Food&Kitchen: architect Pier Carlo Bontempi answers our questions

2017-02-06 Pier Carlo Bontempi rose from his office in the province of Parma to international fame. Calling himself the last humanist, he gives new forms to traditional architecture and works on restoration, reconstruction and urban planning projects.
One of his recent projects, the Labirinto della Masone, a maze built in Fontanellato for publisher Franco Maria Ricci, was featured in an exhibition organised by the GranitiFiandre Group in 2015.
What is your first thought when you go into the kitchen?
“I feel homesick. The kitchen used to be my reign, until my wife learned to cook and kicked me out. Now it is the place I would really like to be. But I get back into the kitchen on Sundays, when I cook for fifteen or so guests in a shelter for people in difficulty.”
What dish best represents your life, and why?
“Squash-filled tortelli. A traditional local dish, proof that tradition is “ a series of successful inventions”. Squash is such an important part of our gastronomic tradition, but it originally came from the Americas. Before Columbus, only the decorative varieties were grown in Europe.”
What wine gets your heart beating?
“It may not strictly be a wine, but it’s Fortana, a very fizzy light red drink which produces a full-bodied pink foam and is about 6 or 7 percent alcohol. It is the wine of my childhood. An innocuous wine, which even children can drink, but it’s enough like wine to make you feel like a grown-up.”
What is tops in the kitchen for you?
“Getting my family around the table to enjoy a meal together. And it’s even better if different people make different dishes. There are five of us, including both moralistic vegetarians and undaunted carnivores. It’s a real party when we all get together.”
What is the ingredient you can’t do without?
“There are three things I can’t do without in the kitchen: bread, olive oil and wine. Biblical foods. Psalm 104 says, “ Wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man's heart”. A slice of bread, warmed up, drizzled with olive oil and accompanied by a glass of red wine is a meal fit for a king.”
What is the most fun item in your kitchen?
“The hand-held blender. I use it to cream things for those who are too old to chew. It’s like a magic wand!”
Is there a dish you’d like to try making?
“A salad of Caesar’s mushrooms [Amanita cesarea, ed.], olive oil and a little pepper, because that would mean a really great mushroom harvest. And filets of shaggy ink cap mushrooms [Coprinus comatus, n.d.r] scalded in sizzling butter. A true blessing!”
Which recipe do you do best?
“Fried egg, with the edge of the egg white slightly golden and a creamy yolk. With a sauce made from triple tomato concentrate, diluted with broth, salt, sugar, a drop of vinegar and olive oil which has been flavoured with garlic and shallot, left to marinade in it and then removed. You can sprinkle it with a little bit of grana cheese, not too long aged, but personally, I prefer it without.”
What are the qualities you appreciate in a cook?
“Continuity. As an amateur cook, I would like to achieve consistent results, but I don’t always succeed.”
What does food mean to you?
“It’s the foundation of our sense of community, the reason we live together. Eating alone is something animals do, not humans. Food is social life and relationships.”

Mariagrazia Villa

Photos: Mauro Davoli (1-3)