Florence Chef Puts Olive Oil at the Center of a Summer Menu

At his restaurant Ora d’Aria in the heart of Florence, chef Marco Stabile designed a summer lunch centered on extra virgin olive oil and dedicated to Olive Oil Times readers.

His love of cooking was born in his grandmother’s kitchen and deepened alongside his mother before taking him to other parts of the world.

A summer lunch needs to be fresh and light, yet satisfying and full of flavor and vibrant notes. This is where extra virgin olive oil takes center stage.– Marco Stabile, chef, Ora d’Aria in Florence

Stabile refined his technique and gastronomic sensibility in several European countries and the United States before returning to his native Tuscany to establish a place devoted to what he describes as an “authentic and innovative” culinary expression.

At Ora d’Aria, he reinterprets classics with “respect and lightness,” creating dishes elevated by a highly skilled use of extra virgin olive oil.

“A summer lunch needs to be fresh and light, yet satisfying and full of flavor and vibrant notes,” Stabile said as he introduced his creations. “This is where extra virgin olive oil takes center stage.”

Chickpea cake with baby squid, samphire and robiola – Torta di ceci con totanetti, salicornia e robiola

“Our starter is a chickpea cake prepared like a crepe, roasted in a carbon steel skillet and then filled with small squid cooked in extra virgin olive oil, samphire and robiola,” Stabile explained.

Chickpea flour, water, salt and extra virgin olive oil are the fundamental ingredients of the cake, traditionally baked in a wood-fired oven in Tuscany and Liguria.

In its various regional forms and names, the preparation spread to other parts of Italy, including Piedmont, Emilia-Romagna, Veneto and Sardinia, and reached Provence in France, Buenos Aires and Montevideo through Italian migration.

Stabile adds rice flour to the original recipe. He lets the batter ferment overnight in the refrigerator, skims off the foam that rises to the surface the following day and cooks it in a carbon steel skillet with extra virgin olive oil.

“The small squid are cooked using olive oil poaching,” the chef said. “On the plate, they are combined with samphire, which adds a touch of salt and iodine to the recipe, bringing depth of flavor as well as a crunchy note, and the robiola cheese. Two tiny calamint leaves add a bright, refreshing note.”

For the dish, Stabile chose a fragrant Leccino monovarietal with bright, fresh notes.

Ultra tomato and Tuscan bread soup with basil gelato – Ultra-pappa al pomodoro con gelato al basilico

“In my Ultra-pappa al pomodoro served with basil gelato, the evolution lies in the four different tomato varieties — Florentine tomato, datterino, cherry tomato and Camone prepared confit — combined with Tuscan bread in two textures, soft and crunchy,” Stabile said of his reinterpretation of the popular Tuscan peasant dish.

“The magical touch of fresh warmth and the refreshing flavor of basil gelato complete the sensory adventure.”

Ingredients for 4 servings

Ultra-pappa al pomodoro

• 200 g – 7 oz (1 ¼ cups) freshly picked Florentine ribbed, datterino and cherry tomatoes (when preparing this dish in winter, canned tomatoes may be used)
• 100 g – 3.5 oz (½ cup) confit Camone tomatoes (peeled, deseeded and dried at 70 °C – 158 °F)
• 100 g – 3.5 oz (1 cup) soaked Tuscan breadcrumbs
• 50 g – 1.75 oz (1 cup) thinly sliced Tuscan bread
• 50 g (3 ½ Tbsp) extra virgin olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 g (½ tsp) sweet pimentón
• 2 g (½ tsp) spicy pimentón
• Salt to taste

Basil gelato

• 200 g – 7 fl oz (⅞ cup) milk
• 75 g – 2.6 oz (⅓ cup + 1 Tbsp) sugar
• 50 g – 1.75 fl oz (¼ cup) fresh cream
• 2 g (½ tsp) carob seed flour
• 60 g – 2.1 oz (2 cups loosely packed leaves) basil, blanched and cooled

Preparation

Separate the tomato pulp from the tomato water. Reduce the tomato water by half over low heat. Sauté the garlic in extra virgin olive oil, remove it and add the tomatoes. Cook for about 20 minutes, then pass through a food mill.

Add the confit tomatoes, cut into small cubes, along with the reduced tomato water and both types of pimentón. Cook for a few more minutes and season with salt.

