Meet Chef Massimo Pettinau ...
Born and raised n Cagliari, Italian Chef Massimo enjoyed a typical Italian upbringing. Naturally, he was introduced to the Italian cuisine from an early age by his mother but especially by his grandmother with whom he used to spend a lot of time helping in the kitchen as a little boy. Soon Massimo developed a keen interest in Italian cuisine and particularly in the preparation of homemade pasta.
After finishing his high school, the decision to become a cook was easily made and in 1997 he obtained the degree “Tecnico dei Servizi della Ristorazione”. In the same year, Massimo decided to make a next step in his career and moved to London where he was able to build himself a good reputation in some of London’s best hotels at the famous Park Lane.
After introducing Italian cuisine in a luxury hotel in Manila, Massimo made his way to Abu Dhabi where he has been resident Italian Chef since the beginning of 2009 at the Sheraton Abu Dhabi Hotel & Resort.
Chef Massimo quickly established his idea of traditional Italian cuisine coupled with modern elements in the kitchen of the Italian restaurant, La Mamma.
(Photos and Contents courtesy of the Sheraton Abu Dhabi Hotel & Resort)
La Parmigiana di Melanzane
{ Parmigiana describes a classic Southern Italian dish made with shallow fried eggplant slices layered with cheese and tomato sauce and baked in the oven. Variations made with breaded meat cutlets, such as veal and chicken parmigiana, have been developed in other countries, usually in areas of Italian immigration. Parmigiana is also used as an adjective in the names of other unrelated dishes from Parma cuisine, such as Trippa all Parmigiana (Parma-style tripe). }
Recipe
Ingredients:
3 kg / Eggplant
1 kg / Tomato sauce
200 gr / Basil
1 kg / Mozzarella cheese
500 gr / Parmesan cheese
200 ml / Extra virgin olive oil
100 ml / Soya oil
50 gr / Salt
10 gr / Black pepper
200 gr / Onions
50 gr / Garlic
Method;
- Slice the eggplant in rounds with a thickness of 2,5 cm
- Pan fry the eggplant and sprinkle a little bit of flour to absorb less oil.
- In the mould, put the eggplant and layered it with tomato sauce, parmesa cheese and mozzarella cheese - do 3 layers.
- Bake it for 15 minutes at 175 degrees
- Serve hot with some tomato sauce.
_________________________
_________________________
