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Guest Chef - Alberto Melis at Cafe Matisse
Delicious Italian cuisine, excellent service and a convivial atmosphere explain the enduring popularity of Café Matisse. The restaurant has been a preferred dining spot for locals and visitors alike since 1996.
Creator of the dishes that consistently delight Matisse patrons is Italian-born chef Alberto Melis, who honed his skills in upscale kitchens across Europe.
Chef Alberto has a degree from the Istituto Alberghiero, a leading school for hospitality and restaurant workers.
For five years he worked at the five-star Mediterranean Forte Village Resort in Sardinia as an entremetier–a chef who prepares pasta and vegetables. Next, he travelled to England to cook at Assaggi,an exclusive Italian restaurant in London.
A year later, Chef Alberto partnered with friend, Cinzia Caria–now the pasta chef at Matisse–to manage Marina Piccola near Barcelona, Spain. Another year later he travelled to cook in France and North Italy.
“I went to France to study French cuisine, which has a long history and is similar in some respects to the Italian,” he says. “I use the best of both in my cooking.”
In northern Italy, he was sous-chef at Gold–an upscale restaurant in Milan. From there he was lured to The Bahamas by Café Matisse.
“Here I have a very professional team. The staff has a passion for the food,” says Melis. “They can cook Italian food perfectly, and this makes me happy. In other places I have to spend a lot of energy teaching people how to cook Italian food.”
Chef Alberto is a devotee of healthy cooking: “not too much fat and gravy,” he says. Café Matisse prides itself on using quality ingredients and the freshest products. “You cannot cook good food without good quality ingredients,” he says.
“When you sit at the table and the plate arrives, you first eat with your eyes. So presentation is very important. We spend a lot of energy making sure the plate looks nice.”
You can recreate Chef Alberto’s dishes at home with these recipes:
Osso buco alla Milanese
4 osso buco
1 stalk celery, diced
2 carrots, diced
1 medium yellow onion, diced
4 cups of canned plum tomatoes (400g)
1 cup white wine (200ml)
Bay leaf
Fry celery, carrots, onion in extra virgin olive oil. Add white wine and bay leaf. Let mixture boil a few min, then add tomatoes. Cook slowly for 45 min.
Preheat oven to 375˚F. Season osso buco with salt and pepper and brown on both sides in a heavy saucepan on medium heat. Remove osso buco from pan, place in a baking dish with the tomato sauce. Cover with foil and cook in the oven for 2½-3 hrs.
Gremolata (garnish)
Zest from 1 lemon
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
5 tbsp parsley, finely chopped
Mix ingredients in a small bowl.
Risotto
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp finely chopped onions
Pinch of saffron
2 cups carnaroli rice (300g)
1 glass white wine
5 cups stock (1L)
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup freshly grated parmigiano
Heat olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and fry a few min. Slowly add the rice, stir for 1 min. Add wine. Cook until the liquid is absorbed.
Slowly simmer stock in a separate saucepan. Add saffron and a ladleful of stock to the rice, stirring until absorbed. Continue adding stock, stirring frequently. Make sure the stock is absorbed before adding more. The rice is cooked once it is tender, but still retains some bite, about 15-20 min. You may not need all the stock.
Stir in butter and parmigiano. Place osso buco on the risotto, topped with the gremolata. Serves four.
Warm seafood salad with guacamole
4 peeled shrimp
2 lobster tails split in half
12 mussels
4 crab claws
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 lemon
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 tbsp salt
1 clove garlic, minced
Parsley
White pepper to taste
Boil the water with celery, parsley, white pepper, salt and lemon split in two for 5 min. Add shrimp and lobster tails, boil for 8 min. Remove, drain and set aside. Boil crab claws in the same water for 5 min. Remove and drain.
Guacamole
2 firm-ripe avocados
1/2 cup red onion, minced
1-2 serrano chiles to taste, minced
2 tbsp cilantro, finely chopped
1 tbsp fresh lime or lemon juice
1/2 tsp coarse salt
Cut avocados in half. Scoop out flesh and place in a mixing bowl. Using a fork, mash the avocado. Add chopped onion, cilantro, lime or lemon, salt and mash some more. Chili peppers vary in their hotness. Start with a half of one chili pepper, seeds and stems removed and add more to the guacamole to desired taste. Cover with plastic wrap directly on the surface of the guacamole to prevent oxidation and refrigerate 30 min.
In a saucepan, brown garlic in olive oil. Add mussels and cover over low heat until they open.
Spoon the guacamole on plates and then place the seafood, as shown. Sprinkle with extra virgin olive oil. Serves four.
Fruity Bavarian cream
6 leaves colla di pesce (gelatin)
1 cup water
1-1/4 cups freshly puréed passion fruit
1 cup powdered sugar (no starch or other ingredients)
Juice from 1 lemon
1-1/4 cups whipped cream
Soak gelatin leaves in cool water for at least 20 min, transfer to a small pot (do not squeeze). Add water, and heat. Stir gently until gelatin is dissolved. Set aside to cool. Pour passion fruit purée into a bowl, add sugar and mix. Add cooled gelatin. Add lemon juice a little at a time. Fold in the whipped cream. Transfer the mixture to a mold and chill.
Mango Sauce
3 ripe mangoes (each about 3/4 lb)
2 tbsp fresh lime juice, to taste
1 tbsp superfine sugar, to taste
Peel and cut flesh from mangoes and purée with other ingredients until smooth. Force purée through a fine sieve into a bowl.
When thoroughly chilled, dip the mold into hot water for a few seconds and invert it onto a serving dish and decorate. Serves four.
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GuestChef_CafeMatisse_DGJul11
Guest Chef Alberto Melis at Cafe Matisse
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