December 2017 Digital Issue
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COMPETITION COVERAGE<br />
PASTA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP<br />
Pasta<br />
PERFECT<br />
STORY BY ROSANNA CAIRA<br />
Leave it to an Italian pasta manufacturer to<br />
come up with the concept of a global pasta<br />
championship. In a country where pasta is a<br />
national obsession — and part of its culinary<br />
fabric — there are never enough pasta recipes.<br />
Barilla’s Pasta World Championship pitted 20<br />
young chefs from around the globe against<br />
each other to determine who could create the<br />
perfect pasta dish with the best new recipe.<br />
U.S.-based chef<br />
Accursio Lotà<br />
wins Pasta World<br />
Championship<br />
in Parma, Italy<br />
The sixth-annual competition<br />
got underway<br />
at Milan’s Palazzo del<br />
Ghiaccio and wrapped<br />
up in Parma at Academia<br />
Barilla — the international<br />
centre created by<br />
Barilla to spread awareness<br />
of Italy’s gastronomic<br />
culture worldwide. When<br />
all was said and done,<br />
Accursio Lotà, chef at<br />
Solara restaurant in San<br />
Diego, Calif., was crowned<br />
winner of the Barilla Pasta<br />
World Championship<br />
and presented with the<br />
Golden Tarella (die used<br />
to extrude pasta). Lotà,<br />
a native of Italy, won the<br />
two-day competition<br />
by beating out competitors<br />
from 15 countries<br />
(including Canada, which<br />
was represented by Joey<br />
Restaurants’ chef Connor<br />
Gabbott) and four continents<br />
with his “Seafood<br />
Carbonara,” an homage to<br />
the most celebrated and<br />
discussed pasta recipe.<br />
Lotà’s winning dish<br />
was a unique take on<br />
the traditional Italian<br />
recipe, featuring an explosion<br />
of baroque flavours<br />
and tastes of Sicily. The<br />
32-year old chef took the<br />
Carbonara concept and<br />
substituted the chicken<br />
eggs typically used in<br />
the recipe with seafood<br />
eggs. He then used green<br />
mandarins and red<br />
Mazara shrimps — classic<br />
ingredients from<br />
Sicily — to give the dish<br />
a Mediterranean flavour.<br />
As part of the dish, Lotà<br />
cooked seafood, scallops,<br />
red shrimps from Mazara<br />
del Vallo, cuttlefish and<br />
amberjack filet at a low<br />
temperature in guanciale<br />
fat to mimic the<br />
rich meatiness of pasta<br />
Carbonara, without eggs<br />
and dairy.<br />
Lotà, whose win was<br />
announced to thunderous<br />
applause from the<br />
audience said, “This success<br />
means a lot for me.<br />
It was so exciting to be<br />
chosen amongst the three<br />
finalists and winning has<br />
been amazing.” His dish is<br />
reflective of Lotà’s vision<br />
of the future of pasta. “I<br />
work abroad, but due to<br />
my Italian roots, pasta<br />
is already perfect in its<br />
simplicity. This is why<br />
the future of pasta, in my<br />
opinion, will be realized<br />
not only by reinventing<br />
pasta according to oneself,<br />
but by regenerating<br />
and reworking the classic<br />
accompaniments and<br />
FOODSERVICEANDHOSPITALITY.COM<br />
DECEMBER <strong>2017</strong> FOODSERVICE AND HOSPITALITY 7
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