Charlotte Metcalf

Heavenly simplicity

When ingredients are as good as those to be found in the Italian region of Puglia, a cooks needs to do very little to create spectacular dishes. Charlotte Metcalf learns from a master

issue 09 April 2011

Borgo Egnazia in Puglia opened last year and immediately gained a reputation as one of Europe’s most spectacular holiday resorts, not least thanks to its cookery school under the tutelage of the resort’s executive chef, Mario Musoni.

Until recently Musoni had his own Michelin-starred restaurant outside Milan. When I asked why he didn’t seem unhappy to be uprooted from his hometown relatively late in life, he grinned and replied: ‘This is where the best food is. Milan’s vegetables come from down here. Puglia is the garden of Italy.’

Indeed, Borgo Egnazia is surrounded by orchards, olive groves and vegetables thrusting up from rich soil. There is also a daily supply of fresh fish from the nearby village of Savalletri, and one warm, sparkling morning, Musoni took me to the fish market, right on the water where the boats chug in with their catch.

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