The secret of a good dish? "The love. It counts how you cook your food. Doing it well is self-respect "

He started in the kitchen at 14, today he is 47; she owns a restaurant and has been the chef of many artists. And there are many others to whom he would like to propose his dishes.

His dream is to create a day center in his farmhouse dedicated to disabled children of age: "The category that almost never enjoys suitable spaces, apart from the case in which they are housed in paid communities and in which they live permanently, for the rest a they don't think anyone ”. Renata Laria tells L'Unione Sarda about the projects and dreams of a "chef patron" of her restaurant (N'Uovo), in Cassolnovo, but who also thinks about the social function that a profession like hers can have. “When I'm at work I just cook, while outside, in schools or in courses for individuals or prisoners, I talk about my very personal idea of cooking”. And he does not disdain the Sardinian one: "The malloreddus are in my fresh pasta lessons, while for the culurgiones I hope to find an Ogliastra man who teaches me to close them".

Cuisine that he has dedicated to many VIPs: “The Maneskin, Claudio Baglioni, Enrico Nigiotti, the Subsonica, and Ermal Meta when he was still an unknown. But also to the inmates ".

How to the inmates?

“Two very nice experiences. The first in a prison in the Milanese area. The project was to form a team to prepare meals within the facility. Every month the staff changed in rotation, so there was a general lack of interest and difficult situations accumulated. Then in the cells they could cook, hardly anyone ate what came with the trolley. I worked a lot on communication, inviting my students to spread the word about this new formula and the feedback was very positive. I had never prepared 1,200 meals at the same time before either, it was a challenge with excellent results ".

The second?
“He was in another institution in the Pavia area, always with selected inmates. This year there was the first all-female course, at the moment I'm following the only male course ”.

Do you take care of other activities?
“I always say that I am a farmer: producing the vegetables I use in my dishes gives a significant boost. A taste that can be felt, which makes the difference. Then we have various animals, which follows my sister: horses, 4 donkeys that are probably Sardinian, small and gray, then goats, geese, pigs, dogs and cats, chickens, rabbits and guinea pigs. And Billy Elliot, who doesn't know he's a sheep. When he was lighter he jumped and spun, hence the name: he was lost by a flock last year, maybe he was a week old, whoever found him brought him to me because I had a goat that was nursing, it was evening , everything was closed, they thought of us. Another lamb arrived yesterday, it is three days old ”.

It will probably not end up in the pan ...

“Absolutely not, I don't cook lamb anymore”.

How did your career start?

“With a two-year professional training course, right after the eighth grade, and then working in what was at the time a restaurant with a Michelin star, we are talking about the 1990s. To the island of Elba for the summer season and then also a tour of Russia on the occasion of an event in the federal districts, traveling. There have been many experiences, and these are the most emotionally important ones ".

How do you become a chef?

“Not everyone becomes. There is no sector category or trade union. Today it's more of a nickname and no longer a role, this makes me angry. It's easy for me to be a chef, it's just me in the kitchen. The chef is the boss, of course, but above all he is the teacher, he has the obligation to pass on knowledge. But who does it anymore? ".

Did you have a teacher?

“Yes, Antonio Creti, my first teacher at school. Ours was a strange encounter: I was looking around in the laboratory and he approached me without introducing himself and handing me a whip he said to me: 'This will be your scepter'. It enchanted me. Today he says of me that I am 'one of his pride', and I am very pleased ”.

Does it have a "myth" instead?

“Gordon Ramsay, the one who actually influenced everything. It is true that his television personality emerged as one who yelled, yelled and was vulgar, but he managed to simplify everything, to solve the problem of the episode of his broadcasts with communication, he focused on solving problems between people, then came the rest".

Any curiosity about the artists he "fed"?

“Nigiotti, among other things a great gentleman and the most beautiful of all, every evening asked for the ginger infusion; Baglioni, and I unleashed the envy of many friends, gave me a goodnight kiss; but in general for everyone a light and simple diet: salmon, fish, chicken, no elaborations and dishes as light as possible. With some occasional concessions like stew or braised meat. With Ermal Meta there was also the evening of pizza, he and the other authors were crazy about it ".

And the Maneskins?

“With them I wanted to dare. They did not like risotto, which is one of the specialties of my territory, Lomellina. They were more for pasta or lasagna, instead I proposed a saffron risotto. A great success, they then asked me for it other times ".

Oddities?

“Well, one evening - I can't say who - they asked me for burgers and fries…”.

Is there anyone you would like to cook for?

"Vasco Rossi, I grew up with his songs, and Ligabue, who I really like".

What would you prepare?

“A Vasco risotto with nettles, because that's what you don't expect it to be”.

That is to say?

“We are often used to seeing the defect of what we have in front of us, we do not go further. But just be willing to broaden your horizons, to try. Nettles are a bit of a metaphor ”.

For Ligabue?

“Another risotto but with smoke”.

Would be?

“With a cream of aubergines, grown in the open, smoked. It is not my invention, I stole it but personalized it. I associate it with Ligabue: both apparently are one thing and in reality they are another. Maybe he would be amazed with this delicate and slightly poetic recipe suitable for one of his songs, 'The weight of the suitcase' ".

Do you know any traditional Sardinian dishes?

“The malloreddus, which are one of the specialties in my fresh pasta lessons, and the culurgiones that I just eat because I still haven't found an Ogliastra who teaches me how to make the perfect ear closure. Then I grow potatoes, they would be perfect ".

The fregola or fregula?

“I cook it for myself, with clams”.

What do you think of cooking talents?

"I do not like them. With those who participate, especially with the younger ones, and I say this as a teacher, we should be more honest, not give illusions about what it really is to work in a brigade ".

And how?

“Not money, success, making the most 'in' dish and then no one knows the basics: broths, cooking stocks, the use of aromatic herbs. To give an example: I'm not against technology, now vacuum cooking is used a lot, but we don't know how we got there, the culture of cooking has been lost. If they offer me zucchini in December, something is wrong ".

A dish of his own invention from 10 and praise.

"Quail with liquorice, actually born like ducks, boned, with a liquorice-flavored cooking sauce, in the oven or in a pan".

The secret?

"Love, as always when cooking".

What is food for you?

“It's us, we're made of food. Eating well is a great form of respect for ourselves, I teach to respect the ingredients, the nature of the ingredients, which is why I simplify the method. If a cauliflower is born leathery, we must still maintain the color, the nature, the consistency. Each ingredient must be the protagonist, I hate jumble ".

Cooking has become a fashion, why do you think?

“Because tradition no longer exists, mothers have no longer passed it on to their children. Today there is an entire generation that cooks and eats not to feed the spirit too. Smelling a soup when we add salt and feel how the perfume changes is something that is not done on TV, but only between mothers and children, grandparents and grandchildren, brothers and sisters, teacher and pupil ".

These days there is the controversy over the fact that there is no staff for the kitchen and in the dining room, is it true?

"Absolutely yes. The lockdown has done its part but it is also true that certain transmissions have helped, in the negative. The boys are not taught the meaning of sacrifice, but we who chose this job knew it from the start. At 14 when I could stay in the kitchen even 18 hours I was happy, for me it was the possibility of experimenting, I certainly didn't think about exploitation but about my growth. That's how you get good. The experience is made up of a lot of work, yet when you have the passion you don't feel the weight of it. It happens a little in all sectors. Or, at least, it should be so ".