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If you loved Chef Alex Simone’s exquisite Mediterranean cuisine at Restaurant Le Sereno, chances are you’d also love it on your holiday table.

So as a gift from our family to yours, here are three of his exclusive recipes to spice up your holiday cookbook this season. Happy holidays from Le Sereno!

Ingredients: (Serves 5)
500 gr Spaghetti

Tomato Sauce:
Ingredients:
1 can of peeled tomatoes (500 gr)
1 large white onion
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper
3 springs of basil
5 gr caster sugar

Method:
Sweat the onion (no color) with a bit of olive oil, add the tomato, and slowly cook until liquid is reduced (takes about 3 hours). When ready, season with salt, pepper and sugar, and infuse the basil. Let it cool and then pass sauce trough the food mill.

To finish, warm a pan with a bit of olive oil and add the tomato sauce. Once you have boiled the spaghetti, add the spaghetti to the pan with the tomato sauce and let cook for at least two minutes. Finish by adding around 8 filleted tomato petals.

Pea Puree
Ingredients:
3 l. chicken stock
250 gr. unsalted butter
1 bag of frozen peas
Salt

Method:
In a large pot, bring the chicken stock to a boil and add the butter. Then add the peas and bring to boil again. Simmer for 45 seconds then drain the liquid (keep the liquid). Mix the remnants in a blender for 3-4 minutes (add cooking liquid if necessary) and season. Sieve through the chinois and cool down in the chiller.

Ink and Pepper Crust
Ingredients:
1 bag of panko bread crumbs
4 Tbs. squid
2n Tbs. grounded black pepper

Method:
Mix everything in a robot coupe until nice and soft. Put to dry in a gastro for a couple of hours, then store.

Olive and Caper Powder
Ingredients:
1 can of taggiasca olives
1 can of mini capers

Method:
Separately rinse taggiasca olives and mini capers in hot water. Then dehydrate them at 60°C for about 3-4 hours. Chop to a fine powder, then mix 65% olive powder and 35% capers powder.

Datterini Emulsion
Ingredients:
500 g. datterini tomatoes
Salt
Icing sugar
100 ml. cherry vinegar
Olive oil

Method:
Cut the datterini in half. Marinate them with cherry vinegar and a sprinkle of icing sugar for 2 hours. Then blend at max speed, slowly adding olive oil until you have an emulsion. Sieve through the chinois.

Tomato Base
Ingredients:
50 blanched tomatoes
4 white onions
½ head of garlic
3 large shallots
Garlic oil
Sugar, salt, pepper, lemon zest
1 marjoram

Method:
Blanch the tomato and peel (with 30 of them you need to cut in 4 and clean from the pulp; to keep on the side). Then season with sugar, salt, pepper, lemon zest, and garlic oil and place in the oven at 85°C until ready. Finely julienne the onion (no color) and sweat with the garlic; add the remaining tomato and the pulp. Cook slowly for 2 hours. Infuse the marjoram for 20 min then pass through the food mill. Reduce again then mix with blender and pass through chinois. When the tomatoes are dry, make concasse and add to the shallot brunoise and a bit of tomato sauce.

Clams and Mussels
Ingredients:
2 large white onion
2 fennels
3 kg mussels
3 kg clams
1 liter withe wine

Method:
Julienne the fennel and the onion and sweat them. Then combine with wine and mussels in a heating pot, cover and let mussels open (will take 3-5 min). Drain and cool down in the chiller (keep liquid). Clean them from shells. Same procedure for the clams.

Paccheri
Ingredients:
1 kg mezzi paccheri

Method:
Blanch the paccheri for 8 minutes and cool the down in trail with olive oil room temperature.

Semi-dried Tomato
Ingredients:
1 container cherry tomatoes
Salt, sugar, pepper, garlic oil

Method:
Blanch cherry tomatoes and mix with salt, sugar, pepper, and garlic oil. Dry for 3 hours at 70°C.

To Finish
Ingredients:
10 Paccheri
3 Squid tentacles
4 mussels
6 clams
2 semi dried cherry tomatoes
½ spoon tomato relish
1 spoon chilly oil
Clams liquid
Spring onion
White wine
Lemon confit
Bottarga
Parsley

Method:
Sweat the spring onion with the chilly oil; add wine and reduce. Then add the tomato relish, tomato sauce, clams liquid, and semi dried tomatoes. Cook the blanched paccheri for another 5 min, then add them to the sauce. Finally, add the squid, mussels, and clams. Finish with parsley julienne.

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