Chef Antonio Lerro

1. We are very pleased to ask some questions to you, now that you came back to Le Marche region after various and different experiences in Italy and abroad.
Can you tell us something about your professional career?
We know very well that Chef Alain Solivèrés and Philippe Mille, and besides them, Domenico Candela Chef with his Neapolitain cooking have been your masters.
What did you take with you from these two worlds the French cousine and the Italian one, or rather Neapolitain one? What do you put in your menu from these two experiences?

I started my professional life with a huge curiosity and the desire to learn from the best chefs. At the beginning I was used to work in a little family owned activity.
Then I left first for Italy and then for France.
I have had the honour to work with two great masterchefs: Alain Solivèrés with his rigorous and refined vision of French cousine and then with Philippe Mille who taught me the importance of precision and technique.
At the same time I started a new project in Naples, I’ve learnt a lot from this experience and it touched my creativity so deeply.
These two souls -the French and the Neapolitain one-live together in my cooking the first gave me the structural system the second one the emotion.
I combine them to create “deep” recipes, with their own identity but always elegant, up to date and totally tyed to my personal vision.

2. Your cooking is modern, a kind of fine dining tyed to your roots but always exploring the future
In a recent interview during the Award you ‘ve received as best emerging Italian chef, you‘ve said that the “suitcase”(in a metaphorical sense of course) has been your travel mate. Perhaps one needs to make so many trips around the world to know different realities and at the end one comes back home with his personal synthesis. Is that correct?

Yes, it’s true, I do think that travelling, physically and internally is fundamental for being a chef. In my opinion the “suitcase” is a symbol of experiences, meeting and contamination.I was looking for the world to understand better who I was, to widen my taste vocabulary , to learn ,to observe and then re interpret. Coming back to Le Marche region was natural for me: my roots are here.Today my cooking is the result of this path : a fine dining that talks about this territory but also about the future , a synthesis of all I have experienced and loved.

3. Do you like to share with our audience your experience and your recipe with T&C truffle products? How these products helped you to express your creativity?
Recently we have been your hosts and we loved your Riva restaurant inside the 5 starred hotel View Palace in Numana, your welcome experience and your sophisticated and unique recipes.
Can we say that this is one of your goals? I mean creating an all year loyal customers?

According to me the collaboration with T&C Truffles company has been really a stimulating experience.Their truffle products are really of an highest quality level.
They allowed me to explore new combination and to give added value to Le Marche region identity. The Riva Restaurant location, inside the View Palace in Numana, was designed to welcome, amaze and make our guests feeling at home, with an out of ordinary experience.
Yes I do say that one of my fundamental goals is creating loyal customers coming to us all year round, also out of the summer season. I want to create an authentic and lasting relationship with whom have choosen my cooking.

Tagliolini with white truffle cream, mallard duck puree, vadouvan jus, and cypress oil

Ingredients (4 servings)

For the tagliolini
• 350 g of fresh egg tagliolini
• 1 knob of butter

For the truffle cream T&C Tentazioni Truffle
• 1 80g jar of T&C Tentazioni Truffle – Cream of cheese with white truffle

For the mallard duck puree
• 1 mallard duck breast (approximately 250–300 g)
• 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
• Salt, pepper

For the jus al vadouvan
• 250 ml brown game or duck stock
• 1 teaspoon vadouvan
• 1 knob of butter for whipping

For the cypress oil
• 80 ml grapeseed oil
• 40 g cypress

How to do it

1. Olio al cipresso
Heat the oil to 50–60°C.
Add cypress.

Turn off and let it infuse for 30 minutes.

Filter.
→ It must be green, aromatic and balsamic

2. Mallard duck fillet
Photorealistic version (raw/seared):

1. Beat the breast very finely with a knife.
2. Season with a drizzle of oil, salt, pepper, and a pinch of rosemary/thyme.
3. Set aside.

3. Jus al vadouvan
1. Reduce the brown stock with the vadouvan until it reaches a glossy, full-bodied consistency.
2. Filter.
3.Whip with a knob of butter.

5. Cooking and stirring the tagliolini
1. Cook the tagliolini for 2 minutes in salted water.
2. Drain them and toss them in a pan with a knob of butter.
3. add the cream

Plating

1. Base: Place a drizzle of white truffle cream on the bottom of the plate.
2. Tagliolini knot: Roll the pasta into a nest and place it in the center.
3. Mallard duck batter: Place a generous spoonful over the pasta.
4. Jus al vadouvan: Pour it around and slightly above the nest
5. Cypress oil: A few drops of bright green around.