INCREDIBLE MEAT, VEGETABLES IN THE PAN, NEW FRIENDS, AND ONE DISH THAT CAME OUT OF NOWHERE.
THE PLACE
Italy does something to a cook. You land, somebody puts a coffee in your hand, and within the hour you are standing outside over a pan with people you met that morning, cooking like you have known them for years. That is how this day went.
THE CHEF
Max Mariola is one of Italy's beloved cooks, the kind of chef whose kitchen feels like a family party that happens to produce extraordinary food. Cooking next to him is easy, because he cooks the way he talks: generous, loud, and all heart.
THE COOK
I will remember that meat for the rest of my life. Vegetables hit the pan and sautéed while steaks got flipped outside, everybody laughing, nobody measuring anything, and somehow out of that beautiful mess came a dish nobody planned. The best food of my life has almost always happened exactly like this: outside, with friends, with no recipe.
WHAT STAYED WITH ME
Making new friends in a kitchen is the fastest friendship there is. You can keep your networking events. Give me a pan, a fire, and a chef like Max, and by lunch we are family.
SHOP THE STORY
Cooking outside, Italian style: olive oil first, questions later. The cookbook has my versions of the classics.
TF Olive Oil x La Belle Excuse: $34.95 CAD
Toujours Faim Cookbook: $39.95 CAD
Classic Apron: $60.00 CAD
By Laurent Dagenais.
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