WoW's Marianna Penna speaks with Neapolitan Chef, Imma Corrado for a quickfire interview, as she shares her favourite foods, passions, tips and Christmas Eve menu.
Why is cooking your greatest passion?
Because I feel like myself.
Do you cook traditional dishes or experiment with new ones?
Both of them. I like traditional dishes as I love to feel in touch with my roots and ancestors. I love also to experiment with new ones to express myself, the true me, following my instinct.
What is your favourite dish?
All types of pasta, but the Frittata di maccheroni drives me crazy! It is a true Neapolitan dish, an omelette where the main ingredient is represented by pasta. It is simply divine!
What is your favourite traditional dish to cook for guests?
Pasta and potatoes with provolone cheese. Known as a poor dish, but to me, it is rich in authenticity, flavour, and in its simplicity.
What are your sources of inspiration when you cook?
My family. It is like feeling always connected with them. When I cook I feel the moments I normally spend with them, at the table, in day to day life, and the dish made becomes the result, the extension of what I felt during the process of cooking.
Do you refer to cookbooks or do you make up recipes when you cook?
Depends. Sometimes yes. But normally I consult recipe books to interpret the dish in my own way.
Which dish has impressed your guests the most?
Octopus in red wine, risotto with prawns and burrata.
What is the dish you would never cook?
Pizza with pineapple
Which foreign cuisine do you like best?
Japanese. Simple and tasty.
A tip for those who want to try their hand at cooking as a professional or as a simple amateur...
Just a lot of passion and follow your instinct. These are, to me, the two simple ingredients to be a happy chef, despite being a Michelin star chef, where hard work and commitment is really the key.
What would you prepare for us as a Christmas Eve menu?
Cod in batter on cauliflower cream bed Salmon meatballs with lime mayonnaise Manfredi pasta with shrimp and ricotta sauce Squid stuffed with cotechino lentils and confit cherry tomatoes And for Dessert...
Handmade Struffoli, the most popular traditional Neapolitan dessert, a sort of fritters in honey and definitely a homemade limoncello to digest.
You can find Imma on Instagram @ImmaCorradoCatering
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