From the tip of the Italian boot, in the province of Crotone, Caterina Ceraudo opened the doors not only to Dattilo* but also to her family and its history, as the Italian chef comes from a family dedicated to agriculture and wine - in fact, she studied oenology before she became a chef - meaning she is more than capable of conveying her love of products. “I have been lucky enough to be able to recognise the taste of quality since I was a child. It is something visceral, it comes from the land and from my bond and my family's bond with it”. With that premise in mind, Caterina presented three dishes at this special edition of San Sebastian Gastronomika-Euskadi Basque Country, all of them representing the pure essence of Calabria, its land and its sea. 

She started her presentation with “one of the typical flavours of the area, ricotta cheese”. A very dense ricotta, Ceraudo explained, which, when combined with oil and spices, was once known as “the shepherd's breakfast”. Modified and in the hands of this Michelin-starred chef, the shepherd's breakfast becomes a ricotta ravioli with a very light pasta because “pasta is not the main ingredient of this dish, the cheese is”. The ravioli are cooked in water and reduced sheep's milk, to get “that country-like, regional tone”, which is rounded off with water seasoned with pepper, salt, spices to taste and the oil that comes from the ravioli themselves.

Ceraudo's pantry is a magnificent family estate of 70 agricultural hectares from which all the vegetables, seasonal produce, oils and wines used by the chef in her restaurant come. “I cook with what is produced 30 km away in my surrounds, which is why my menus have such recognisable flavours”, Caterina revealed.

And from the land to the sea, with a sea bass prepared with lemon. A caramelised lemon syrup base for an oven-baked sea bass covered with lemon rind accompanied with a powder made from the green leaves of the lemon tree. It is a product without many complements because, as the chef acknowledged, “our kitchen wants to preserve traditional cooking and show it off without much fuss, reducing it to the essentials”. It shows that her teacher was Niko Romito. 

She closed the presentation with a dish that “contains both land and sea, the local flavour of the region”. The chef prepared a ‘frittura’, an old Calabrian recipe that she wanted to revive. Using chicory marinated in salt and water and cooked at pressure to soften it but still retain all its flavour, Ceraudo brought the rolling hills of Strongoli to the plate; and using a sardine preserve typical of the area, she brought the sea in this revised ‘frittura’. 

Canning sardines is an economic activity that is typical of this area of Calabria, meaning that this product is always available, even when it cannot be fished. In fact, Ceraudo says that this dish “was created to support the fishermen in their daily battle to preserve their way of life”. It demonstrates the chef's involvement with the region and its producers, which is why the sardine must be local and not imported. 

In the dish, the sardine is transformed into three textures: a sardine sauce, a sardine powder (the base of a sardine preserve in which the fish is dried and turned into a paste that is used as a spice) and a crispy sardine slice. It is a dish that reflects the flavours of a region “at different times of the day, as the vegetables are picked at one time, the sardine is caught at another...” It is a tribute to a place and its little things, because the greatest meaning often lies in the little things.