Viviana Varese's priorities are simple cuisine, local produce and ember grills

Italian Viviana Varese was at the first day of Worldcanic on Wednesday, defending simple cuisine where fire and local produce are the leading lights. She offers up this fare at her new restaurant Villa Dorata Country Restaurant, in Sicily.

Viviana Varese took the Worldcanic congress stage at Jameos del Agua to talk about her new Sicilian project at Villa Dorata Country Restaurant. This is a boutique hotel with thirteen rooms - "an eco-resort", as the Italian defines it - which was set up after the pandemic, where the chef seeks to "reconnect with nature". A far cry from the fare at her urbanite Viva (Milan), in this case the chef focuses on simple cuisine with local produce, where fire is of great relevance. 

After the video showing the restaurant and its surroundings, Viviana touched on the great diversity and delicious products in Noto, the Sicilian town in which it is located. This area takes its special features from the nearby Etna volcano, a key factor in the fertile soil which caters for many and varied crops. “There are almond trees, lemon trees, orange trees, vines ... 3/4 of the produce grows close to Etna because that's where the most fertile soil is”, she told the congress. 

The chef also dwelt on the diversity of a landscape with more than 20 types of ancient grain (which they use to make bread, pizzas and part of the boutique hotel's breakfast), frijol beans, prickly pears, a local black pig and a bee - in danger of extinction - "which produces a marvellous honey".

Varese went on to say that Villa Dorata's cuisine is cookery with low environmental impact, and that the restaurant has two plantations. The first is biodynamic, it is staffed by people in risk of exclusion, and more than 100 seeds are planted there. The second concentrates more on herbs for vegetarian recipes, and is also a space for organising events.

The talk ended with a four-recipe showcook. The first, a fire-cooked potato with a dressing of fresh lemon, fermented and powdered, with squid presented in a pre-grilled lemon leaf. The second, a salad with prickly pears, a number of vegetables from the plantation - with several different kinds of tomato - and a prawn cooked in fig tree leaves with a mixture of egg white, salt and coal. The third, an oven-confited roast pepper with fermented goat's cheese in fig tree leaves and mackerel grilled in fig tree leaves. Finally, a fusion of steak tartare, roast beef, a smidgeon of mayonnaise, salad, onion, marrow and a demi-glace.