Boil the milk with the carob seed flour and sugar. Let it cool, then add the cream and puréed basil. Transfer the mixture to a batch freezer and churn until it reaches the desired consistency.

Alternatively, use a freezer, whipping the mixture every 10 to 15 minutes until solidified.

When ready to serve, toast the very thin slices of bread in the oven. Serve the pappa al pomodoro piping hot on a plate, add a scoop of basil gelato and finish with crumbled crispy bread in the center.

Stabile finished the dish with a Frantoio monovarietal, whose vegetal, intensely fruity notes and hints of fresh grass, artichoke and green almond highlight its nuances.

Fricassee of Sicilian red prawns with Tuscan round zucchini – Fricassea di gamberi rossi siciliani e zucchine tonde Toscane

“To complete the savory experience, I propose a fricassee of Sicilian red prawns and Tuscan round zucchini,” Stabile said. “The sweetness and salinity of the crustaceans are beautifully balanced by the gentle bitterness and saltiness of the just-picked vegetable.”

The fricassee is prepared with prawns, a broth extracted from their heads, and sautéed, crispy zucchini, all brought together by a velvety egg yolk that binds the different textures of the composition.

“For this dish, I chose an oil that evokes the notes of a vegetable garden,” Stabile said. “A Maurino or a Nocellara del Belice monovarietal would be ideal.”

Sweet Oil – Olio Dolce

Stabile created the Olio Dolce dessert in 2008 as a tribute to extra virgin olive oil and its versatility in cooking.

It consists of four preparations, three featuring a different oil and one incorporating olives, with an additional olive oil used to finish the dish.

Ingredients for 4 servings

Semolina and Robiola Cream

• 250 g – 8.8 oz (1 cup + 2 Tbsp) water
• 50 g – 1.75 oz (⅓ cup) semolina
• 150 g – 5.3 oz (⅔ cup) robiola cheese
• ½ lime, juiced
• 35 g – 1.2 oz (2 ½ Tbsp) extra virgin olive oil with artichoke aroma

Cook the semolina with the water, then add the remaining ingredients and heat to 70 °C (158 °F) in a cooking blender such as a Bimby or Thermomix.

White Chocolate and Extra Virgin Olive Oil Mousse

• 100 g – 3.5 oz (½ cup) cream
• 50 g – 1.75 oz (¼ cup) cream, to whip
• 15 g – 0.5 oz (1 Tbsp) white chocolate
• 20 g – 0.7 oz (1 ½ Tbsp) granulated sugar
• 10 g – 0.35 oz (2 tsp) extra virgin olive oil with tomato leaf aroma
• 1 g – 0.035 oz (¼ tsp) agar agar
• 1 g – 0.035 oz (¼ tsp) carob gum

Boil the cream with the sugar, then add the agar agar and carob gum. Pour the hot mixture over the chopped white chocolate and mix until smooth. Add the extra virgin olive oil and allow the mixture to cool. Fold in the whipped cream.

Taggiasca Olive Gelato

• 250 g – 8.8 oz (1 cup + 2 Tbsp) whole milk
• 175 g – 6.2 oz (¾ cup) cream
• 125 g – 4.4 oz (½ cup + 2 Tbsp) granulated sugar
• 25 g – 0.9 oz (1 Tbsp) glucose
• 3 egg yolks
• 1.5 g – 0.05 oz (½ tsp) carob seed flour
• 25 g – 0.9 oz (2 Tbsp) pitted Taggiasca olives in extra virgin olive oil

Pasteurize all ingredients except the olives. Finely chop the olives and add them to the gelato maker while churning.

Extra Virgin Olive Oil Crumble

• 100 g – 3.5 oz (¾ cup) flour
• 60 g – 2.1 oz (4 Tbsp) extra virgin olive oil with almond aroma
• 100 g – 3.5 oz (½ cup) granulated sugar
• 30 g – 1 oz (2 Tbsp) egg white

Mix all ingredients in a stand mixer until the mixture resembles sand. Spread on a Silpat and bake at 180 °C (356 °F) for seven minutes.

The preparations are plated and finished at the table with Ascolana extra virgin olive oil, which expresses an enveloping tomato aroma.

Ora d’Aria
Via dei Georgofili, 11R, 50122 Florence, Italy
+39 055 200 1699
oradariaristorante.com
Open for dinner Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Closed Thursday and Sunday.