The Oil according… Valeria Piccini and Maurizio Menichetti 7 Febbraio 2014 – Posted in: . ENGLISH TEXT
The testimonies of Valeria Piccini and Maurizio Menichetti owners of restaurant Da Caino in Montemerano, published in The Land of Olive Oil 2014.
Valeria Piccini
Valeria
“Since I was a child I have grown up surrounded by my grandfather’s and my dad’s olive groves. With Maurizio we took over their management to produce our own oil following the entire production chain to ensure a better quality. I have been working in the kitchen for 35 years. I don’t use butter for my pastries and and my menu only has one dish that uses butter as an ingredient. All my preparations are based on Extra-virgin olive oil, from bread, to the definition of the dishes. We fry with olive oil and I have also created an oil- filed raviolo. Considering it an ordinary ingredient is out of the question. It has become an absolute protagonist that has established the primacy of taste”.
Maurizio
“My father is the one who taught me everything. My mother and I opened the restaurant in 1971 and Caino, my dad, helped us every weekend. I learned everything from him, even how to make wine. Everything of course. With Valeria, we took over my father-in-law, Enzo Piccini’s fields. All this for a profound need to return to basics, starting from the land to pass on to the production of quality olive oil that would re-evoke ancient flavours that are made even better today by State-of-the-art production”.