Massimiliano Alajmo kicks off Madrid Fusión Alimentos de España with no-limits naturalness against a backdrop of blues. Cuisine where produce is the main attraction, where "we seek to showcase the invisible component and make it the star, because cuisine is made up of moments and instants", the Italian chef confessed. "Our intention is to let diners live out those moments, but we also prolong the flavours by deploying the five senses in all lightness and depth", he added.

This young Italian chef, who since 2002 has been the youngest man ever to gain the much coveted third star aged only 28, demonstrates his art at Le Calandre*** (Sarmeola Rubano, Italy), an unforgettable restaurant, one of the must-sees that also makes you feel at home. "We seek proximity with diners and a sincere relationship. An intimate relationship with art and music, where the maxim is to treat customers and food with respect".

He learned the trade working in the kitchens of leading chefs such as Alfredo Chiocchetti, Marc Veyrat and Michel Guérard, and now works at his own restaurant alongside his parents, brother Raffaele and sister Laura. His talk at Madrid Fusión Alimentos de España was 'made in Italia', obviously, with pasta and a risotto. Pasta which emerged like a piece of blues, by error and chance. “We were making pasta with tomato, we used the wrong oil with grains of rice, and we discovered a fantastic recipe, because coffee allows this oil to retrieve an unexpected aromatic fragrance", claimed the Italian chef. 

The pasta cooks for 17 and a half minutes, "half water and half decaffeinated coffee distillate, which produces an involuntary combination of two components of the Naples culture, coffee and "pummarola" (tomato sauce)". Next, a very hot pan is used to cook "coreless garlic, basil, a little guindilla pepper and lavender flower, a splendid accompaniment for coffee", and then the tomato is added in, "about half a centimetre", for heavy evaporation. When the pasta is cooked, he adds "capers until it dries up", and then adds in "some Parmesan cheese with coffee powder". Before serving he adds a few grains of coffee to the pasta, coffee oil and smoked Parmesan, and a liberal dose of tomato sauce.

Massimiliano Alajmo's second offering was a risotto with cuttlefish liver, by way of homage to pure carnaroli rice, a revitalising feature "which inspires us in our underwater searches". The cuttlefish liver is steamed for 30 minutes "with dry herbs such as rosemary, sage and dill" to produce an emulsion "with a reduction of "ponzu" (an African pepper) at very low temperature, lemon juice, mussel and clam water". Then comes an emulsion "with extra virgin olive oil, a Sicilian variant, and we add in microplay grating, soya mayonnaise, oil, smoked stock and two drops of cuttlefish ink".

One of the key concepts of this recipe lies in the rice and its outer texture, which must be "crunchy and compact". It is cooked slowly, with aromatic fragrances added in until the grain is perfect. It is presented in a sauce with spirulina and cuttlefish in its own ink, "crucolese" sardines (previously in emulsion with sweet and spicy pepper), with Parmesan-oiled rice, ginger emulsion, two drops of lemon juice and lemon rind, "which not only gives the recipe some flavour, but also a touch of colour". The dish is rounded off with a fried leek to give it a crunchy touch. There can be no doubt this is naturalness transformed into cuisine.