Great Italian Chefs Masterclass

We recently had the pleasure of attending the Michelin-starred Costardi Brothers exclusive Masterclass hosted by Great Italian Chefs and Lavazza. The event took place at the Food at 52 Cookery School in the heart of Clerkenwell, a unique venue which provides a relaxed environment perfect for cooking.

A selection of food bloggers, press and other members of the food industry came together to watch the award-winning duo from Vercelli, Italy in action. The brothers made up of Christian and Manuel are distinctly different but equally talented. As the elder by 9 years Christian states, ‘Manuel is the sweet part, I am the salty part; Manuel is the working part, I am the speaking part’.

The brothers are famous for their amazing risotto, creating their own branded rice from Piedmont’s most famous crop and serving it in new and exciting ways. Naturally therefore, our evening began with their Coffee and Parmesan cream risotto. The brothers cooked the dish for us and served it in their trademark cans (dedicated Christian even has a tattoo of the can on his leg). The beer reduction and ground coffee proved to be an unexpectedly delicious combination when partnered with the rich parmesan.

We then had a chance to create the dish for ourselves under the watchful eye of the brothers. According to Christian the key to risotto is to to treat it like your lover, which we must have done as after tasting Manuel claimed ours was, ‘Perfetto’. A definite highlight of the night.

Next up was their stunning Meringue 2.0 dessert. The kitchen was transformed into a lab as they made ice cream using liquid nitrogen, which has a boiling point of -196 degrees celsius. The ice cream combined with lemon meringue, chocolate sauce and cream created a simple but exquisite dish. The addition of salt, pepper and ground coffee created a dynamic flavour combination that only enhanced the sweet elements.

The Costardi brothers were exceptionally charismatic hosts, with their passion for food shining through in their innovative approach to cooking. Their dishes tasted incredible and we will definitely be attempting the Coffee and Parmesan risotto at home, we will however leave the liquid nitrogen to the experts.