The celebrated Italian chef who's also behind Michelin-starred restaurant Osteria Francescana opens his kitchen to share simple recipes amidst the Italy lockdown
The whole of Italy is on lockdown as part of its fight to contain the spread of the coronavirus. While some locals head to their balconies to share their favourite songs with their neighbours, celebrated chef Massimo Bottura is keeping himself busy and inspiring home cooks with his new cooking show on Instagram, aptly called Kitchen Quarantine.
Debuting last Friday, this series of a nightly live streams shows Bottura cooking a full dinner menu with ingredients found in his fridge. It’s a family affair with Alexa (daughter) acting as the director and Lara (wife) and Charlie (son) serving as taste testers.
“Friday is vegetable day,” shared Massimo. That’s why the first episode began with a simple Thai vegetable curry recipe made with easy-to-find ingredients such as ginger, sweet onion, fresh string beans, coconut milk and curry paste, which he declared was a gift from Gaggan.
The succeeding episodes also saw Bottura simplify complicated dishes, usually served at Osteria Francescana, into much simpler and easy-to-follow recipes, such as tortellini in brodo (broth) and tortellini in panna (cream), which are family favourites. Some recipes also demonstrate ways to work with leftovers, from breakfast pancakes to marmalade peels from the fresh-pressed orange juice.
In the Q&A section, which takes place after the cooking demonstration, Bottura affirmed that his family is doing this because "we just want to be part of the world".
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