You cannot think of visiting Maglie, its beautiful old town center made of Lecce stone and the ancient churches of the beautiful town of Maglie, in the heart of Salento, without taking some time and tasting the recipes and dishes of the Bel Ami restaurant.
Years ago, near the street of Scorrano (home town of the Bros, about whom we told you earlier) , it stood as a fish restaurant and pizzeria and was already very popular.
Today, Bel Ami Ristorante presents itself with a whole new outfit because it is not just a simple restaurant, but it is also a charming accommodation facility and a wine bar for your classy tastings.
You only need to take a tour on the Internet to understand that, through the reviews of numerous guests, this magnificent location delights and meets the taste of the most demanding palates.
Bel Ami Restaurant: located on Via Roma in Maglie (Lecce).
Imagine ancient buildings made of Lecce stone and the pavement overwhelmingly taking the place of asphalt. Well, here we are in the historic center of Maglie, in the heart of Salento, amid ancient baronial palaces, baroque churches, bell towers and fashionable stores.
The area in which it stands is beautiful and well frequented.
The building that houses the restaurant is magnificent: recently renovated (the renovation process took four years), Lecce stone vaults, colorful majolica tiles to walk on, glass doors to walk through.
The weather and mild temperatures gave us the opportunity to dine outside, under the pergola, in the indoor garden. It was a real treat because we had the chance to enjoy the seafood dishes in peace and quiet.
Tiziano Margarito is the restaurant’s chef: young, with a remarkable and respectable background of experience. Several years between France and London have forged his character and style in the kitchen and, the dishes he presents, are positively affected by these international “contaminations”: in terms of flavors and presentations in the implantation.
The menu: what we tasted
The menu is mainly focused on fish, starting from delicious tastings of crudo to slices of swordfish and tuna.
The white wine we sipped, strictly from Salento, a true masterpiece of goodness (we do not mention the winery because we do not advertise individual companies but communicate the excellence of the entire Salento territory).
Next to the classic gallery we are about to present to you, Tiziano, the chef of Bel Ami wanted to tell us about two recipes he is particularly fond of. We will illustrate them to you with all the procedures to follow, so you can replicate them in your homes.
We tasted, for your knowledge:
- Plateau Royale of seafood and shellfish: oysters, walnuts, pelosa, fasolari, Gallipoli purple shrimp, scampi, tuna sashimi and cuttlefish from Santo Spirito (Bari);
- Burratina di Andria with Gallipoli swordfish smoked on olive wood;
- Grilled octopus with sweet and sour peppers;
- Codfish mantecato with a layer of toasted wheat bread;
- Gallipoli purple shrimp with honey ricotta from Maglie;
- Seared Palamita steak with artichokes crudaiola style;
- Tomato and basil orecchiette;
- Octopus cooked in pignata laid on Zollino chickpea puree and rosemary oil;
- Sieglinde di Galatina potato gnocchi on yellow tomato puree with Gallipoli purple shrimp and Andria burratina cheese;
- Fresh chantilly with crumbled puff pastry and raspberry sauce;
- Almond mousse with coffee granita;
- Cupete and homemade cookies.
Chef’s recipes: two delights for your palate
Chef Tiziano Margarito wanted to share two secret recipes with us… and we couldn’t help but taste them.
The first recipe is a fantastic octopus cooked in pignata on chickpea puree from Zollino and rosemary oil while the second is a dish of Sieglinde di Galatina potato gnocchi on yellow tomato puree with purple shrimp from Gallipoli and burratina cheese from Andria.
“Let’s taste” these recipes with our eyes.
Octopus cooked in pignata on Zollino chickpea puree and rosemary oil
This dish involves two steps for recipe preparation: preparing the chickpeas and cooking the octopus in pignata.
Preparation of the chickpeas
Soak the chickpeas overnight. Separately, in a saucepan, you will make a light sauté with celery, carrots and onions, all roughly chopping.
You will drain the chickpeas and put them in the saucepan with the vegetables. After doing this, cover them with plenty of hot water (or vegetable broth). You will combine everything with a bouquet garni (you will take some kitchen string and tie your “aromas” such as sage, rosemary, bay leaf and thyme) and cook for more than two hours. Toward the end of cooking you will salt everything.
You will set aside 1/3 of the chickpeas, while the remaining 2/3 you will need for the puree. Once you have finished pureeing the chickpeas, you will sieve them to remove the skins.
Once your puree is finished, you will combine it with the whole chickpeas and emulsify everything with rosemary oil.
Cooking the octopus in pignata
In a saucepan, prepare a chopped celery, carrots, onions, garlic (1 clove), bay leaves (2 leaves) and add the octopus from Santo Spirito (Bari) cut into pieces.
You will wet with dry white wine and cover the saucepan with a lid, leaving it to cook for about 40 minutes. The saying “Lu purpu se coce intra all’acqua soa stessa” (literally translated to “the octopus cooks with its own water”) is true: you must do this, for about 40 minutes, without adding, for the moment, more water.
After the canonical 40 minutes, you will remove the lid and emulsify with ground pepper, Salento EVO oil and, if necessary, you will “adjust” the flavor with a pinch of salt.
In a soup plate, you will start to serve. The base will be the cream of chickpeas to which you will join the octopus cooked in pignata with all its sauce.
You will serve the dish with a sprinkle of ground pepper and amaze your guests.
Gnocchetti di patate Sieglinde di Galatina on passata di pomodori gialletti, gamberi viola di Gallipoli and burratina d’Andria
Of fundamental importance for this very tasty dish is the preparation of the gnocchetti with Sieglinde potatoes, typical of Galatina.
Follow these steps and you will not regret it.
Preparation of gnocchetti with Sieglinde potatoes
You need to boil the potatoes in plenty of water for about an hour and a half.
Once this time has passed, you need to clean them, and mash them while they are hot.
For one kilogram of potatoes remember to use 200 g of flour, two egg yolks, salt, pepper and nutmeg.
Knead well and try to give the classic dumpling shape.
Preparation of yellow tomato puree (or fresh yellow tomatoes)
You must make a base with Evo oil, onion and celery and amalgamate the yellow tomatoes cut in half and a ladle of water. Leave to cook for about 10 minutes maximum.
Once this time period has elapsed, strain the contents of your pan and separate the puree from the skin of the cherry tomatoes.
Meanwhile, let the gnocchetti cook in a pot with plenty of salted water and, once they start to come to the surface, drain them and toss them in the pan with the sauce.
Once everything is ready, take a serving dish possibly deep, place the passata and the gnocchi, then add the burratina d’Andria (BAT) burratina flakes and the raw purple shrimp from Gallipoli. At the end of the whole process, add a drizzle of Evo oil and serve the dish to your diners.
