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CAPTAIN'S TABLE - Chef Villardo Purificacion
A Recipe for the Captain's Table from Chef Purificacion
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Costa Cruises Once Executive chef aboard Costa Cruises’ Costa Victoria, now rumored to have his own restuarant in Denmark, Villardo R Purificacion Jr, didn’t have an easy job.
"My biggest challenge," he said, "is pleasing the culinary palates of all Costa’s passengers." It may sound like an impossible task, but catering to the varieties of cultures, religions and traditions observed by the ships multitude of passengers is what made his job so rewarding.
Bringing us a taste of one particular culture, this Captain’s Table recipe from Villardo’s kitchen has a distinctly Italian flair.
Pasta Trio
Pasta Trio is a combination dish of three different pastas, each with a sauce from one of three different regions of Italy and each representing one of the three colours of the Italian flag: Trenette pasta with a green Pesto sauce (from the Ligurian Region around Genova), Farfalle pasta with a red, tomato Pomodoro sauce (from the Napoli area) and Penne with a four cheese sauce (from the north).Sounds like too much work? Not really - and the results are worth it! Cooking the pasta is as simple as it usually is. The trick is in the three sauces.
The Pesto Sauce is easy enough. In a food processor, purée 2 cups of fresh basil, 1/3 cup chicken stock, 3 tablespoons olive oil, 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese, 2 tablespoons toasted pine nuts and 2 tablespoons crushed garlic. Toss with Trenette pasta.
For the Pomodoro Sauce, sauté 3/4 cup chopped onions with 2 tablespoons crushed garlic until tender. Add 3 cups of sun-ripe tomatoes, 1 teaspoon dried oregano, a couple of bay leaves, salt and pepper and simmer for about an hour. Toss with Farfalle pasta.
For the Four Cheese Sauce, make your favourite white sauce and add, according to taste and consistency required, gorgonzola, provolone, pecorino and bel paese cheese. Toss with Penne.
Serve all pasta together and garnish with fresh chopped parsley.
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