In the heart of the 16th arrondissement of mighty Paris lives an ambitious Italian young man with a sensational taste for food: Meet Jacopo. As the concierge of my hotel tells me that I’ve brought sunshine to Paris (ironically as I live in always rainy Amsterdam) I jump into a cab and find out after about 3 minutes that his house is practically around the corner. Sincere decadence colours the streets of this neighbourhood and the tranquilité that’s so hard to find in this bustling capital city surrounds me right there, in the courtyard of Jacopo’s fabulous apartment. This is where he decided to reside while finishing his Master’s in Paris. I had the pleasure to meet some of his (very international bunch of) friends, and heard much about Jacopo’s fantastic cooking skills. Considering that an Italian was going to show me his signature dish, I was still very eager to see both the process and the final result. Just look at this colourful plate of goodness:
Born near the city of Milan, in a town called Bergamo, Jacopo wandered off into the world at a young age. After spending some years in India, Singapore, Belgium and Italy he returned to Paris, a city that he loves for so many reasons. Besides gorgeous architecture and energy, Paris has great variation in food. An Italian guy + great food equals…well something awesome, let’s just leave it at that. 🙂 While he blends together his signature, colourful velouté he tells me how at a young age he’d always ask for recipes after eating a fantastic dish at a restaurant. That combined with experimentation (and you know how much we love that!) led to countless fantastic dishes. It’s fun to see how his Italian roots are present when cooking, as he only uses 5 ingredients to prep this spectacular dish. Make sure to scroll down for his fantastic recipe!
On a final note, I must admit that photo-shoots like this one are the main reason why I love this platform so much. Meeting someone like Jacopo through the eyes of food, looking at his creative capacity in his kitchen, photographing and then tasting the astonishing end result of his spectacular dish…La Vita è Bella!
BUY:
- Serving 4
- 1 red cabbage
- 1 sweet potato (large)
- 1 large onion
- 1 liter of vegetable broth
- 8 scallops (2 per person)
- bacon (2 strips per person)
- butter
- fresh sage
- salt & pepper
- parmesan cheese
DO:
- In a large pot, fry the chopped onion until golden. Then add the finely chopped red cabbage and diced sweet potato. Stir well and continue frying for 2 to 3 minutes.
- Add the vegetable broth, stir well and cook on medium heat for 25-30 minutes.
- Turn the heat down and mix the broth/vegetables with a handmixer. Season as preferred with salt and pepper before serving. Jacopo loves adding parmesan cheese to it for some extra flavour!
- It's time to prepare the toppings!
- Start with frying the bacon on both sides (as crispy as you wish)
- Clean the scallops (if necessary) and bake in butter for 2/3 minutes on each side. Add the sage (cut into thin strips) to the butter in the final 10-20 seconds. Be aware that the sage burns quickly so keep stirring the scallops into the butter.
- Ready to serve, Buon Appetito!
Bellissimooo! <3 <3