From Italy, With Love

This chef from Tuscany churns out homemade favourites from his country, while sticking to a traditional cooking style enhanced by modern techniques.

Lifestyle Insider Italian restaurant Zanotta at The Leela Ambience Gurugram

When it comes to a world cuisine like Italian, beloved of so many, it’s wise to nurture a more classic approach, even while using the most authentic ingredients, and refined techniques. At The Leela Ambience Gurugram Hotel and Residences fine dining Italian restaurant Zanotta, Chef Daniele Di Sacco, who hails from Pisa, Tuscany, and who has taken over the kitchen in recent months, has done just that, with a bit from everywhere. “What I have done is create a menu with dishes from all over Italy,” says Chef Daniele. “Each region will have its own specialty. For example, where I’m from in Tuscany, minestrone and bruschetta are the most famous dishes.” So his spaghetti carbonara comes from Rome, while the sea bass is from the Calabria region. Genova is home to the famous pesto sauce, while the tenderloin buffalo-based ossobuco (served with Milanese risotto) comes from Milan. And to represent Siciy, Chef Daniele serves up a cassata for dessert.

Lifestyle Insider Chef Daniele Di Sacco

But what is Chef Daniele’s hero dish at Zanotta? “I would say our homemade pasta and fettucine,” he says. Of course, he uses 00 flour (the most finely ground) for pasta and pizza dough – and his Neapolitan pizzas are delightful. They are soft, and crunchy on the edges, and take just 90 seconds in the wood-fired oven in Zanotta’s open kitchen. “That’s because it’s 75 percent water in the dough,” says Chef Daniele, “And this makes it cook quickly.” All the key ingredients that go into his Italian kitchen, such as burrata and mozzarella cheese, and olive oil, and imported from Italy.

Like most Italians, Chef Daniele’s fondness for food began at home, in his nonna and grandfather’s kitchen. “When I was 12-13, my sister had this game she used to play, the Dolce Forno (Sweet Kitchen), which was an oven that made small desserts. When I saw her with that, I knew that I wanted to cook, as my future job.”

Lifestyle Insider Tortelloni on a bed of cherry tomato sauce

He says he’s very classic in his approach, although the techniques may be very modern. “I can’t change the process to make, say tortelloni,” says Chef Daniele. “But there’s the right technique to make the mushroom sauce, starting with olive oil, add onions, and after 2-3 minutes, the mushrooms. My ingredients will remain the same.”

“Nowadays, I see that the trend is for the Michelin star, that was the goal in Italy, a decade ago,” he says. “But now everyone is going back to tradition. Look at a Spaghetti al Olio – it may seem simple but it’s hard to make. Or a classic tomato sauce. I take a red onion and cook it for four hours, as I need to remove the acid in it. Then I add my Mutti tomatoes. This dish just uses olive oil, basil, salt, and pepper.”

Lifestyle Insider Classic Neapolitan Pizza

A dish he would love to innovate in the future is to create a sort of sushi roll from a baguette, cut into slices. “We would then put toppings like tuna, smoked salmon, parma ham, burrata, and roll each slice – like focaccia – or a sushi!”

Lifestyle Insider Seasonal salad with parmesan

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Priya Kumari Rana

Lifestyle Insider is a kind of junction point, connecting people with diverse interests that touch on the more luxurious aspects of lifestyle – fashion, design, travel, food and spirits, art, watches and jewellery, cars, yachts, and aviation, and technology. People today don’t fit into boxes and categories. In our individual ways, we are interested in diverse themes, products, and the challenges that face our world today. You will judge how well this effort of mine caters to your passions and proclivities.

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A bit about me:
A luxury and fashion journalist with 25 years of experience in publishing and magazine journalism, I have edited some of India’s top fashion and luxury magazines. I got my BA in Comparative Literature from UC Berkeley, and went on to receive my Master’s in English and French from the University of Strasbourg, France. I have also studied German and Film. I live in Gurugram, India, and look forward to once again exploring our world with a new-found freedom.

Priya Kumari Rana

Founder and Editor
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