldi Nipozzano Riserva Chianti Rufina Riserva DOCG 2007 — was fish friendly. For me, the wine's spiciness helped in part to jazz up the unspectacular flavours of the fish.
The next course was the highlight of my evening. It was two of my favourites — beef cheek and Marchesi de' Frescobaldi Castelgiocondo DOCG Brunello di Montalcino. The beef cheek was braised and served with Tonka bean-flavoured green apple sauce and vegetables. The doneness on the cheek was beautiful, melting like butter in the mouth. This tender texture was apparently the result of a slow braise of over 24 hours. The Tonka beans helped to enhance the freshness of the green apple, which made a nice acidic companion to the rich beef flavour.
The Brunello eased the dish along, keeping up with the heaviness of the beef cheek with a lively and generous nose of dried plum, plum jam and blackcurrent and a smooth, long finish.
The dessert provided an elegant finish to our six courses. It was a rather clever creation of an orange crème brulée encased in chocolate mousse and garnished with a strand of fried spaghetti.
This made the list of my top three favourites from Macchia. I loved his clever expression of textures and flavours. There may have been little on the plate but once in the mouth, the complexity of the dish was a little more obvious.
Macchia is no show-off. He lets his food speak for itself; even his plates are a practice in elegant simplicity. True, not all his dishes were an instant hit, but his passion and respect for the ingredients were evident with each mouthful.
Ingredients
• 4 ounces ground pork
• 1 (14 ounce) package soft tofu (bean curd cake) , drained and cut into cubes
• 1 tablespoon chopped green onion
• 2 tablespoons dry sherry
• 1/2 tablespoon fermented black beans, rinsed and mashed
• 1/2 tablespoon chili paste
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon white sugar
• 1 tablespoon cooking wine
• 1 tablespoon starch(corn or potato starch), mixed with equal parts water
Directions
1. Heat a large skillet over high heat until hot. Add some cooking oil, swirling to coat sides. Add in the chopped ginger to be stir-fried by high heat for about 10 seconds, add in the broad bean paste and stir-fry them together until smelling fragrant, about 20 seconds.
2. Pour in the ground pork and stir-fried it for about 1 minute on high heat, add in the cooing wine and the soy sauce and stir-fry them together for a furthur 1 minute until the ground beef is 90% percent cooked.
3. Pour in the tofu cubes, add in the salt and white sugar and stir-fried them for about 2 minutes on high heat until all of the tofu cubes are covered with the seasoning sauce.
4. Add in the previously prepared wet starch flour and stir well for 20 seconds until you feel it is a little bit sticky. This process is mainly to thicken the flavored sauce to stay with the bean curd and the pork.
5. turn off the heat, add in the chopped green onion and the prickly ash powder. Stir them with cooking ladle until they are mixed with the other ingredients in the wok. Then ladle the delicious Ma Po Tofu out of the wok and put it into a fine porcelain plate.
Cooking Tips
You can control the spice by varying the cayenne. This dish is best served with steamed white rice.
Chinese name: 麻婆豆腐 (má pó dòu fu)
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