Of yellow risottos, trains to Rome and traveling dishes: the Camavitè's Ri | Sotto Marino
Have you ever tried to ask a Roman what is the most beautiful thing about Milan?
Not to spoil anything, but know that 99% of his answer will be the following: er train back to Rome.
What fools!
Folklore aside, we asked Vincenzo the same question and do you know what he answered?
The train back to Peschici!
No, he didn’t, he replied to us. “the risotto Milanese!”.
What does a peschiciano have to do with yellow risotto
It was 2015 and Vincenzo was on his way to Vercelli to taste his first Milanese risotto.
His girlfriend at the time, with whom he lived in Casale Monferrato, had decided to take him to Cinzia, the owner of a restaurant known for having more than twenty risottos on the menu, all strictly served in the “jar.”
It was love at first sight.
Risotto was the “first first” that Vincenzo learned to cook.
Perhaps that is why he remained so attached to a dish so geographically distant from his culinary tradition.
And perhaps that is why, so many years ago, he decided to include it in the Camavitè charter.
A new old entry on the Camavitè menu: the Ri | Sotto Marino
Those who have known us for a while (and have already come to eat at Camavité) will be very familiar with the Ri | Sotto Marino.
A Milanese risotto with an unmistakable yellow color prepared with an intense ragu of golden gauze mullet from the long cooking process and enriched with a final addition of raw Cristalda oysters, those savory and delicate ones that Vincè likes so much.
It was delicious, the fact is that Vincenzo at the beginning of the season decided to take it off the menu.
He had something else in mind for one of his heart dishes….
It took several reflection sessions and a few more white hairs to reach a breakthrough and concretize his vision.
Rumor has it that that dish is about to return to Camavitè’s sea-view tables as early as late July.
Can we believe it?
Yes, because secretly confessing it to us was Mari, aka Vincenzo’s favorite niece.
P.S. This is a confidential information eh, so don’t share it with our Instagram friends, because they don’t deserve it (they could read this post, tié!).
But let’s banish all grudges, what do we mean by “concretizing his vision”?
Vincenzo decided to make that risotto a traveling dish, a canvas on which to paint experiences, passions and traditions.
A risotto to be declined weekly with ingredients from different regions and countries.
Well, so much for vision!
Vincenzo’s new Ri | Sotto is a eulogy to contamination: a melting pot of different influences, flavors, and scents, a symbol of a journey begun and never finished that cyclically feeds itself.
Which then, if you think about it, is very consistent with the initial evolution of this dish.
If at first there was only saffron, over time an oily fish brodetto was added first, then an intense ragout of redfish or mullet.
Only at the end came the oysters, the savory and delicate ones.
To give you an idea of Vincenzo’s energy-mist-folk-avant-garde, one of the last times we took the talk the leader told us:
“I had imagined a Peschici-Milano sushi with yellow rice, salmon and oyster. Or a risotto with oyster butter and katsuobushi at the end of cooking. Caciocavallo cheese mantecature, oyster sauce and gold leaf.”
More contaminated than that!
We, however, are looking forward to August to (re)eat Vincenzo’s risotto.
He did not want to reveal anything to us, however, we are very curious to find out the itinerary that will make this dish so ambitious but at the same time so respectful of the raw material, wherever in the world it comes from.
What about you, are you coming to be contaminated with us or do you prefer the train back to Rome?