A green chef and just one ingredient
CHEF PROFILE: Franco Aliberti
Hello Lemonistas,
Welcome to your latest edition of The Lemon Grove, where we chat with Italian chef Franco Aliberti. Having worked in Paris with Alain Ducasse and in Modena with Massimo Bottura, the ebullient Franco is now gaining a reputation for no-waste cooking and is popping up on Italian TV in food shows such as Masterchef Italia. In this, the first in a series of chef profiles, we meet Franco and his team preparing a lunch for students and staff at University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo, Italy.
Best wishes
Bruce
Sky blue clouds speckle Franco Aliberti's pristine white chef's jacket. It's a visual clue to his warm, approachable personality. The clouds represent this dynamic young chef's free thinking and unbound imagination. On his right sleeve is an image of himself in profile, as if he were a line drawing. Why, I ask him. "It's all about metterci la faccia," says Franco. "It's an Italian expression roughly translating to not being afraid to stand up for what you believe in."
So, Franco is both a dreamer and a creative chef. His vision includes the politics of food waste and great-tasting, visually appealing food. With an unruly shock of curly black hair, an open, smiley face, and a fizzing energy, Franco is a master of the kitchen.
Chef Franco found himself cooking for students and faculty members at the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo, Piedmont. A student who liked his work, both his cooking and his philosophy of minimising food waste, discovered him through Instagram posts.
The invite to cook at Tavole Accademiche, the university's refectory, which is where I met him, was well received by Franco and the students. Sometimes known as the 'Green Chef', Franco has also taught a masterclass in zero food waste at the university and is set for future classes with culinary and gastronomy.
Franco joins a list of celebrated chefs and restauranteurs who have cooked at including Italian-born Christian F. Puglisi, who created Copenhagen-based Michelin-starred Relæ; Slovenian superstar Ana Roš; Massimo Bottura of Osteria Francescana, the three-Michelin-star restaurant based in Modena, Italy.
The theme for lunchtime was cooking the whole ingredient. Why buy beans and throw away the case, asks Franco. The casing makes up half the vegetable you've paid for and still holds lots of nutrition and value.
Catering managers are more acutely aware of wasting food than home cooks.
But why is cutting out waste so important to Franco? "We must respect the work people, farmers, and growers put into producing our food. And respect the soil and land where it was grown," says Franco.
"I was born to a family of farmers and understand how hard they work to grow the food. Also, you spend money on the whole veg, so why throw half away?"
Franco's mother's love of cooking encouraged him to work in the family kitchen, so he started working in bakeries and rotisserie as a young teenager. A few years later, he studied at a hotel and catering college in the spa town of Salsomaggiore Terme, just northwest of Palma in Emilia-Romagna. This experience propelled him to Paris and the rarefied kitchen of Alain Ducasse. Further honing of his culinary genius took place in restaurants, including Antica Corte Pallavicina with Massimo Spigaroli and Le Calandre in Padova with Massimiliano Alajmo.
By 2012, he had caught the eye of super-chef Bottura at Osteria Francescana, where he focused on the art of pastry. Two years later, his dream of opening his own restaurant was realised in Riccione, a resort on Italy's eastern coast in Marche, Evviva, where he refined his no-waste philosophy.
Since then, Franco has gained experience, plaudits and many awards and has become a respected teacher and popular celebrity TV chef in Italy, including on shows such as Masterchef Italia.
Follow:
Franco Aliberti
University of Gastronomic Sciences unisg.it
What we ate: notes
Fava Bean Focaccia
100% fava beans, including the flour.
The green bean's 50% casing is usually thrown away. Extract the juice to make focaccia dough.
Raw beans, fava beans, olive oil, salt, pepper, and Pecorino cheese can be used to make pesto.
Focaccia was topped with bean paste and pecorino shavings.
Asparagus Cannelloni
Ends: juiced and the liquid diluted with water for the pasta.
Middles: made into a topping cream for the cannelloni.
Tops: lightly fried, added to béchamel and layered over the dish.
Pea Muffin and Foam
Simple torte or muffin: Use fibre from the juicing of the beans and mix with flour for muffin dough.
Put the shell of beans into a mixer. Then combine and cook with beans to make the foamy cream topping.
UNO, In the Kitchen With One Ingredient
Franco's first book, Uno, was published in 2022 and is currently onl available in Italian. It shares his philosophy of using the whole ingredient, not just a select portion. By focusing on one recipe, he is able to extract flavour, well-being, and sustainability from all parts of an ingredient, particularly fruit and vegetables. Twenty ingredients are covered, each offering a story and three recipes.
Once you have purchased the common essential ingredients (oil, salt, pasta, eggs), you can create entire menus using just 'one' ingredient, such as lemons, asparagus, Jerusalem artichokes, or pumpkins.
Cheffy tips, tricks, and strategies are shared to inspire home chefs seeking quick and stimulating recipes. He says to change and adapt recipes as needed. This way of thinking about food involves seeing ingredients as a whole, not simply teasing out the obvious part, such as the sweet asparagus tip.
RECIPE: AUBERGINE CAKE
(Sourced from Uno, by Franco Aliberti)
2 aubergines (400 gm of pulp)
250 gm ricotta
2 eggs
110 gm sugar
20 gm corn starch
Prick the aubergines with a fork, place them on a baking tray lined with baking paper, and bake in the oven at 180°C for an hour.
Let them cool. Remove the peel (keep it aside) before blending the pulp with the ricotta. Then add the eggs, sugar and cornstarch. Gently mix everything, just enough to combine the ingredients.
Pour the mixture into the mould lined with baking paper and bake in the oven at 160°C for an hour. Let the cake cool at room temperature and chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours before unmoulding it.
For the sauce, cooked aubergine peels
60 gm water
100 gm icing sugar
40 gm cocoa
60 gm fresh cream
5 gm isinglass
Blend the peels with water in a saucepan. Add all the ingredients except the isinglass, put on the heat, and stir continuously until the temperature reaches 103 °C (about 10 minutes of boiling).
Filter, add the isinglass previously rehydrated in water, and gently stir the mix until it dissolves completely.
Serve with the sauce.
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BRUCE & THE LEMON GROVE'S EVENTS DIARY
Travel planning for 2024 in the works for Seville, Turin (Slow Food’s Terra Madre), Liguria and Barcelona to name just a few!
Hosting & Cooking on the Demonstration Stage at:
Tonbridge Farmers Market (every second Sunday of the month, 9.30am - 1.30pm)
Next market in Tonbridge, Kent is on Sunday, May 12.
Aylesford Farmers Market (every third Sunday of the month, 9.30am - 1.30pm)
Next market in Aylesford, Kent is on Sunday, May 19.
I'll be sharing recipe ideas using food from the farmers market and interviewing many great local growers and producers making wine, bread, jams, marmalade, and much more. Follow Tonbridge Farmers Market for updates.
Tonbridge Food Festival
Saturday, May 25 and Sunday May 27, 11am - 6pm.
I’ll be on stage throughout the two days, interviewing chefs, stallholders and cooking up a storm with local Kent ingredients.
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Bruce McMichael
Writer, Podcaster, Event Host & Cook, Lemonista
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